Tag Archives: Wasps

Poolside Picnic

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Click on photos to enlarge.

Lately, my water delivery has begun any time from midnight to 5:30 A.M.  I drain the hot tub and remove about 1/3 of the water from the pool the day before as by then the water is cold.  It streams into my cistern to be used for watering the garden and spare lot/sculpture garden below (no water wasted) and the nearly boiling-hot thermal water from Colima vocano 80 miles away comes streaming into my pool and hot tub to cool down a bit so I can actually make use of it by evening or the next morning.

Today I got up at 5:30 when I heard it streaming in. By 8, I noticed the hot tub was full and running over into the pool and when I went down to turn off the water, I noticed dozens of tiny black ants swarming over the 2-foot wide surface of the edging around the pool. Unable to see the purpose for their swarming, I nonetheless was able to see that a number of wasps were also swooping down to the stone surround. Then I realized that the wasps were actually feeding on the ants!  I ran in to get my phone to take photos to document this surprising event, but alas, when I returned, only ants remained. No wasps.  I then returned to the house to try to find something on the internet to back up what I’d viewed and Meta Al informed me that:

Yes, some wasps eat small black ants, while others do not. Some wasps are predators that hunt and eat insects, including ants, which can be a protein source for their larvae. However, other species are either parasitoids that lay eggs inside ants, or they may attack ants defensively when competing for resources, rather than eating them. (Info derived from AI)

Wasp (Or Hornet?) Haven

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Click on photos to enlarge.

This nest outside the window of the upstairs bathroom is at least 2 feet from top to bottom.  All of those black spots on it are wasps busy building their home. It is so close to the entrance that it is hazardous for those entering my gate from the street, so it will have to come down. I usually leave them alone if they are in a position that doesn’t inhibit entry or departure from the house.  Their last one they built under the stone decking by the pool and hot tub and they had a tiny entry spot it the side of the pool above the water line. That one I think I finally discouraged them from using–but only after a friend was stung while using the pool. I hate killing them and we usually just remove the nest and they follow it to wherever we dispose of it and build a new nest nearby. This time we’ll put it in the lower garden.  Do you see the smaller wasp nest on the wood beam to the upper right of this big one? Its circumference is probably the size of a dessert plate or small dinner plate.

Waspish: FOTD Jan 13, 2019

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For Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Psychedelic Visitor: Flower of the Day, Oct 7, 2018

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Agapostemon Sweat Bee.  A new one for me.  Thanks,Forgottenman, for identifying it.

Click to enlarge.

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For Cee’s Flower of the Day.

 

 

Cosmos: Cee’s Flower of the Day, Sept. 16, 2016

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Not the same flower as a few days ago, but possibly the same wasp.

Don’t miss this flower on Cee’s blog:  Beautiful and Weird!

Lit and Bit

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Lit and Bit

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IMG_8947 (1) IMG_8942 IMG_8944 IMG_8950As I was taking the picture of the sconces outside, in the dark, I was breaking off the bougainvillea vines that grew in front of them, sticking myself on the thorns, as usual.  Then I felt a sharp sting on my forearm and called out to Judy (a visiting writer who is doing a retablo workshop with me at my house) that I was stung by something.  Then I felt a very sharp sting on my leg, under my Levis.  I grabbed the place and squeezed the material of my Levis, running into the house, trying to get my shoes off and my jeans pulled down.  “It’s stinging me, it’s stinging me!” I said.

“What do I do?” Judy shouted.

“Pull my pants down!” I ordered. She did and I held on to the bundle I imagined inside the jeans–hoping it wasn’t the notorious and very poisonous Donald Trump caterpillar that has been discovered locally.  When I opened my fingers, there was instead a black wasp inside.  How he got inside my jeans I’ll never know.  Perhaps he fell off my arm when I received the first sting, fell to the ground and flew up my Levis in an attempt to get away.  At any rate, the stings hurt like Hell.  I ran to the bathroom, wet my wounds and sprinkled on meat tenderizer which helped to counteract the worst stinging, although my arm and leg are still swollen and tender to the touch.  How I suffer for my blog!!!
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For more light photos, go here: https://themomhood.wordpress.com/2015/11/28/prompt-stomp-week-9-calling-all-photographers/

Wasp Removal Tale

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Well, the story of the wasps continues.  After considering all angles, I decided that since the wasp nest was getting big enough to interfere with the barred gate outside the kitchen door, that it would have to come down eventually and better to do it now so they could get started on their next home.

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I wanted, however, a method of removal that would harm neither wasp nor Pasiano, who had volunteered to do the chore.  Through research, I learned that the best time to do it was early morning or evening.  Pasiano said he would be here today to do the job.  Of course, I forgot, so he surprised me in my nightgown, feeding the dogs right outside the kitchen door.  I went to get a robe and returned not only more clothed, but also with some vital coverup gear to protect him.  Bob’s old welder’s mask and a jacket with elastic at the wrists were musts.  We completed his ensemble with rubber gloves and one of my favorite scarves.

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He was a good sport and donned them all, but had a bit of a laughing fit and had to remove the helmet/mask until he could catch his breath.

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He showed me his solution to wasp removal–a hard plastic icecream container in a plastic bag.  He would put the container over the nest, scrape the nest off the wall and quickly close the plastic bag over it and carry the entire nest, wasps intact, down to the spare lot below me.

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The nest was quiet, with wasps clustered around on its surface.  None had yet stirred.  He climbed up on the ladder.  I watched from behind the glass door. The maneuver easily executed, he held the bag closed in one hand as he stripped off his battle gear. Not one fatality.  Not one sting.

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When he returned from the spare lot, he took the side of the ice cream container and scraped the residue of the nest off the wall.  Three tenacious black wasps remained–two still clinging to the residue from the nest, the other buzzing through the air a short distance away.

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Before I knew what he was about to do, Pasiano squashed the two remaining wasps with his fingers.  The other flew away.  So, our maneuver was blemished, as oftentimes happens in warfare.

Two minutes later, Pasiano was again pursuing his usual peaceful task of watering the plants.

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And I was left to put away the battle gear

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and to tell the tale.