Thursday, June 30, 2005

Wasps are invading my space

Coming from the leafy suburbs of the UK, I have never really considered wasps as much of a pest. Not so here, because the little buggers get everywhere. Last year I noticed a particularly ugly wasp like thing land on a cupboard in the study and disappear. I thought nothing of it until, one sober morning, I saw another do the same. That's funny I thought - being quick like that - and opened the cupboard to investigate. There it was, a nest, made of some clay like substance that smashed to bits as I knocked it to the floor. Inside each individual clay pot was a little cocoon. I have no idea what type of creature it was. It was wasp like, with a black extended body, the two parts of the abdomen connected by a yellow stalk and with long dangly yellow and black striped legs. An ugly brute, even though I say so myself.
Just recently, I have found two wasp nests in the garden. One, right in the middle of a potted bush and the other under the pool heating. The latter, the plumber and I found by being a bit too close when discussing the heating system. The aggressive little sods flew out at us both and stung the plumber once and me three times. I needed help on this one, so I talked to lots of people, including the nice lady at the honey farm nearby, who tells me about a spray that you can fire from 6 metres. These little monsters have to be treated with respect, so 6 metres is just about far enough for a quick getaway. You also have to spray at night when they are asleep. Anyway, last night after a couple of drinks I plucked up enough courage to have a go at the easy one. Suitably dressed in nothing but shorts and flipflops (what was I thinking of?) I zap 'nest in bush'. They made my day. I returned to my beloved a hero, and only a little shell shocked.

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Jill and Harry leave tomorrow so it's a good excuse to celebrate with dinner at Le Fourneau. It was excellent as usual. Having said that they will be back in two weeks time, so now I'd better book the welcome back dinner!

1 comment:

Phillip and Donna said...

Alex,
It is nearly midnight here in Queensland and we are watching a very clinical Federer have Hewitt 2 sets down at Wimbledon.Federer is just too good!
Your wasps sound uncomfortably similar to those around our house in Brisbane.Their little muddy cocoons appear under the eaves,on the walls,and on the window sills.They also build nests in the hedges...really aggressive at clipping time. Most recent encounter was inside our letter box. Collecting the mail was a painful experience. Are you familiar with an Amway product called 'LOC'? Its base is coconut oil and it is brilliant when applied to stings.