As night fell last evening, I ventured forth with a can of Spectracide Wasp & Hornet Killer to do battle with the yellow jackets that took up residence in the leaves behind the rear wheel of my log splitter. I could see no activity when I started to spray into the visible hole and soaked it and the surrounding leaves thoroughly.
In the morning light it was obvious that this first attack had had some success but did not produce a complete killing of the hive. I was, however, able to move the splitter a couple of feet since I could grab the tongue of splitter and pull it out of the way. What I then saw had the hairs on the back of my neck quivering. (There are precious few on the top of my head, but there are a few at the nape of my neck and these were at full, quivering alarm.)
The yellow jackets had built their nest in the leaves and not in the ground as they usually do. And what a nest it was! A mud construct measuring at least 12 inches long and 6 to 8 inches high and Lord knows how many inches deep was visible with the wasps--for that's what yellow jackets technically are--swarming over the surface.
Tonight I took another can of Spectracide spray out and gave them a second salvo of poison meant to kill on contact and keep killing for days. This time I emptied the entire can and marveled at the loud "buzzzzzz" from the agitated wasps. U was half surprised not to feel the vibrations through my heavy boots. With any luck, this will be the end of the little devils.
Actually, I was surprised that the little beasts didn't come swarming out and attack me while I was mowing the lawn yesterday, or moving the splitter, or spraying their nest. I have said many silent prayers of thanks for that little blessing! I've been stung before on multiple occasions and Do Not Like the experience.
When I was younger, I was allergic to bee/hornet stings and they almost killed me--twice. As a young teen I underwent desensitizing shots so the little creeps could not kill me. As a 20-something adult, I stepped in a yellow jackets' nest and got stung somewhere between 8 and 12 times. Who counts when there are that many? This was the first test of the shots I had received and they passed with flying colors as a couple of hours later--after having waited first with a NJ State Trooper a half mile from the hospital and then with a friend whose house was again just a stones throw from a hospital emergency room--I didn't even itch from the stings.
Normally, I'm a live and let live kind of guy when it comes to wild critters who could do me harm. I give unknown snakes and spiders a wide berth. I'll sing or yell at bears when I see them approach--before making my own escape. (Of course, if I'm hunting....) I'll cut the line of any over sized shark (5 foot or better) and let it swim away with my tackle before thinking of bringing it into the boat. But not with wasps, hornets or their ilk. (Honey bees are another matter. Unless they are the Africanized version known as Killer Bees.) Especially when they invade my turf it's: Kill them all and let God sort them out.
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In other activities today, I merely sprayed the deck with cleanser and then rinsed the same off in preparation of staining. I know I said I could do some staining of the rails today but my legs and back were protesting that I did too much yesterday so I was out voted 2-1. At least the spraying of the cleanser and subsequent rinsing didn't require my doing any stooping, bending or kneeling.
It did foul up my 500 gallon cistern, however. We have a shallow well here at the Aerie (just 120-150 feet deep) and it has a slow recharge rate. The water that comes in is usually laden with some of the fine red clay that surrounds the shale of the mountain. All the deck rinsing I did today caused a flushing of the water table and resulted in a rush of red clay particles into the cistern despite the one micron filter on the line. I had just replaced that filter last week but I had to do it again this afternoon. And the cistern's tank is cloudy with fine clay, too, and that will eventually have to be flushed out using the submersible pump. *sigh*
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The Church is sponsoring a breakfast tomorrow morning on behalf of the Knights of Columbus so an early start to the staining project is not in the books. Biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs, pancakes, the usual. Which is just fine my me! Staining will just have to wait until afternoon. Besides, waiting until later will allow the surfaces I sprayed with water today a better chance to dry out--as long as the widely scattered T-storms stay int he Northern Tier as they predict. ("Northern Tier" is southern, New York while "Southern Tier" is northern PA where the Aerie is located. Geography can get complicated. But at least I can spell "Ohio.")
2 comments:
That wasp's nest sounds like a nightmare! They are awful this year.
If you're still having wasp issues after that I highly recommend this particular spray: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100352314/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1 same brand but the different active ingredient does a MUCH BETTER job on them than anything else I've tried.
I had a couple cans of that in the spring that I used up, and then we had little wasp problems till early summer when suddenly there were wasps EVERYWHERE. Bought some different stuff by the same brand, and it just didn't work as well. We'd have to spray the nests 3 or 4 times to kill it completely, going through a HUGE number of cans of spray.
Went back to Home Depot and bought that one again, and presto! One good solid spray kills the nest and the wasps VERY WELL. Our overall incidence of wasps has dropped dramatically since I went back to using that stuff. Its totally worth going out of my way to get it!
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