B is for Bravery, and I awarded myself that medal yesterday. When Tree Guy and I were fiddling around with the tractor, we noted a large number of wasps buzzing around under the upside down bucket covering the exhaust pipe. Armed with a can of spray, TG was reluctant to get close enough to give it a shot and besides, the wind was blowing. Steve had been swarmed by wasps as a child and was absolutely phobic about any insect with a stinger. Big, burly man that he was, many was the time I would hear a panicky voice yelling at me to "Come quick!," and I'd have to deal with whatever bee or wasp that had come close to him. I told Tree Guy that I would take care of the current problem. I'm not exactly afraid of wasps, but I certainly am aware of potential danger. They are fairly dormant early in the morning, but I still needed to pluck up my courage to lift that bucket. (I was never a fast runner on my best day.) Holy Toledo! There was a huge nest filled with eggs and totally covered in slow-moving adults. I sprayed the heck out of everything in sight and escaped unscathed. Success breeds ambition, and I went on the hunt for other nests. Another big nest was just inside the screen door to one of the sheds, but the bonanza was, in all places, inside the breaker panel on the house. Six large nests with eggs were plastered in there, again covered in wasps. It was starting to warm up by that time and I decided against pushing my luck any further.
Down in the goat pen, there was another kind of problem. Fence Guy had brought some sort of connector doohickeys to attach to the hot wire so I could pull the wires back to let the goats through the gate to the new pen. Evidently one connector had not been firmly attached and it and that wire were laying on the ground. I've never tried to hide the fact that electricity scares me silly...even low-volt hot wire. Logic told me that if the wire was down, the connection to the solar battery had been broken. Logic probably told Steve that a wasp wouldn't kill him. Logic doesn't have much to do with it when faced with something scary. Well, I couldn't leave that wire hanging so I picked it up, reattached it to the connector, and wiped my sweaty brow and palms. No shock, no blue sparks, no singed skin. Another fear faced and overcome. And, yes, Kathy V., B is for Beer, which I had as soon as I went back to the house after barn chores!
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4 comments:
B is also for Bocahantas! I'm proud of you and impressed with your determination. What a fine job you did. Or were your efforts driven by the need to feel you had earned that beer at the end of the day?
What came to mind when I read of your B-ravery and P-erserverance against A-dversity was: "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!"
I knew that I had heard that quote growing up, but didn't know if it was an accurate quote, and as I started typing it in the Google search box, it popped in before I was even finished. Guess my relatives who always said it, knew of which they spoke...but yes, we can substitute W-oman...H-ear M-e R-oar...and make that H-ear B-ocahontas R-oar! U GO GIRL!
Checking our breaker box today. Have searched the usual places for the wasps, eaves, feed room, the ends of the pipes on the clothes line, etc. We have had them in the house, small, groggy ones. Need to get more creative with our hunt. Ongoing battle, wasp hunting, no matter how you look at it.
Wow, Kathy, it sounds like you and Bo can do a tag team and keep each other on your toes, or hooves, as it were!!
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