Comments on: Hornets

By: MaggieDR

MaggieDR — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:58:38 +0000

Creepy and cool. I’d have hit them with a second nerve gas dose before I dared take the nest down. We’ve had a few lesser wasps on our eaves. My husband goes out in the dead of night, wearing a coveralls and goggles. I am surprised my neighbors didn’t call the police.

By: lizsmith

lizsmith — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:13:51 +0000

Yeah. I hate to have to be the person who has to do the deed in cases like that. I suppose we’ll have to take the wasps’ nest down over the winter sometime, but they weren’t really bothering anybody, so we let them stay and build for the summer. Being on the eaves at the back of the house, second story, is a bit different than being on a highly trafficked drying shed, however.

I’ll bet the hive is pretty cool to look at up close, though.

By: mjd

mjd — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:52:15 +0000

How bout this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Baldie.jpg

Here’s hoping to see some deaths-head wasps show up in a Scott H Andrews story in the near future!

By: mjd

mjd — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:47:38 +0000

Yes, I too felt sorry for the hornets–particularly because if we had just managed to wait one more month, chances are the colony would have abandoned the nest and gone into dormancy for the cold weather. And then we wouldn’t have had to use the nerve gas at all. Unfortunately, what with being an herbal business, there wasn’t really that option. WiseWays needs access to those drying sheds to operate.

Thanks for the recommendation! I will give it a look.

By: scott andrews

scott andrews — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:12:58 +0000

shit, dude! glad you managed to throw the Ring in and fly an eagle to safety!

can we get a pic of one of these death’s-head wasps?

By: lizsmith

lizsmith — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:47:32 +0000

Do you want another one to add to your collection? I think it’s a big paper wasp nest.

You work there? Cool. I buy their stuff sometimes, I like it.

Have you ever looked into Machaelle Small-Wright’s work about co-creative science? It might interest you, it’s about the metaphysics of gardening. You could call it that, anyhow. Sort of.

I thought your story was fun to read, although I felt terribly sorry for the hornets, as I always do in these sorts of situations.

By: pantlessjohnny

pantlessjohnny — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:58:01 +0000

No worries — it’s just that “hives” in general make me ill… I think it’s a psychological thing. They’re like cancerous pieces of paper.

Bleh!

And I think I’m the big wussy here.

By: mjd

mjd — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:17:06 +0000

Hmm. Sorry about that. I guess it occurred to me people might be freaked out…just not to the degree of being ill. Maybe I should have put some of this behind a cut. “Squeamish, Look Away!” or something like that.

It’s not that I’m not a big wussy. I just tend to be scared of people rather than things.

By: pantlessjohnny

pantlessjohnny — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:14:18 +0000

Dude…

I’m kind of speechless. Beehives / Hornets nests actually physically repulse me. Reading the above has made me sick to my stomach (not that it weren’t fascinating nor show you have far greater balls/stupidity than I). But… damn… that’s just insane and gross.