Haha, totally! I think knowing where to avoid them and being able to watch them helped me. I also really enjoyed the book Insectopedia by Hugh Raffles, which gave me a much broader perspective on our relationships with insects.
I was fascinated by this and now look at yellow jackets a little differently. When I was about eight and attending a day camp in our Connecticut town, I was included in a group of older kids for one of those elaborate team hide and seek games. I spotted an indentation overlaid with grass right in the middle of a few trees. A perfect hiding place. I hollered to several companions on my team and we dove in, scooched down and then just as quickly ran out screaming pursued by a horde of yellow jackets whose nest we had inadvertently invaded. I’ve never been stung so many times in my life. The older kids in the group hooted for days about that but I never really got mad at the insects. After all, I had sat on their house.
Oh ack, so painful! That's a hard one to get over. I remember swinging on a clothesline bar as a kid and having them all come out the end of the tube. I probably never ran so fast. It's hard to blame them as you say when you sit/swing on their home. I'm getting better at spotting their doorways, but sometimes a collision is hard to avoid.
Funny timing because we just moved in to a new house on Friday and I got stung by a wasp for the first time in years. It hurts. My spouse hates bugs and wasps especially and will BOOK it away. I don't like to be close to wasps but I am glad they're here. Also that reminds me I need to figure out how rescue a wasp my spouse trapped a room upstairs (open windows, no screens yet.) I hope it figures out how to fly back outside.
(it landed on my leg and I was letting it do it's thing figuring it wouldn't sting unless I startled it but my spouse was starting to freak out, causing me to startle and yeah)
Ugh they really do sting, I'm always surprised by how sharp/painful it is. Hopefully they'll know to leave you alone and get out of the house, always a tricky situation. I like them out in the world, not in a room (I'm sure they feel the same). Best wishes for your new house!
I learned to live with yellowjackets at my previous house where I had a large vegetable garden. They were always around, and seemed to really appreciate the water that was available to them. I left them to their own devices and never once got stung. One moment that won me over was when they swarmed in and devoured a caterpillar nest on a tree - it didn't take long to eat them up!
What I won't tolerate is them building nests in/on the house. Twice we've seen them attempting to make use of odd holes in the siding. Duct tape over the hole puts an end to that.
Duct tape is the best, truly. I can't imagine watching them eat a caterpillar, insane! Our flowers were definitely pest-free last year, not a hole in sight, those wasps did their job.
Though when I think about it, they totally left the monarch caterpillars alone (guess the monarch's poison works well -- good system for me as I got to watch them all).
I loved every beautiful word! thank you Amy Jean!!
E. Jean Carroll!!! <3 <3 <3 wow, thank you so much!!
Thank you for giving me appreciation for something I have struggled to have any appreciation for!
Haha, totally! I think knowing where to avoid them and being able to watch them helped me. I also really enjoyed the book Insectopedia by Hugh Raffles, which gave me a much broader perspective on our relationships with insects.
I was fascinated by this and now look at yellow jackets a little differently. When I was about eight and attending a day camp in our Connecticut town, I was included in a group of older kids for one of those elaborate team hide and seek games. I spotted an indentation overlaid with grass right in the middle of a few trees. A perfect hiding place. I hollered to several companions on my team and we dove in, scooched down and then just as quickly ran out screaming pursued by a horde of yellow jackets whose nest we had inadvertently invaded. I’ve never been stung so many times in my life. The older kids in the group hooted for days about that but I never really got mad at the insects. After all, I had sat on their house.
Oh ack, so painful! That's a hard one to get over. I remember swinging on a clothesline bar as a kid and having them all come out the end of the tube. I probably never ran so fast. It's hard to blame them as you say when you sit/swing on their home. I'm getting better at spotting their doorways, but sometimes a collision is hard to avoid.
Funny timing because we just moved in to a new house on Friday and I got stung by a wasp for the first time in years. It hurts. My spouse hates bugs and wasps especially and will BOOK it away. I don't like to be close to wasps but I am glad they're here. Also that reminds me I need to figure out how rescue a wasp my spouse trapped a room upstairs (open windows, no screens yet.) I hope it figures out how to fly back outside.
(it landed on my leg and I was letting it do it's thing figuring it wouldn't sting unless I startled it but my spouse was starting to freak out, causing me to startle and yeah)
Ugh they really do sting, I'm always surprised by how sharp/painful it is. Hopefully they'll know to leave you alone and get out of the house, always a tricky situation. I like them out in the world, not in a room (I'm sure they feel the same). Best wishes for your new house!
I learned to live with yellowjackets at my previous house where I had a large vegetable garden. They were always around, and seemed to really appreciate the water that was available to them. I left them to their own devices and never once got stung. One moment that won me over was when they swarmed in and devoured a caterpillar nest on a tree - it didn't take long to eat them up!
What I won't tolerate is them building nests in/on the house. Twice we've seen them attempting to make use of odd holes in the siding. Duct tape over the hole puts an end to that.
Duct tape is the best, truly. I can't imagine watching them eat a caterpillar, insane! Our flowers were definitely pest-free last year, not a hole in sight, those wasps did their job.
Though when I think about it, they totally left the monarch caterpillars alone (guess the monarch's poison works well -- good system for me as I got to watch them all).