Tuesday, October 2, 2012

After three Days of Rain… and the Wasps are migrating

I was getting close to develop cabin fever. It rained and rained and rained for three days. In between there was thick fog so we couldn’t see our neighbours.
But then today….YAHOO! SUNSHINE SUNSHINE SUNSHINE out of the bluest of all skies,
An incredible change invigorating to the degree that it started me on some work on the house again.
See, we still haven’t finished that new entry we built last year. Studs were still exposed, some spots weren’t insulated yet and the vapour barrier wasn’t mounted yet. I did all that this morning. After lunch and cleaning up the workspace it was past 2pm. I loaded Bea and Molly into the Convertible and off we went to Herring Cove Beach. You had to look at the calendar to believe we really had October 2, cause the temperature and the glorious sunshine made us think we still had the middle of July or August. It was a full return of summer and I just wished I had gone out in shorts. Bea took off her shoes and even tested the water in the surf zone, but as can be expected it had cooled off quite a bit and she didn’t think it was comfortable.

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Walking along the beach one can find a lot of different stuff. Unfortunately we didn’t have the camera with us, otherwise you could have seen the red plastic pail I found and hurled out into the water. It landed upright and since the wind blew from land it was sailing way out on the bay of Fundy. Because of the red colour we could see it for a long time.
There was more we found: 1 buoy, a rare looking stick with a knot on it, and finally a huge heap of red nylon rope, which of course was entangled into a similar huge heap of blue and thicker nylon rope. The red rope was brand new and I just couldn’t pass up the chance to get myself engaged in unfurling this heap. It took me about 30 minutes to separate the two ropes. The red one turned out to be at least a 1200ft. long. ( I haven’t measured it) It will come into good use when we will fix up our house roof one day.

Did I mention that we have a wasp net under the house siding? Yep, they’ve been there all summer. Reason why we tolerated them is that they weren’t showing any sign of aggression.  However since we are getting more and more into the cooler nights the wasps found it time to move farther into the wall. While looking for a warmer spot they migrated so far until they found that little peekabo hole over the baseboard behind our bed. When Bea found them in tens and twenties in our bedroom they had crossed the border, and yesterday I  started chemical warfare against the colony. The spray can produces a yet stream of up to 20 feet so one can stand in a secure distance. By applying it early before daylight it is even more safe. I used it outdoors against their entry hole. The result was a diminished traffic pattern on the outside and an increased migration up the inside of the wall and out of that little peekabo hole behind our bed. As of this afternoon over thirty wasps were found and exterminated in the bedroom. Beyond our bedroom window out on the porch roof a heap of dead wasps has accumulated.
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With an average population of about 8000 individuals in a nest there is no end in sight yet. I am considering to use that spray can again… Watch out buggers!

3 comments:

  1. My Molly girl is so pretty. Give her a big love from me. Have you guys decided if you're coming south this year or not? I may have missed it if you posted an update on it.

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  2. Love, love the picture of Molly!!

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  3. Hope get those wasp's taken care of they sure can be pesty.

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