July 15, 2007

I'm Robbo the Llama And I'm A Coward

Remember the nest of bald-faced hornets that stung my attention Friday evening? Remember how I said I was going to grab some wasp spray and take it down?

Well. Armed with said wasp spray, I crept out at dusk last evening to have a go at the thing. I got closer.....and closer....and closer....and realized that my previous estimation that it was the size of a bowling ball was, erm, sadly under the mark. More like one of those golf course water coolers in reality.

Faced with this revised vision of my expectations and already feeling that a hundred pairs of eyes were watching me, daring me to start something (not to mention the residual effects of having been nailed by at least three of the blighters already), I........retired.

No way.

No freakin' way.

Not only is the damned thing 'uge, it sits nearly twenty feet up in a tree. I would practically have to stand directly under it to get a clean shot.

Perhaps in my yoot, perhaps in my younger, more carefree, what my crew coach would have called my "back alley" days, I would have weighed in and started shooting. But not now.

Yes, I am a coward. But perhaps I'm old enough now that I don't mind being called one so much. (I know there's a literary tag about this somewhere, but I just can't quite get it at the moment.)

Our handyman is coming out in the morning to assess the situation. If he feels that he can't take down the nest himself, we're going to call in the pro's. In the meantime, the back yard remains more or less off limits.

Sigh.

By the way, did I ever mention that one of my ancestors was a knight of King Arthur? (I think this is where I get my musickal turn, too.) Check out the family home movie:

Posted by Robert at July 15, 2007 08:42 PM | TrackBack
Comments

In the Sleepy home we call that "intelligent" not "cowardly". Even without the sting allergies that both Tim and I lay claim to, messing with something that big is just not wise unless you seriously know what you're doing.

So...good call!

Posted by: beth at July 16, 2007 06:28 AM

Robbo:

You made the right decision. From 'Top Gun' an appropiate line: "...better to retire and save your aircraft, than to push a bad position."

Posted by: kmr at July 16, 2007 11:38 AM

I wouldn't tackle a nest that size without a beekeeper's hat, a sweatshirt outside of a t-shirt, wash gloves, and REAL wasp and hornet spray. You know, the stuff that sends a stream 10-15 feet.

Posted by: Hucbald at July 16, 2007 12:58 PM

Even the stuff that shoots 20 or 30 feet won't kill the inside of a nest that big. We had a nest of yellow jackets only about the size of a cantaloupe that we tried to take out with the grocery store spray. They hunkered down in there and toughed it out - the bastards.

Pep finally took the water hose and set the stream on laser. He destroyed the entire nest with a high velocity, narrow jet of water. There was nothing left for them to return to - but we re-poisoned the area just to get any that wandered back.

I hates me some hornets.

Posted by: Chai-rista at July 16, 2007 02:33 PM

While you were creeping up on the nest, did the thought "Hey, that's not a moon!" ever enter your head?

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at July 16, 2007 07:03 PM