All Creatures Great and Small: Part II

We have another "small creatures" plague.  This time, it's not ants.  It's not even *shudder* spiders.  Shhh, don't say that out loud--they might hear you!  This time, thank you God, the problem is outside.  Right outside the door to the backyard, in fact.


You need to understand the background here.  About 17 years ago, my sister gave my mother a purebred Dachshund puppy.  My sister didn't pay much for him because Oliver was, um, slightly irregular.  He had reverted front leg paw joints.  It made him look like he was walking on his elbows.  Anyway, he was tiny and cute and needed to be housetrained.  Which meant he needed to do his business outside.  Since he was awfully tiny and had that sad-eyed, hound-dog look, my father built an extended overhang over the door to the backyard.  To protect him, you see, from rain and snow.  [insert eye roll here]


Oliver went to the Great Fire Hydrant about three or four years ago.  This stupid-looking overhang is still there.  So I told my mom it needed to come down.  It was ugly and it blocked the sun which kept that portion of the patio from drying thoroughly, which, in turn, allowed moss and mold to flourish there, unless I spray a bleach solution on it every couple of months, which then causes my asthma to kick in and makes me cough and wheeze.  Well, the mold sets off my asthma, too, so either way, it needs to come down.  My mother looked stricken when I said this.  Not only was it something my father built, but it reminded her of Oliver.  [eye roll]


I grew up with bees and wasps in our area.  I was never stung, but my sister was.  Of course, she had stepped on the stupid thing getting out of a pool, so I can't say they were attracted to her.  We had a German Shepherd that liked to catch flies and eat them.  One time, she caught a bee instead.  Poor dog's face swelled up.  She never caught another bee, though!  No, I am not digressing here, there is a connection if you just be patient.

A few years back I bought an umbrella for our patio table.  The second year I had it, wasps built a nest inside it during the early part of Spring.  After I sprayed it and hosed it down, I had it up so it could dry.  A sudden thunder storm broke the umbrella, so that was the end of that.  But not the end of the wasps.  This must be the type of wasp we had! --> 


Three years ago I notice a wasps nest on the underside of the overhang.  I took one of the four or five cans of spray still left and sprayed it.  End of story--for that year.


Last summer I notice a couple of wasps nests.  More spray.  But they came back!  They built in another spot, of course, but I must have sprayed five or six nests, total.


So this Spring, I'm watching that [expletive deleted] overhang and trying to convince my mother to let me tear it down.  I sprayed a nest in April.  I sprayed three nests in May.  Another two were dispatched in June.  Now, in July, I've already shut down seven.  And we're only half-way through the month.  And I'm all out of wasp spray and have nine days to go before payday.  And I know there are more.  I saw them this morning. Just before I fled the scene after my wasp spray ran out.


On the plus side (my silver lining!), my mother has finally consented to letting me tear down the overhang.  Except now I have to wait until fall, after the first freeze, to make sure they're dead.  Just because I've never been stung before doesn't mean I want to start now!


I'm going to look for this:

I'll be back