This is a recipe that was given by the head groundskeeper of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It uses somewhat what Daisy referred to...only use boric acid....bought at any drugstore. To two cups (450 millilitres) of boiling water, add two teaspoons of boric acid, and two cups (450 grams) of granulated sugar. (I know how to measure metric...but I'm still not used to writing about it) Stir to dissolve sugar fully. Let cool. Then, into a small container....much like a margarine container, you put holes at the sides at the bottom to let the ants enter. Into the container you place about 6 cotton balls (also bought at the drugstore) after soaking them in the solution. Put the lid on to prevent other insects such as bees from entering. Then place the containers where you see the trails or mounds of ants. The idea is for the sugar to be the come-on...the boric acid the killer. The worker ant takes the liquid back to the nest and feeds it, like a good ant will, to Queenie.. she gets a terrible tummy ache....and the colony dies with her. Any pointed shoe can kill an ant in the corner...it takes a wise wearer to know how to kill hundreds without putting your foot down. Anyway, its supposed to work on the feared RED ANTS of southern U.S. so I cant see where an Ausie ant's stomach is any less upsetting. Now there are a few more suggestions and they are talked about widely whether they, in fact, work or not. Grits....that southern U.S. morning food.....tastes like bland cream of wheat... well, this stuff expands when moistened and figuring an ant's stomach has such acid, it suggests when an ant eats the grits, the stuff explodes inside its stomach. Another one....make the ant cross through some baking soda. He gets it on his feet (or whatever an ant calls his feet), some of it gets into his mouth...and the old story.... when baking soda gets wet it turns into carbon dioxide.... GAS that is....and since an ant cant burp, cant flatulate, he goes all to pieces. Anyway, that's the theory.

I wait for an "after rainy day" and start pulling by hand. If not possible, I have a small shovel. If not possible, I mark it with colored tape and next time I have help, I cut it as short as possible and dab brush killer poison on the cut, while the other person holds nearby growth out of the way so I don't accidentally kill it while trying to kill unwanted. Some years are worse than others and in Spring 2015 I'm waging a brutal war against elms, oaks, etc.

Thank you for your response, but kids’ want their way and their feelings aren’t taken into consideration all the time, by bio-parents just as easily as step-parents. A child thinks like a child, which generally means self-serving interests. Kid wants yet another bowl of ice-cream before bed; if the step-parent just says No, that is not SM being manipulative or wanting her way. That is SM acting like what she is, an adult and an adult in her own home. Call it what you want, “children first,” etc. There are many names to put on a BM trying to put some sort of spin of child endangerment in dad’s household, that he now shares with his wife. Now, I can’t say for sure what is really going on in that home, but I’m suspecting neither can you. The older, more knowing kids, don’t seem to have THAT much of an issue. Other than the pot, the examples you listed above just don’t scream out abuse. They more-so scream out: big misunderstanding. And, if you allowed your ex- to smoke pot when he was with you and your children, you might want to ask yourself why suddenly now that he is doing it with someone else, somewhere else you are so-o concerned about it and diminishing him to worthless father status. I’ll tell you what the future is for you and your children, because I’ve seen it and heard of it many a time. I’m not saying there is parental alienation syndrome going on here (PAS), because, again, I don’t know all of the facts. But, to me it sounds like you think you should have control of not only your children, but your ex- and his wife, while your children are in their home, at least. And/or, maybe you divorced your loser husband expecting him to suffer for years and years, and instead he found a new wife/ woman a little too quickly? Any way, it is extremely easy for a BM to take minor incidents that occur with her children and blow them out of proportion. This begins a cyclical effect where the kids and BM feed on each other, encouraging each other to think that dad, and especially SM, are Evil or losers or even abusive, and that they don’t have to be listened to, which in turn, upsets dad and SM, so they feel they have to somehow try to get the kids in line further, which then gives the kids even more fodder for mom, and the cycle continues and grows. But, as a BM, I admit, you pretty much have all of the power. It is very easy for you to use that power however you see fit. The court system, society as a whole, will all give you the shadow of a doubt and the shadow of a doubt alone because you are a single mother. Keep things going, and your kids will wind up hating their father, hating SM, and loving and relying on only you. You may go on to get involved or remarry, and the kids will go on to think of step-dad as their “real” dad because mom is promoting him so and not at all just because he deserves that role. There will be issues and drama beyond belief for years to come due to Evil SM and deadbeat bio-dad (that will be your and your children’s spin, anyway). In the end, your kids will think the world of you and hate/ blame their father. When, in reality, the only thing dad and SM may have done wrong is to dare to marry and to try to be happy with each other and dad’s children in their own home. Yes, to some BMs (and SKs and others) that is a crime. Stay out of it. You are the kids’ mom and he is the kids’ dad. You both have the right to parent; just because YOU feel he isn’t parenting that doesn’t mean he isn’t parenting. Regardless, it is up to you how the rest of this plays out. Enjoy your power.

Yes, you'll have to get rid of that before you can have a lawn. I believe that is common horse herb, but usually there are flowers that go along with horse herb. It is one of the few plants that will dominate over St Augustine and shade it out. The good news is that if you use the right product, the horse herb will die in 3 weeks and will not come back from seed next season. Here is a picture of the right product. You can get that at any nursery including Walmart. Read the directions 3x before you spray. You really don't want to get this spray on you. What I do is pick a day when there is no wind at all. Then I stretch the hose all the way to the farthest area away from the spigot. Next be sure the area behind you from the hose end to the spigot is clear, because you're going to be walking sideways and backwards. Start spraying and move to the sides and backwards until you are back at the water source. I believe horse herb is one of the plants that takes a full 3 weeks to dry up and disappear. After that you can put grass down immediately or do some tune up work. If your soil surface is not perfectly level, you can level it. Whatever you do, do NOT rototill the yard as preparation for new grass/sod. I just wanted to say that, because a lot of people jump the gun and get in there with the tiller before they know they shouldn't. Before you can do grass you have to know what grass to use. You mentioned seeding, so I suspect you are from the north where seeding is a thing. Seeding is not that much of a thing in the south, because the two dominant turf types are St Augustine and hybrid bermuda. Both of those go down as sod. You can buy seed varieties of common bermuda, but those are what most people consider to be a weed. In my opinion the easiest grass to put down and maintain is St Augustine, but it is not for everyone. If you have any shade in that yard, then the only choice will be St Augustine, because bermuda needs at least 5 hours of unfiltered sunlight to thrive. Due to the density of the horse herb, I suspect that area is under a canopy of trees. Bermuda won't work if that's the case. Now you have to decide which grass to get before I can help you any more. The best place I know of to get St Augustine sod is Milburger's Nursery inside loop 1604 at Bulverde Road. They sell 14 pallets of St Augustine every day, so what you get is delivered fresh from the night before. On the other hand, Lowe's and HD sell 2 pallets every 2 weeks, so theirs is dying from fungal diseases before you get it. If you go to Milburger's you have to get there in the morning because they sell out. I believe they sell hybrid bermuda, too, so you do have options, unless you have shade there. The good news is that horse herb is not bad for the soil. You should have reasonably healthy soil under that canopy of leaves. Having said that, the herbicide I pictured above is bad for soil health, so you might want to stick to organic fertilizer for a few applications to restore everything to normal.