There is a underground yellow jacket bee nest that for the last month and a half I have been trying to get rid of.
Now I have been a big admirer of bees, but in my life history if I
see too many of the yellow jackets I freak out and run away screaming.
Yesterday, somehow the Yellow Jackets have invaded our space and I
saw about four or five of them chasing me back into the house after
getting the mail. They also were chasing and stinging the poor
neighbor's dog who managed to come into the yard for her treat fix.
Something had to be done.
I had some Ortho Bug Be Gone that was used for the earwigs, who after
two months of not seeing them, one of them MF's earwig made a apperance
last night on my CD player to which it got a burial at sea. But the
yellow jackets were just too many around the house so it was time to
fight back. I poured about three big buckets of hot water down the hole
and then when Yellow Jackets started coming out, zapped them with bug
spray of all kinds and even started acting brave enough to bop them out
of the air with a broom or a shovel. Geezus, it was hard work, even had
a fucking heat rash attack to which I couldn't stop itching but still
had enough reaction to bop more bees with the broom. I don't think I
moved that fast in years.
You can tell when the bees were coming with deeper buzzing for the
bigger ones. I think all night all I heard was BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
and more Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .
I try not to get stung, I am allergic to beestings and even I'm
surprised that I haven't gotten stung yet. But my thinking remains that
we have 3 acres of yard for the damn yellow jackets to call home, and
they're free to buzz around....just as long as they don't build their
underground nest on the sidewalk leading to the kitchen. And last year
the bees stung my brother about seven or eight times while we have
removing old boards around the shed. My theroy is spray and run, and
run like hell. Stalling only makes you a stationary target so spray and
spray some more and after midnight if there's a hole opening in the
ground, pour about ten buckets of water in the ground and spray more
more more. Maybe by then, the yellow jackets will get the idea and move
on. One can only hope.
Yellow Jackets remain an curio though. While mowing on Sunday, I did
see about ten of them buzzing around the lawnmower trying to sting
that. They're also persistant in the way they attack, even though I had
just about used up most of the Yard Guard spraying them and cussing out
the can when it jammed up. I'm sure the neighbors got a hoot of
watching the crazy old dude running around the yard smacking the ground
twenty times in ten seconds with a broom and hoping he don't get zapped
in the ass. Geezus, why doesn't these fucking bees go bother the
neighbors, why us? We got a ditch, next to the road, go there and you
won't be bothered. But next to the house?!? No fucking way, uh uh.
Move on down the road.
Followup, the next day, the holes in the sidewalk were covered up, a
quick fix but I didn't see much happening, did get the stray smaller
yellow jackets and if they stayed around that area too long, they got
sprayed. They seem to be the thickest around the 2 oclock range to
which I sprayed five of the bigger Yellow jacket with more cans of Raid
that i gotten last night. So far, the entrance to the hole in the yard
hasn't been breached but if it had, plan b would have been put in
place, which would be ten boiling buckets of soapy water and a copy of
Metal Machine Music to keep them out.
And then they can buzz off.
While driving last night I saw something buzzing to the side of me
and then I realized it was a praying mantis. I wouldn't mind seeing a
few Praying Mantis around the house area, I think they're so cool. So
anyway, I managed to scoot the bug off the road and drove a half block
before stopping and realizing that Mr Mantis was hanging on the side of
the cardoor! But the good samarian crabb did put the mantis on a tree
branch and saved it from being a splat on somebody's windshield. I have
to say that when I did come back from AZ, I was greeted by a praying
mantis on a side window of the Airport. Such fun bugs, I'd be happy to
share a hole in the yard with them around rather than angry Yellow
Jackets.
