ant Vs. gorilla, a windowsill, and some dominoe trains

Last month, Ryan and I took the kids to the Oakland Zoo for an afternoon.  Very fun trip, except.............we learned that they don't have a gorilla!  Even today I am still hearing from a very disappointed husband that he didn't get to have a gawk at the gorillas.  He's a little envious of their strength...and their good looks.   ; )

I have to say, gorillas are fascinating creatures, but ants, that is where you will find real strength.  They can carry up to 50 times their body weight.  Growing up, we had the privilege of living up close and personal with ants, so I am a little partial.

In our apartment, in the windowsill next to our kitchen table, ants had designated a corner of the ledge for their dead.  We didn't have an ant problem anywhere else in the place, but for some reason, ants would come carrying a deceased brother or sister from the outside and then add it to a pile.  My mom was constantly wiping  2 to 3 inch high mounds of dead ants from our windowsill.  They were fascinating to watch, and I'm being totally serious when I say there was a sort of reverence to it all.  I wonder how far they travelled to make that the final resting place for their kindred dead.  Did Grandad (he studied insects for a living) ever have an explanation for this phenomenon?  And why just the windowsill?  And year after year after year? And do you think it is still happening there? 

These are pressing questions.  I think this calls for a trip to the Central Coast to find out.  Anything for the sake of research, right?......aaaaaaaaaannddd maybe we'll swing by Splash for some clam chowder just 'cause we're in the neighborhood..............you know, for the ants.