Carpenter Ants!

Paws on logs for scale

I haven’t been feeling the call to write anything worth sharing lately. I’ve been busy making new books, working on the animated series (I owe you an update, coming soon), and busy with life stuff, of course. It’s all been a good distraction, to be honest.

We’ve been walking on the beach a little more since it’s been a little warmer. The dogs and I must have walked past this one log a hundred times. But not until a few days ago did I finally ask: how did it become like this?

It’s full of holes.

I heard the Oystercatcher cry on the shore. Maybe they used their long orange beaks to turn these logs into Swiss cheese over time. Yaya and Boo chased the Oystercatchers and they repositioned a hundred feet down shore, continuing their squeak. They sound like a squeaky toy.

Oystercatchers (and a crow).

Yaya & Boo chasing Oystercatchers.

I found more of these pitted logs. These pits were newer, smaller, more detailed. They revealed topographic layers of the Douglas Fir and Cedar driftwood.

More and more, these weathered pitted driftwood logs revealed themselves. I’ve tiptoed on these logs so many times and never questioned the holes. Some of these logs have been here for decades, drifting up shore and down shore at the whim of tides and storms.

Sun bleached, weathered, but also ... full of holes.

Yaya gifted me this stick that looks like a turd. He wanted me to throw it but instead I brought it inside and cleaned it up with a brush and put it on my mantel. Holes are burrowed in it like Swiss cheese. These are fresh.

A clue?

Whose handiwork is this?
An insect? A slug?
Something from the sea?
Something that eats wood?

I remembered something that caught my attention a few weeks ago. A pile of sawdust at the end of a log made me curious. It was tiny crumbs of wood being dropped from inside the log. They must have been at this for days.

You might have guessed it from the title of this piece.

Carpenter ants!

Many ants making light work. Maybe they made all of these pits. The pits expanded over time. Now the logs are swiss cheese. Look at this one ant throw this wood crumb. I took one crappy video of it. They don’t even eat it, they’re just making a home.

I hear these guys can wreak havoc in houses. It’s good they’ve found work at the beach instead. I’ll never look at these logs the same. Everything has a story to tell. I’m glad my curiosity led me down this path.

Thanks for the distraction, ants.

Thanks for the paws for scale, Yaya.

My new children’s book, Let’s Find Yaya & Boo On the Go! is out in September. I’m working on some pre-order campaigns, still trying to reach 2000. One of the campaigns will be a donation to First Book, an organization that makes books accessible to low-income communities. The other might be a puzzle. Would your kid like a puzzle? How many pieces for a toddler/pre-schooler?

These are questions that I have floating in my head. But at least I know what’s making holes in driftwood.

Stay curious, everyone.

Andrew, Yaya, & Boo