Weeds And Wasps

Weeds and wasps are the bane of my life, and they show up about the same time of year.  I'll give them P for persistence because neither will give up, no matter how hard I try to eradicate them.  So far in the last couple of weeks I've sprayed five beginner wasp nests under the rail and under the eaves on the house and taken down three in the barn.  These are the paper wasps that build marvels of construction, intricate honeycomb structures of a tissue paper substance in which to lay eggs so there will be more wasps.  Google tells me that the nests are made of ground plant fibers and wasp spit.  Who knew that wasps had saliva?!  I used to be able to find a nonpoisonous spray to use in the barn, but no longer.  I won't spray poison down there, so have to take down those nests with a broom handle.  Fortunately, wasps are not active in the morning and that lessens the possibility of a retaliatory attack.  (That was a lesson learned the hard way.)

I'm surprised the mud daubers haven't shown up yet as there is plenty of raw material for them to work with after all the rain.  Their nests are exceptionally durable honeycomb structures of tiny mud balls mixed with spit (again with the spit!).  Google says that mud daubers are not aggressive, but I don't ask for ID or credentials before destroying these insects.

It was another bluebird day and I could stand being cooped in the house just so long.  My constant companion and I went outside to the herb garden.  My intent was to do a bit of weeding, but Bess just wanted to lie in the sun.  Unfortunately, she wanted to lie right where I was pulling weeds.  I worked around her so there is a dog-shaped island in the yard.  The chickens love it at this time of year because I throw them the results of my work.  I weeded until I couldn't stand up straight, and the yard looks as if I hadn't done anything.  Danged weeds.