Monday, July 23, 2018

Dinosaurs and Wasps and Seafood

So I confess:  Once in awhile, I look at my beautiful rental home and say something like...."I wish I could...(insert whatever here).  But truthfully, most of those conversations have to do with things like knocking out a wall to make two bedrooms, or similar things that I would realistically never do. In my own home, because at this time of life the the tough of all that makes me want to go screaming from the room. Still, I recognize that there are advantages (besides the home is your retirement argument) of home ownership. And I understand that for some of my readers, they consider home ownership security, among other things.

Even with the above caveat, I see the advantages being less and less for me as they once were. And while I know that this home is not a "lifetime rental", I can see myself downsizing and renting again. The past few months, those rental advantages have really hit home. Which leads me to the wasp nest from hell. Now, before anyone pipes up with "All you need is a can of spray and for it to be dusk", or "just power wash it with a hose", let me just say, no.  Not in this particular case. Three or four days ago, we noticed the wasps on our front door. The nest, my friends, is in between the brick and the siding immediately to the right (as you go out) about seven feet up. At the entrance of said crevice are some dead Virginia Creeper vines from when the house was covered with them. In other words, the wasps have cover. And freedom, as a full can of wasp and hornet killer did not slow down the attack and left not a single corpse.

So bad is it that we are resigned to entering the house through the garage. Yesterday I thought I would be sneaky and open the storm door a few inches to grab the mail from the box on the wall by the door (and having lived in DC and other humid and buggy areas, I'm pretty quick when it comes to denying bugs). I ended up with multiple wasp injuries, as well as having to hunt down and kill the buggers that managed to get into the house.

Disclaimer: That lower part of our yard that I often photograph is filled with bee friendly and bee drawing flowers and plants, a "bee garden" if you will. We recognize the importance of bees and expect no bees to be damaged by whatever our solution is.

Also, yesterday the landlord came by. He hosed the entire area hard, used one of those twelve foot long tree cutting branches to bang against the brick and startle the evil beings and also sprayed some as they came out. The end result was not successful. We've been keeping an eye and they have returned in full. Which means it will probably have to be fogged. Which is bad news in the sense that we are not finished with the stinging beasts from hell. But good news in the sense that I only have to be here to answer questions and the arrangement of said fogging, and the payment is out of my hands. Thankfully.

Aside from wasps (and please don't tell me about the good things wasps do, right now they are keeping me from entering my home or receiving mail), the local summer fun has been bumping along. Last week the Divine Divas went to the Bonefish grill for lunch and there were seven of us. I had a corn and crab chowder (I'll always choose the soup and or seafood option and this met both) with a salad. Over the weekend we belatedly celebrated my sister-in-law's sixtieth with a cookout and deconstructed ice cream cake (she loves ice cream cake but her husband never got time to go to the store when he could be sure to come straight home), which of course, is cake. With ice cream!

We've also been exploring drives within a half an hour to forty five minutes from our house. Drives that is, that end in parks or hikes or walks. Because our dogs both LOVE to ride in cars. But they want some fun at the end.


The week coming?  A drive with said dogs to Deer Creek Canyon, a jewelry making and happy hour session, a possible trip to a cool theater, and of course the normal sewing, reading, knitting, dog playing exercising and other good retirement things.

And about those dinosaurs?  I won a science party!! I got a bunch of these dinosaur kits free, and the chance to host a kid's party. Which I translated into a science afternoon with the kids at my homeless shelter. More about that one, tomorrow!!

12 comments:

  1. I hate wasps with a passion!! All I need do is see one and I flee accordingly. Good luck with the fogging.

    God bless.

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  2. I'm another wasp hater and I'm allergic to them so I'm with you about killing them. Not so with honey bees, I'd try to find someone to relocate those.

    The canyon looks awesome, but I'd be scared to death to take a dog on that trail. Mine would find a snake or something to catch and go off the edge in a heartbeat.

    Your timing for a dinosaur party is perfectly timed to the movie in the theaters now and dinosaurs are on everything now---cereal boxes, school supplies, etc.


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    1. Yes, at the bottom of our yard we have a beer garden. Fortunately getting rid of the wasps should not harm the bees!

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    2. I should add, that there are many trails on the canyon and that was a nice picture. Not sure that I can handle that one, never mind the dog!!

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  3. We had a bee nest under the hose hanger out front. Every time I went to get out the hose, the bees would fly out. We couldn't see where the nest was and when hubby finally discovered it, he soaked it down with bee spray. I hope your problem gets solved soon. I would hate to be stung. Ouch!

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    1. Oh, we would never hurt bees in that case it would be reformed, as we have a bee garden below. But as a friend said when I said something about killing Gods creatures, hes not even sure wasps are in the food chain, lol. We keep trying various natural solutions but the end result is at be to fog the little buggers.

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  4. I am on my second year of a wasp nest. Last year it was in the tree outside of my back door, about two feet from it. This year they moved on to creating their next in the corner of the door frame of the only main level door in the house that I use. I have a great exterminator. Last year he came out and killed the wasps who were home at the time but he also left the nest with poison in it to kill the ones who came home later and it worked 100%. I would suggest trying that. My cost was $60.00 and he would return if I saw any more wasps for no additional fee. We could not do that this year because the nest was only about two inches square and it disintegrated. Good luck. These stings are horrible. Also my exterminator uses a spray this not hard on the bees and other pollinators.

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    1. Yep, I absolutely think we are going to have to get a pro if we have not found a natural solution by this weekend,f or sure!!

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  5. We just had Orkin out to the house to take down a gigantic wasp nest. My husband is allergic, and we don't do ladders anymore, so we threw money at it.

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  6. Thats for sure whats gonna happen here with my landlord (who happens to be my brother)I'm sure. He invested as much physical labor as he's evern going to!

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  7. Years ago we noticed lone yellow jackets that have a wicked string flying near our door to patio. Observation revealed them disappearing into a tiny hole into the side of the house. We did get a pro out who described the likely presence of a sizable nest inside based on his experience and frequency of yellow jacket traffic. I don’t recall the specific treatment he provided but, fortunately, he ended their habitation and plugged the entrance. We would never have realized those creatures had invaded our house if idle curiosity noting repetitive behaviors hadn’t revealed their presence. Hope you’re rid of your wasps soon and you receive no more stings.



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  8. Those wasps need their own happy hour somewhere else. Good luck with getting rid of them. Reminds me of the time I was clearing brush with a chain saw while standing over a nest of yellow jackets. I had eleven stings and they chased me across a field...scary! Looks like you are staying busy in spite of the things however.

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Thanks for stopping by! I love to hear from others, and I also love to hear all points of view.. Just leave the profanity and insults at home, OK? Thanks!!