Labor Day has landed and so has the clear transition to fall. The past few weeks the light has been looking different, more defused, more yellow against the green. The chill of fall is also in the air with it dropping to 40 last night and being in the 50s.
The 4 tons of wood pellets for the season have arrived and a couple of tons are loaded into the garage to be closer for my dreaded 11PM trips to refill the stove for the night. I inevitably get dosy and perhaps fall asleep before remembering to stock up the stove so the short trip to the pellet stacks and hoisting the 40 pound bag into the house becomes an annoyance out of proportion to reality.
With the remaining 2 tons waiting outside until sometime in January when they will take their place on the inside pile.
I am killing time this morning. With a house full of teenage girls for a birthday sleepover, no one is stirring and the challenge is to maneuver around without making noise, and I've been awake for a few hours. They went to sleep who knows when. We discovered ground hornets in the front yard yesterday when my daughter was moving the lawn in preparation for games later on. A hole the size of a golf ball, a tunnel to the nest below. Now I don't really mind bugs, except carpenter ants and mosquitoes that is, and don't like using heavy doses of insecticide. So how do I get these things to relocate their nest so that we don't get stung just going about our business. Just move the hole into the garden where its is out of the way, its only 3 feet away and I am sure a tunnel could be dug quite nicely.
So at first I try water to flush them out, then a little soap along with it. Seemed to discourage them but this morning the swarm is bigger than ever and I look at the more real options of tossing gravel in the hole and filling it so that another hole is the only option. So that is what I've done so far and will see if that does it or just pisses them off even more to the point where they are swarming the yard. The gravel seems to be working a bit, though they are quite annoyed.
I'll just leave them to themselves for now and find some other chore to distract me.
3 comments:
I have noticed that the leaves are showing a tint of yellow. I said something about that to Bob last week. It's nice having the cooler nights after 90+ degree weather during the day. Today is beauitful! 76 and no humidity. Blue, blue sky....puts a smile right on my face!! As for your hornets...eee-Gads! Our friend in SC has the same problem. He waits until evening when the sun is getting ready to set and they are all in the hole, then he sprays hornet spray down the hole and puts a big rock over top really quick. Works just fine. I hope you have good success. Your flower photo is pretty - looks like they are having their last hurrah...debbie
I am enjoying the cooler weather as well but now there is that sense of urgency that arrives with the cooler weather. It's all about staying warm through the winter.
Do you have hornets or yellow jackets? The hornets will probably relocate of their own accord. Yellow jackets are so aggressive that we try to eradicate them when they attack us the first time. As harsh as it sounds we wait until dusk and give the next/hole a good dose of kerosene. I have killing things but with bee sting allergies in the family and the aggressive behavior of these bees we've had no choice.
I did read a post by a Buddhist monk who's theory was I'll stay away from you if you'll stay away from me. Maybe that could work for you - just leave enough area around the entrance hole and ignore them.
They're right in the middle of your front yard, right?
Well I went back to work and so did the bees. Filling in the hole didn't do much good as they dug another entrance an inch away, not the 3 feet I had hoped. We will stay away and figure out what to do the next time the lawn needs mowing. Fortunately those days are limited.
I usually agree with the Buddhist approach of live and let live except for ants in the house and mosquitoes.
I find that I miss the heat in fact on Monday when it was again warm I took a quick dip in the lake. A first for the season. I couldn't not miss swimming the whole season.
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