Friday, October 17, 2008

On Pestilence:

At one point yesterday I wasn’t certain that I would be back in the house to post this.

I was ready, willing and able to get back to my house cleaning. I was now about to tackle the living room. Which is at the other end of the house from the room that I have my computer in. So consequently I don’t spend much time in the living room in the day light hours. A quick dusting and vacuum, water the plants and I’m outta’ there.

In the summer we leave the drapes in there open all the time so I don’t have to climb over the house plants amassed in front of the large window in the living room to close them.

I head into the living room bucket, rags and cleaning tools in hand, dragging the vacuum behind me. I head for the large south facing window. I move all my house plants out of the way and I pull back the drapes to take them down to clean them. Buzz, wham, out flies a group of angry yellow jacket hornets.

These hornets bored a hole around the metal frame of the window over the summer and were now coming out the back way when I ripped off their back wall still attached to the window side of my drapes.

What you have to know is that Mountain Man is highly allergic to bees, wasps and hornets. He is not going to be any help at all. I have to tackle this problem by myself since I am not allergic to them.

After a trip to the store to get some bug spray, lots of bug spray…

(Because the bug spray we had already bought is on the other side of the living room and the other door is locked from the inside and I wasn’t about to go through the living room to get to Mountain Man’s work shop to unlock the outer door to get the bug spray. And we are not going to talk about what I looked like in my cleaning clothing in the store.)

…I spent the day hunting and killing off yellow jackets through out the house and cleaning up the dead bodies.

Some how I didn’t get stung. Your guess is as good as mine? But I think it had to do with quick reflexes. That and the fact I had the drapes over my head as I skedaddled, dragging the curtain rod ripped right off the wall behind me.

Anyone know a good use for dead hornets? I got a lot of them.

Wait, was that buzzing I just heard in the bedroom? I got to go and kill something again. I knew I didn’t get them all.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You are one brave lady; we've had so many wasps and yellowjackets make nests in the weirdest of places on the house, or in the yard. One summer, wasps made a nest inside the frame of our front storm door. Needless to say, I was the one who found out there was a nest; the proof being welts up and down my legs, which the welts lasted all summer. What buggers!