Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Wasps and Mosquitoes

Maybe I'm naive, but I believe in a grand plan. I don't think we all just randomly evolved out of some ooze. Everything (or I should say almost everything) around me logically points to the influence of some master designer. There are only a few things that baffle me, that make me wonder, "What on earth were they thinking?!?"

Wasps and mosquitoes have made the short list. I cannot for the life of me understand their purpose. I was told once that wasps keep down pests in the garden, but I can definitively say that this summer we had a backyard full of them, and we still managed to have every bug under the sun crawling around our plants.

And don't even get me started on mosquitoes. While living in Canada, I spent most of the summer fending these suckers off with everything I could. I have a theory that the unfathomable cold up there manages to kill almost everything, but somehow, it makes the mosquitoes grow bigger. Most of the ones I saw were the size of a nickel. Any bigger, and they'd probably be able to pick me up and take me back to their nest. Repelant did nothing. I have a sneaking suspicion they've developed some kind of immunity to the stuff and it has become like some kind of perfume.

The point of this rambling post? All summer, there have been a steady flow of wasps hanging out by the front door. It's great for solicitors. The wasps are almost as effective as one of those huge guard dogs. The down side is if we have anyone else come to the door. Well, we just found out why we are the lucky ones to have so many black and yellow friends. It turns out there is a small chunk missing from the foundation of our house. Those inventive little buggers decided that was the perfect spot for their new mansion, and those punks got in there and reproduced faster than any rabbits. Now I just have to wait for the winter and then I'll seal up the hole. Until then, I'll try to make the most of it, so if you have any solicitors you want to send my way, just let me know. I'll try to aggitate the hive so we might even get to see a good stinging.

4 comments:

Shorty said...

We have quite a lot of mosquitoes in Texas, too, and I recently heard a tidbit you might find interesting about them. There was a report on NPR (National Public Radio) by some scientist that really likes mosquitoes and studies them in great depth, and she said that the females are the only ones that bite...they they want the protein in our blood to feed their thousands of eggs. I know that doesn't help the dilemma of why they aggravate and torment us, but it might be something you didn't know before.

Happy swatting!

Nathan said...

That is fascinating and creepy all at the same time. It makes sense, though. Maybe this will help me swat harder knowing I have the potential to get rid of a bunch of eggs in the process...

trublubyu said...

my bro-in-law found a wasp nest in the wall of their shed and shot some of that expanding foam into the hole. it took care of their prob. ick, wasps.

Nathan said...

Yeah, I can't wait to get the foam out and seal up all the holes. I'm also going to invest in someone to spray the outside of our house and fence every year.

They WILL learn to fear my house.