They came as they always do, suddenly, relentlessly, innumerably and without fear! Every year I know they'll attack but somehow I'm never really ready for it!
Every year I'm in for a fight! image source:Pixabay.com
The Attack Begins!
Yesterday morning, as I often am, I was up by 5 am. As I rinsed my eyes and coerced my old carcass into gear I heard some rustling in the kitchen. In the distance and through the frosted glazing of the kitchen door I saw movement inside. As I slowly slid open the pocket door there she was, weapon in hand and ready to fight!
How I adore the bravery and spunk of @lellabird!
She pointed to the kitchen door which leads to the upper balcony of our home. Then I saw it! Down on the floor was a heaving living mass. They were back and we were in for a battle!
The Gory Fight Details!
I'd love to say that we stood shoulder to shoulder as we fought them off but the fact is that I went back to the bedroom to finish getting ready and she fired up our weapon of choice. The vacuum cleaner!
What would you use to get rid of thousands of ants? Some sections of our light brown floors and white walls appeared to be black because of them.
This is on top of our kitchen door AFTER they'd already been vacuumed! The fight raged on all day!
Disclaimer: I love all creatures big and small but not all over my walls, countertops, in my cupboards and certainly not on every morsel of food that they can "attack". Ants should be loved and admired outside. Of that I'm convinced!
The Battle Rages On!
Sometimes the attacks last for days or even weeks. Yesterday I was working from home and so every hour or so I'd head over to the kitchen and fire up "The Weapon"! Over the years we've tried many methods to get rid of the ants. This time besides the vacuum cleaner I tried spraying essential oil of eucalyptus! It may have deterred them for a few minutes but they came back with a vengeance!
I did this every hour or so for the whole day!
I'm brave when I have the vacuum cleaner in hand!
Things We've Tried That Don't Work
- eucalyptus oil
- lemon oil
- mint oil
- lemon peels
- orange peels
- chalk
- ant traps of various types
- talcum powder
The Old Dog Offers A 100 Steem Bounty
I want to be ready for the next battle and so I'm looking for your help. What ECOLOGICALLY FRIENDLY method can you suggest to me that will control my ant infestation problem. (Remember humour is ecologically friendly)
Contest Details And Rules
- The solution can be real or even just funny
- The contest closes at midnight EST Friday March 31st
- All solutions should be posted in the comment section here on this post
- I may split the prize into two of 50 Steem at my discretion.
I hope that you enjoyed reading about this yearly attack and that you'l help me with a solution!
Until next time,
@kus-knee (The Old Dog)
Remember, All of my posts have rewards! "The Old Dog is Throwing You a Bone" program this post is in the form of the 100 seem bounty contest! So please re-steem and follow so that we can spread the wealth!
Ha ha ha. Today morning I was going to drop off my son for his basketball practice and he shouted in the lobby "dad come down fast, see what's here". I ran downstairs with curiosity and asked him "what? where?". He replied" look so many small ants". There was a number of them and we found a heap of sand beside the door. I told my son don't worry it's natural and in India I used to sleep in the farm very close to swarms of such ants. But anyway I will show your post to him once he will be back that we are not alone!!
What a way to share your daily life experiences kus-knee, really love your way of doing it.
Last year my sister's house was like yours but ants' size was bigger. They were eating the wood in the roof and were almost everywhere in the house. They called some company who advertised for pest control solutions. These guys injected lot of pesticides into the walls and kept my sister's family out of house for about 6 hours. Now they never seen a single ant in the house.
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What a coincidence! It is attack time. It sound like your sister had carpenter ants! Nasty!
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Yes they were big and nasty. But they got rid of them once for all.
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Carpenter ants are disgusting. They have such huge jaws, I would hate to receive a bite from them.
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Natural Indoor Ant Treatment
https://www.diatomaceousearth.com/natural-indoor-ant-repellent/
Health Benefits
https://www.diatomaceousearth.com/diatomaceous-earth-health-benefits/
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I'll check it out but have you?
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@kus-knee - can you order this in Amazon?
source
okay just kidding aside
that's nasty - damn ants I don't like them they bring aphids in my garden
okay now seriously .. have you tried 70% water + 20% garlic juiced (from crush garlic strained with a piece of cloth (use gloves or your hand would sting + 10% oil
spray on doors or edges of your house
better yet, find the nest
or buy a lot of hedge hogs :D aside from they're cute they eat those
source
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Actually I like the ant eater option. Cool animal!
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@kus-knee indeed let's animal nap it in a zoo hahah
:D
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I worked on an organic farm in Arizona. We used diatomaceous earth for garden pest control there. The lady who owned the gardens was fanatical about environmentally friendly solutions to all garden and household problems, so I assume that it is a friendly solution.
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What about getting yourself a Ninja Anteater!!
Image Credit
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The Old Dog is Throwing You a Bone For Your Nice Comment! 50 Steem Prize For Making me Laugh!
Please check your wallet!
Remember: I reward the best comments on all of my posts so continue to follow me and tell your friends!
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Thank you very much @kus-knee
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That's funny thanks!
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I have the same problem here, every year. I tried (without solve the problem) eucalyptus, lemon and others, but I noticed the same thing that @the-future wrote in the comment: If I place some foods away from my backyard's door, the ants dont come back inside my home. ^_^
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That sounds very logical! What would be your food of choice for the little beasts?
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For the little beasts I use the cat's food, it looks like they appreciate it ^_^
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They ARE back! Cut the top of a plastic bottle and flip it upside down. Put it right back where it comes from in this upside down position, fill the bottle with some honey and warm water, place it near the infestation entrance. Sit down and observe the trail going to its death in a bath of honey water never being able to come out again... I hope this will help you forever as well as the ones reading it in need of some help in that department. Namaste :)
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Hi Mr. @eric-boucher I'm a bit feeble of mind and I can't quite get the picture. Can you make me a drawing or a photo?
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There you go! This one even has bugs, wasps in that case, floating in it! ;)
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Now I gotcha! Ingenious!
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Thanks @kus-knee! I sure hop this will work for you... Namaste :)
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The Old Dog is Throwing You a Bone For Your Nice Comment! 50 Steem Prize For The good photo of the trap!
Please check your wallet!
Remember: I reward the best comments on all of my posts so continue to follow me and tell your friends!
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That was a very kind gesture from you to send such a huge amount of Steem my way. It is as kind as it is generous. Thanks again, namaste :)
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Making a "trail of honey-water all the way to the bottle neck end, from the area where the ants are coming out of, might actually help even more so... Just an extra thought. May the force stay with you. Namaste :)
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If you can track them back to their lair, this appears to be entertaining and effective.
https://steemit.com/life/@lifeworship/exterminate-exterminate
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That was a great post that you made there! Interesting and entertaining. I'll upvote your comment here since I didn't see that one!
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I've also seen mixing peanut butter and borax, and letting them carry it back to the hive. It worked in one house I was in.
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Another interesting point!
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Make a great dessert out of them. Check the video recipe https://homemaderecipes.com/chocolate-covered-ants-eating-insects/
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Don't knock it if you haven't tried it right? It actually looks yummy!
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hey @kus-knee, I have your solution in three funny steps.
STEP 1: Sign Up The Queen Ant For Facebook
First you will need to find the queen ant. It should around the house somewhere. Maybe watching Netflix. Queen ants love to chill. When you approach it, make sure you refer to it as your highness and bow. Then give it a laptop. This is a little expensive but it is an ant, it won't have its own laptop. It will take a bit of time to show it how to use it. You will need to learn each other's languages first. And you will also need to get little weighted shoes the ant can wear so it can press down keys. With time, the queen ant will master it.
Step 2: Help The Ant Build A Page
This is the most time consuming step. You will need to get the ant invested. I mean really invested. Like the ant needs to wake up in the middle of the night to check its feed and how many likes it got. This will require work on your part. You will have to share and like all their stuff. You will have to like ALL of their vacation photos (which will just be photos of your backyard). You will even need to write lol on things that are really not that funny. Eventually the ant will start to put effort in their posts and work hard to create quality content. Then you finish it with step 3...
Find step three here: https://steemit.com/funny/@whatageek/how-to-get-rid-of-an-ant-infection-in-3-steps-funny
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Hey @whatageek what a great imagination you have. I like your thinking! I think that you have chance to be a star here on steemit. Up voted your other post and followed!
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Thanks @kus-knee for the kind words. I'm just happy if this site can start to be a good source of income. Thank you for running this contest. I'm following you as well
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I think I know someone who can help!!!
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Could be a great solution! It was a fun movie.
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Make a sound like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, all the while leading them out of town like a lunchtime pied-piper. Often works for me...
I assume these are small sugar ants. I've gotten rid of them by vacuuming them up as you do, then putting out the liquid ant traps by Grants, and then continuing to vacuum whenever they "bunch up" (a highly scientific term of antology). By doing this many times (yes, a pain, but so are they when all over the counter, etc), you soon get ahead of them and they do tend to disappear after a bit. I think you get ahead of them to the point the colony collapses.
Unfortunately, the old Terro used to work great, but I heard someone drank a bunch of it and now it's less lethal to humans, and therefor also to them. I don't do it, but I've heard enticing them with something like honey or Gatorade on the area the trap goes first, will get them excited to enter the trap when you put it down. Never done this, seems to me they just go in on their own. Very self directed little things.
I do know that a water source, like the sink with wet sides, etc, is another area they like. When the dry season comes, they die off/leave/march south.
They LOVE to get in the cordless phone or answering machines, etc for some reason. Think it's the Electromagnetics or something. I'm no antologist, but as long as said with authority, I sound good. But recently I had a nest in the phone base, I just vacucumed them continuously, then put out a trap, and they are now gone. Otherwise, back to the sandwich piper it is...
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Good answer with a dash of humour mixed in! Thanks for the contribution!
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Thanks, and I hope you figure out the ant problem. Seems you got a whole lot of ideas. Hope one works.
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Haha ! We have the same problem and I hate them !
Why dont you scoop them all up and EAT THEM ! LOL ! Have you ever heard of chocolate covered ants !? Give it a try and let me know how good it is as ive never tried it myself hehehe ! ENJOY !! Mmmmm YUMMY !! 🐜🐜🐜🐜
Pintrest.com
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I have no idea if this stuff is fully ecologically friendly, but its cheap, easy to use, and effective. A few small amounts along side the ant trail and they soon seem to go away.
We get this here in NZ but I'm guessing it's an American product (so probably toxic) - we clean it up carefully after the ants have gone.
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Thanks for the info!
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I had the same problem when I was working in Italy. There was no chance to get rid of them, so, I put some food in a corner on the balcony, and they never come back in the house! I kept giving them food, daily, and it was everything ok! You should try that too, maybe it will work!
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You have a good answer here @the-future, but I think it only goes half the way. What you need to do is put the food over at your neighbors house!!! Maybe a sugar trail like Hansel and Gretel... Then your neighbor can have
pestsI mean pets LOL.Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
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:))) you might be right, but maybe the neighbors will kill them! That's an easy way to do it and I don't like it at all.
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That's a good one @old-guy-photos!
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So you had pets! Cool!
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:D only on the balcony! The funny thing is that they made another road after I gave them food, and they didn't invade my house anymore!
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@kus-knee - a brave fight! I am not sure about the space available in your properties - you could consider to hire the European boar that should be available in Switzerland - the below famous Ant Fighter Trio Munich, City division is unfortunately booked throughout the year - but they have cousins I can recommend :-).
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Wow @uwelang I knew that you'd come up with something! They're cute too!
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cute and tough :-)
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I have no idea. Ants always exist everywhere. May be with slices of cucumber and coffee powder or betel leaf. Nice ! :)
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Hmm let me have a go. With my luck they'll eat all three!
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Oh my god.. This sounds like my apartment when I was living in Sweden! Every year they would show up out of no where and crawl around EVERYWHERE!! The vacuum cleaner was my weapon of choice as well, but what really helped me was CINNAMON !! :) Put it around the places you are suspecting they are invading from and see if it helps! It helped me.. :) Another tip is to mix powdered sugar/icing sugar with potato flour. The ants eat it and.. die... Hope these tips will be helpful and good luck! :)
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Those sound like interesting solutions. I'll give them a shot!
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Wow...this is great! I can suggest for you two ecologically and sustainable methods to resolve this problem. They aren't so friendlies, but they're so healthiest and economic ways! I ever wished try to do it, but i never found as many ants in my kitchen as much you!
Sounds like the best solution!
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/sep/09/brazils-top-chefs-turn-to-amazonian-insects-for-new-menu
Good business and buon'appetito! (;
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Good one! Hey man it's all what your used to! I might give it a try!
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To make ants (somewhat voluntarily) move from one home to another, ant keepers shine bright lights into the old home, and leave the new home cool and inviting. I wonder what would happen if you put the hottest spot light that you have, right up to the place where they come into the house? Would a few days "train your ants?!"
They also use a baby powder/water solution to use on the walls of terrariums so the ants can't climb up and out. Maybe given the orientation of your invaders, this would be helpful too?
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Hmmm bright lights! That is illuminating!
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I think you need a cinnamon covered, anteater riding, syrup spraying, ant man to have a word.
Or get some offensive ant pheromones (from where I don't know but they must exist) and spray it at all the house entry points.
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I love the word picture of the anteater!
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Hey @kus-knee ...Don't know if you've tried this stuff yet, but I know it has worked pretty good...But If not, then you might have to call an exterminator depending on what type of ant it is...Hope this helps:)
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I've never tried that type. Did it work for you?
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For the ones inside the house I have a spray bottle of water and Dawn dish detergent. They usually die within seconds of being sprayed (it works on roaches & spiders too). I also add a healthy splash of vinegar to my mop water to remove traces of their scent trail.
I have yet to try sprinkling cinnamon and baking soda around the doors and on the lawn but I have put salt at the base of my windows when I see them in those areas and it seems to repel them. Good luck!
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Hey those are some pretty intersting ideas and you say it worked for you? Wow! If I've been missing your posts my feed hasn't worked in days. What about you?
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I'd say listen to the wife and have the vacuum pick them up. I've used vick vapor rub on the areas that they like to confuse their smell in the past, but it seems the eucalyptus oil could have a similar effect.
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Good advice!
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Naive, silly solution:
Talk to them! Explain the situation and them put some food nearby (but outside your home)
I noticed that talking to plants, water and vegetables can help (remember my Masaru Emoto rice experiment?)
https://steemit.com/experiment/@andrew0/the-masaru-emoto-rice-experiment-my-home-made-test-and-its-results
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Yes I remember your experiment. It's one of the most awesome things I've ever seen! Hey who knows maybe the ants will listen!
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I had ants invasions years ago, just because I left some candies in the kitchen near the window, so they were able to arrive, I think giving them some yummy alternative nearby may solve the problem without mass-killing, but I also believe that talking them (even if they don't understand your language) may be an additional attempt to dissuade them :) call me crazy, I am!
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Inventors, poets, artists, musicians are all crazy and who wants a world without them?
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Try hot steam buy from ebay the steam used for ironing the cloth works very well
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Thanks @sharehull
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It's a tricky problem. We have resorted to poisons on the few times we've had an ant invasion. Happily for us they don't seem to get into this house. Can you trace where they come from? I've put boiling water into nests that may wipe out most of them, but that's not always viable.
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I have no idea where the nest is but I hope that it's outside!
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You could find a young kid with nothing to do, and pay him or her a penny or a piece of candy for every ant killed or collected in a jar!
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That's a good one!
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Oh gosh, that looks horrible... there are so many! I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet (I haven't read the comments), but I heard that leaving copper (like pennies) at their entry points might deter them. I used it once after finding an entry spot. They didn't return, but I only had a couple in the house to begin with... so I can't promise it will work!
Also, with this amount, I'm not sure how many entry points they have! :o
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Burn down the house :D
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That would work!
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Hey @kus-knee! At least you have a right good hobby to entertain you ;0)
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Yes it has kept me busy for going on 36 hours now!
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You will triumph, i knows it!!
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Thanks for the vote of confidence!
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just replied to @jredded 's Get Ants Out Of Your Home and Garden - Organically! as he mentioned you, here i am,
a noobie here, made my 1st post today and apologize I missed yours,following you now @kus-knee. Here's a proven method on fire ants in Arizona. Boric acid powder mixed with sugar. Put it on and around the entry hole of their nest or where the come into your home. Totally non-toxic to humans Boric acid solution is old-time eye was remedy. The ants will consume it and carry it back to the nest .It dries them out from the inside and since they share with the queen,voila, takes out the entire population...anticide !!!
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You need one of these...
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Right on!
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Method of choice :D
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