Recently we began sharing our home, not by choice, with two types of wasps, a variety of spiders and a mouse. While we've had each of these at some point in the past, this is the first time they've all arrived at nearly the same time.
The wasps showed up first and for some reason were segregated. I have no idea if that is usual wasp behavior. Nevertheless, we had normal everyday wasps making their nest in the front of our house and some skinny kinda yellow looking wasps in the back yard. We saw where the normal everyday wasps had nested. As yet we haven't seen the actual home of the backyard wasps but first discovered them while covering the pool for the winter. Suddenly three groups of about 100 each were RIGHT THERE!!!! Never saw the King of the Castle move quite so fast! As soon as we discovered that the wasps appeared to be sleeping, he began taking pictures so he could brag about his adventure.
The spiders are something that usually appear every fall. Personally I enjoy watching them as long as they don't get too close. But when our middle son summoned me to the garage to show me a black widow spider, I wasn't so thrilled. He began explaining the markings and identifications and I squished it.
A second spider built a beautiful web right outside our kitchen window. That spider was huge! I enjoyed watching, in safety, from inside of the kitchen while washing dishes. But our two youngest kids insisted it go away and they weren't going to be the ones to accomplish this. So, the King of the Castle stepped in and saved the day.
Now those pesky skinny yellow looking wasps were a different story. The King and our fourth in line to the thrown devised a plan. The King brought home two cans of wasp and hornet spray that had a jet stream of 27 feet. His heir set up a bright light to shine where the wasps were known to be hanging out. A second back door was unlocked so that the King/pest conqueror could run around to the other side of the house and quickly escape into our yellow garage should the wasps decide to fight back. And yes, he did use that door! The remainder of the great wasp hunt was carried out thru window screens and an occasional opened and quickly closed door.
That mouse. Oh boy that mouse. Unlike most mice, there were no little 'signs' left lying around. Just an occasional glimpse of a quick little gray creature running from under one appliance to another. The kids and I had tried sticky traps but the mouse was too smart for that. So, again the King of the Castle came to the rescue. After he baited the snapping traps with peanut butter, we waited. Expecting to hear a snap and a scream any moment, we waited some more....until this morning. As the King was getting ready to leave for work, he woke me to tell me he had sent me something on my phone. Two pictures of the trapped mouse and the caption "I'm stuck!"
Spiders gone. Mouse gone. And while there are still a few wasps to conquer, I am confident that our great wasp hunter and wasp hunter junior will make short work of those soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment