Yellow Jackets SUCK!

[csziggy]

21. These guys were living in our pipe gate

The style we are buying these days have weep holes at the joints, perfect for wasps to crawl into and make well protected nests in the pipes. We try to check regularly but since I am just now getting so I can walk around much the gates here at the house have not been checked recently.

We'd gone through that gate earlier in the summer, between knee replacements and there were no wasps, so we didn't think they'd be there now. Our usual strategy is to stand back and throw something at the gate to see if the wasps swarm out of one of the holes. Then once they quiet down spray the heck out the hole(s) they come out of!

My next goal for working outside was to start pulling the beggar weeds that have taken over the flower beds but the wasps and honey and bumble bees love the flowers. I may have to wait for the first frost, or if it is as late as last year, until the shorter days finish the blooming season.

I kind of hate to pull the weeds since the honey bees seem to like their flowers better than any of the "good" flowers I would put in their place, even the salvias. But these stinking beggar weeds got so tall they block the view and the seeds have little hooks that grab onto clothes and hair and are a nuisance to get rid of.