Wasps In Our Face
Oddly, Karl and I seem to be hosting wasps this year – more so than any other year I can remember.
Although I haven’t found a nest, I’ve occasionally seen yellow jackets hanging around. And a few weeks ago, while sitting on my porch working on my computer, I noticed a persistent, high pitched whine of a buzz. Upon investigation, I discovered several rows of clay-colored mud in the shape of pan pipes behind a set of shutters. Mud wasps.
I waited until I saw several leave and knocked down their adobe homes. They apparently took the eviction to heart and have not returned.
Paper Wasps
I cannot say the same for a nest of hornets, or paper wasps, that has taken up residence in a simply astonishing venue.
In early August I was upstairs on the second floor of our home. I walked into our home office to scan some information onto a thumb drive. As I was thumbing through reference book, I heard an intermittent clacking sound on the window, which faces east.
Imagine my surprise when I pulled back the white sheer curtain hanging in that window and found this:
Like an Ant Farm
Yes, I was one of those kids who had an Ant Farm when I was growing up: one of those plastic contraptions that allowed you to watch ants create their networks in dirt compressed between two clear plastic sides. It was amazing to watch those industrious creatures build tunnels and feed their queen, create worker ants and live in community.
Well, the hive being built up against our office window puts even the most elaborate ant farm I ever saw to shame. This thing is a work of art.
And yet? They will mess you up if you even think about getting near them.
That clacking noise I heard? That was the wasps apparently noticing my entry into the office and their displeasure with my presence. Had they been able to penetrate the glass in our window, I would’ve been mercilessly attacked.
I wish I could embed a small video into this blog so you could see and hear and experience the viciousness with which they tried to attack me when I lightly tapped on the window. It gives fresh and scary perspective to the adage warning against ‘stirring a hornets’ nest.’
Why So Many Wasps?
I had to wonder, though. After living in this house for almost 35 years and having no issues with wasps of any sort, why was I suddenly encountering at least three different kinds this summer?
And what in the world was with their undertaking a massive nest right in my face, literally on the window of our office?
And then I remembered: I’d even been stung by a wasp a few weeks earlier (exactly two weeks earlier, as a matter of fact), when I’d taken a friend to sit by the Tohickon.
I never would have guessed the message Wasps were bringing.
(T-802)