Saturday, June 29, 2013

Stirring Up a Hornet's Nest

Literally! When we were troubleshooting a failed bilge pump in Wayne's Writer's Retreat boat called Gemini, we opened a box on the cabin deck housing a storage battery. Wayne reached inside only to discover a vary active hornet's nest.


Almost every year, hornets take up residence near our cabin. We just never expected one hidden away like that.


We both ran around to the front of the cabin before they swarmed to protect their nest.

That night after dark and the temperatures dropped, Wayne went back with wasp spray to dispatch the nest and its inhabitants. With most things we believe in live and let live, but in this case it wasn't an option. We would be in fear of getting stung every time we passed by. -- Margy

8 comments:

  1. Ouch. Scary. We had a wasp nest in our ornamental crabapple tree about 10 years ago. We had to phone friends to help as my husband didn't know what to do, and I couldn't reach close enough to spray it.
    I agree with you, live and let live whenever possible, but wasps are an exception to that rule. Ant nests, too, I'm afraid.
    By the way, thanks for your kind comment on my poem. I know you understand what a loss a mother is.
    K

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  2. Dangerous creatures! I'm with you, live and let live, until it becomes too dangerous. Those things will come after you for no good reason, yellow jackets are a real danger here...step on one of those nests (they burrow in the ground) and it could be the end of you!

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  3. I'm with you! I still have a 3" mark under my arm where I was bitten by one wasp. It was two weeks ago.
    They could find a better home than this!

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  4. my goodness! I would have been terrified doing what you did for fear of being stung. I was stung on the top of my foot once and it was very painful.

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  5. This makes me skittish just looking at the image. I'm glad you caught the hornets.

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  6. The hornets are scary, I would not want that nest near my yard or home.

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  7. Anonymous5:04 AM

    That is a big nest. Those hornets will find ways in anywhere to make nests. Hopefully you got rid of the inhabitants.

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  8. Lise - I know about the burrowing. A nest developed one year at the top of the stairs and I got a good sting on the cheek. It was on the way to the outhouse, no fun at all.

    Thanks everyone for stopping by and commenting on my Critter post. Next week I'll have a less scary post. - Margy

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We welcome your comments and questions. - Wayne and Margy