Jan,were you an English teacher?? You write so creatively and with such finesse. I also do NOT rinse my dishes before they go in the dishwasher, but the chunks do get scraped down the garbage disposal---that's all. I recently had to cave in and run the dishwasher with very few items in it because something smelled atrocious!!!! No ants though---knock on wood really fast! Hang in there - I enjoy reading ALL of your posts! :)