This is a wasp’s nest. The wasps are relatively content and going about their daily business.
This is a wasps nest after I’ve stuck in a pipe and pored petrol down it. The wasps are not very happy at all.
This is a wasp nest with a piece of burning paper being stuck into it. The wasps are momentarily going to die a fiery and torturous death
This is what all the best dressed beekeepers are wearing this summer.
These photo’s were taken using the timer on the camera. Which is a good job really as it’s quite hard to take a decent picture when you are running away flapping your arms and screaming like a girl.
The explosion when I set fire to the petrol wasn’t particularly earth trembling. I am therefore a little concerned that it may not have been powerful enough. As I type there may well be hideously scarred survivors surveying the smoldering remains of their former homes, vowing never to rest until they have wreaked their terrible vengeance upon me.
I am considering investing in a mosquito net.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 4:00 pm
That’s hilarious. Somewhere there are probably wasp-rights activists plotting to come after you too.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 4:06 pm
I am such a person.
Was this the most compassionate way to kill them?
I’m sure it had to be done, but it does sound rather cruel.
I thought you were such a kind man.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Sympathy for the
devilwasp eh? An explosion seemed the quickest way to me, I didn’t fancy carting the whole nest down to the vets to get them all humanely put to sleep. I’m sure you can buy pesticides, but they are probably more unpleasant and also environmentally damaging.But seriously, my grandmother and sister are both allergic to wasp stings. They both have had extreme reactions to being stung. I don’t know if Evan or Amy are allergic too, but I don’t want to find out. The consequences of anaphylactic shock in kids their age could be very serious, particularly for Evan. Not a risk I’ll tolerate taking.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 4:34 pm
I take rabbits to the vet to be put to sleep when I find them dying of mexamatosis. £25 per rabbit.
I am on a budget now - only three rabbits per month. One time I took two rabbits in one day and I got in trouble, it was a bit expensive.
Wasps are probably only 25 pence per wasp though.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Great post! I too, recently declared war on the menacing bee hordes.
The Great Bee Battle of 2007!
I have located their retreat hideout, and am planning yet another chemical assault (as we speak). I will not be satisfied with anything less than total genocide!
Drink up little bee… Drink the purple kool-aid!
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Whoops, I guess I did not realize you were from accross the pond (so to say).
In case you did not get the purple kool-aid (or Flavor-aid) refrence, it was a cult mass murder/susicide that occd here in the states back in the 70’s.
They (over 900 people) drank “Flavor-aid” (kool-aid) laced with cyanide.
Jonestown
It would be so much easier if my bee’s nests would just “drink the kool-aid”!
Good luck!
David.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 4:55 pm
A rabbit goes into a sandwich shop. He studies the menu intently and then appears to come to a decision.
“What can I get you?” asks the woman behind the counter.
“A cheese toasty please” says the rabbit politely.
The woman dutifully hands over a cheese toasty and the rabbit goes on it’s way.
The next day the rabbit comes in the sandwich shop again and examines the menu carefully. Finally he approaches the woman and asks for a bacon toasty. She hands it over and the rabbit walks out the door.
The next day is Sunday and so the shop is closed, but bright and early on Monday morning the woman finds the rabbit waiting outside the shop for her to open up. She can’t help noticing that this time he’s looking very under the weather. His nose is running, his eyes are red, and he has bald patches in his fur.
“An egg toasty please” he asks in a croaky voice.
The woman behind the counter shugs and hands over the egg toasty. The rabbit takes one bite out of it and falls to the floor writhing in pain. The woman rushes to it’s side.
“What’s wrong!?” she asks.
“I’m dying,” croaks the rabbit, “but it’s my own fault”
“Why?” asks the woman with tears in her eyes.
“I’ve been mixin-me-toasties”
———–
I will now delete this blog and retire from the internet in shame.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 5:09 pm
That’s a very upsetting joke.
The introduction of mexamatosis was a disgrace, pure and simple.
Britian should be ashamed.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Look, I am so upset I have made spelling errors.
Most unlike me. *sniff*
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 5:17 pm
It had nothing to do with me. I wanted to pore petrol down the rabbit holes. Anyway, Britain has a great many things to be ashamed about
(I shall now stop trying to intentionally upset you)
Does NZ not have mexamatosis? I would have thought that someone would have used it to try and clear out the invasive rabbits, presuming you have invasive rabbits but I would have thought you do.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 5:22 pm
I have to battle wasps making little paper nests on the house and trees. Flammable substances and homes don’t mix well.
We also put up yellowjacket traps. How dumb are yellowjackets? If you saw a canister full of your friends, all screaming, “We’re trapped, go get help!” would you follow them into the chamber of doom?
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Phil - Maybe they think it’s a double bluff.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Oh dear I shall have to stop reading your blog as I am a lifelong paid up member of the ‘Wasps Are Our Friends’ Brigade, I cannot believe you inflicted such wanton and wholescale suffering on such innocents ;-)
Actually I am a bit concerned that you used petrol as a friend of mine used the tiniest bit of petrol to burn some rubbish, had it blow up in his face and ended up in hospital with quite severe burns…..mind you once his burns had healed quite a few of his facial wrinkles had gone, the doctor said it was a very drastic dangerous method of facial plastic surgery as it had the same effect as a deep chemical peel.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 9:14 pm
We have yellowjackets living below ground in our yard. I called the local pest control and they said that they don’t live in the ground.
Maybe I’ll burn them. I think I’ll use the magnifying glass though, as soon as the boys are done toasting ants.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Good choice wearing a Wisconsin shirt. No wasp in their right mind would want to head toward Wisconsin.
Sorry friends from WI, I couldn’t resist ;b
on Aug 24th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Next time try Gasoline
on Aug 24th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Or Gasolina if your feeling fiesty
on Aug 24th, 2007 at 5:17 am
jeff— i resemble that remark!
on Aug 24th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Petrol in a wasp nest sounds such fun, does anyone know where I can find a wasps nest, I have petrol, and a match, and a care-nither attitude towards being stung.
I got rid of a wasp nest in our shed a couple of years ago with some white powder that you sprayed on the nest grand entrance, the wasps crawl out to see what is happening, they tread in the powder and they die screaming, tumbling out of the hole in my shed crying “eye-ieeeee !” in best John Wayne film Red Indian stylee.
’twas so much fun that I was sorry when they were all dead, then I went in and ate me tea without washing me hands - I can report that the powder is not toxic to humans, god bless the scientists …
on Aug 25th, 2007 at 2:29 am
Get the net.
Totally. Get. The. Net.
on Aug 25th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Little Boy and I recently got ambushed and stung by wasps that were hiding under the tricycle. It was his first sting by ANYTHING and he did not even cry!