Mostly Harmless

A few weeks ago I woke up and glanced over at the cup of water on my "nightstand" (aka cardboard box near the bed). As I watched, a disturbingly large black ant appeared and proceeded to make a few laps around the rim of the cup — stopping occasionally to lick something apparently nutritious.
Eventually the ant tired of this and wandered off. I washed the cup, a lot.
This morning I woke up and found an ant floating in the cup. Again, I washed the cup thoroughly. (I generally don’t drink from the cup in the morning anyway, which is probably a good thing.)
I believe I have devised a solution for this problem: "the Ant Moat".
The Ant Moat can be most easily constructed by filling a circular jello mold with water. Simply place your water glass in the center and rest easy.
If you find you have ants worthy of winning an Olympic swimming event, you may feel free to fill the moat with flaming kerosene; just don’t come crying to me when you accidentally set your flannel PJs (and house) on fire.