Tiny little black ants!
(note: this is NOT a picture of my counter, it's a stock photo from the Interwebs.)
The miniscule little buggers were everywhere.
I saw that a lemon and a bag of lemons had been left out overnight but I have no idea if that attracted them or not.
After scrunching several (I understate so as not to nauseate you), I gave up, fed the cat and went back to the arms of Morpheus.
But sleep would not come and I eventually arose for good and was doing battle with the teeny rascals as I brewed my morning coffee.
Judy arose and stumbled into the kitchen whereupon I confronted her with the awful truth.
We searched for some ant traps and didn't find them but we did find something that turned out to be tiny pellets which she sprinkled all over the counters.
Then I discovered a spray that was supposedly designed to kill ants and, following her orders, brought her the small hand vacuum so she could suck up all the pellets and dispose of them before spraying the counters.
We had previously moved everything, including an electric kettle and a smallish microwave, off the counters to a nearby table.
She had asked me to go out and get some ant traps and I did just that.
Let me tell you, dear readers, it was a relief to get away.
Anyway, when I got back everything had been moved back and the counters were spic and span clean.
As I told her this evening, we have to thank the ants because I don't think these counters have ever been this shiny clean.
She reminded me that that's my job as well as hers, keeping them neat and clean.
Anyway, the ant traps have been placed, the counters have been sprayed, and nary an ant has been seen this evening.
But, as the SNL character Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say, "It's always something!"