© irene waters 2015
These little wasps had made their home in our outdoor area and I identified them as native bees. A blogging mate informed me otherwise but I refused to believe her. She advised that I get rid of them but I left them, unable to bring myself to kill these little critters that were harming no-one. That was until Roger brushed the tree and had a number of very painful stings. He didn’t have my sensibility and killed them immediately. Always though one survives and lives to rebuild — until Roger becomes aware of their presence.
© irene waters 2015
© irene waters 2015
In response to Ed’s Sunday Stills the next Challenge
© irene waters 2015
About Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist
I began my working career as a reluctant potato peeler whilst waiting to commence my training as a student nurse. On completion I worked mainly in intensive care/coronary care; finishing my hospital career as clinical nurse educator in intensive care. A life changing period as a resort owner/manager on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu was followed by recovery time as a farmer at Bucca Wauka. Having discovered I was no farmer and vowing never again to own an animal bigger than myself I took on the Barrington General Store. Here we also ran a five star restaurant. Working the shop of a day 7am - 6pm followed by the restaurant until late was surprisingly more stressful than Tanna. On the sale we decided to retire and renovate our house with the help of a builder friend. Now believing we knew everything about building we set to constructing our own house. Just finished a coal mine decided to set up in our backyard. Definitely time to retire we moved to Queensland. I had been writing a manuscript for some time. In the desire to complete this I enrolled in a post grad certificate in creative Industries which I completed 2013. I followed this by doing a Master of Arts by research graduating in 2017. Now I live to write and write to live.
Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
Amazing!
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If I’d known they were wasps I don’t think I would have gone for such close close-ups.
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I love the design of them, I have never seen such a thing! And I agree, wasps are unpredictable and their stings hurt for hours ☺
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Luckily, touch wood, I’ve not had the joy of being stung. They are amazing homes they build though.
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Wow! Our wasps build in circular cones. I wonder if the difference has to do with vegetation or climate.
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Ours, too! Weird. And cool. Nature is so geeky cool.
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Same with ours too…either way, I have a morbid fear of wasps!
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I have an ability to just ignore totally. Like the huge spider that lives in our bedroom. I just tell myself that they are more scared of me than I am of them and I can let them be. One day I’m sure I’ll live (or die) to regret this philosophy.
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Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that in any shape or form… !
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Yes I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that one. 🙂
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🙂
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Are your circular cones made from mud? These are paper wasps which I don’t know if they are confined to hotter climates. We had them in Vanuatu as well. They hung from our roof eaves and we had a ledge around the outside of the house with a long way to fall below it as we were perched in the tree tops on the side of a cliff. I forced Roger out onto the ledge one day for I don’t know what but neither of us knew the wasps were there until he was stung quite badly. They were the same kind of wasps as these.
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They are made from mud in the UK Irene (I think the same in the States from what I remember as we had one outside our house once, but Charli and Sarah will put me right on that one) and also hang from the eaves or worse, indoors in lofts and attics. I’ve never heard of paper wasps. No wonder Roger wanted to get rid of them after that episode! I wonder if you’ve remember why he went out on the ledge..bet he never did that again, yikes 😮
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No why I can’t remember. I know it was at my insistence. We have mud wasps also. The sting from a paper wasp is worse. Perhaps it is a climate thing as to what type you get or possibly whether they can find mud or not.
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Roger must have rued the day he went out there…oh the things we make our hubbies do eh? Oh I hope never to come across a paper wasp, I’ve had stings from mud wasps (yellow jackets as they are called in the States, right?) and they are bad enough… 😦
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Yes we are tough on our husbands but I can’t help thinking that better they are stung than us. You know that from experience.
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Oh yes, I certainly do Irene, I certainly do 😀
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😀
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Hubbie says the ones here are paper wasps. They build nests that hang from the roof or top of our covered entranceway. Delightful when you’re trying to get in and your key doesn’t work.
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Yes mine are paper wasps also but perhaps there are many varieties as this on is using a pot plant tree to hang from.
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I believe I remember this ! 🙂
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Yes, you gave me the advice which I ignored. 🙂
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How like me ! – always lecturing people … Sighh … Comes from spending my entire school life in the one convent school, Irene. 😐
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You think you learnt to be a nun? Wouldn’t have you any other way though.
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😉
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We have some solitary ground wasps here (Pennsylvania, USA). I’d just wish they’d go in the field across the creek. We do also have wasps that build paper nests like the ones you have hanging, but on the side brick area of our home.
http://www.colonialpest.com/solitary-ground-digger-wasps/
And the other day I had a visitor in my kale. An American Daddy Longlegs
http://mentalfloss.com/article/59455/15-fascinating-facts-about-daddy-longlegs
I was also bitten a few years back in Florida by a No-See-Um
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/aquatic/biting_midges.htm
The bite I got swelled to about the size of a quarter in the palm of my hand. I was trimming a hedge for a relative.
Thanks for your photos. Clever bugs. But when they are harmful one needs to encourage them to build at a safe distance. Especially if they bite when protecting their nests. And humans have reactions to their venom.
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Thanks Jules for all that interesting info. I have learnt heaps from it and found the daddy long legs particularly interesting. Particularly that we in Australia have a different spider we call dll which probably is very toxic but unable to bite. We get sand flies here and probably midges also but luckily I have been unaware of a bad reaction to a bite. I assume all of mine are sand fly bites. Hope you recovered fully from your bite.
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That one bite was from years ago. I know mosquitoes like me – So I have to be prepared when I venture out. I also have some tactile plant issues. Poison Ivy and other relatives of that plant. I went to check on the DLL – I saw webbing, but no body was on my kale last night. Bugs are cool. Some at a distance 😉
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Take care and I’d look carefully at all your kale leaves – you wouldn’t want to eat a DLL
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🙂 I might start rinsing the veggies outside! Some ants have found their way in too. I’d rather have my ants covered in chocolate! Somebody made me eat one that way once!
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My father was in to all the exotic foods. Chocolate ants, mutton birds in tins with their heads still attached. Just totally gross things. I know I was forced to eat some weird foods but some I just wouldn’t open my mouth for.
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I remember being told I had to eat liver when I was young. I ended up going to bed hungry because I would not eat even a quarter of an inch square in an hours time. It depends on what one grows up with. I am better than I was with new foods, but some. No thank you!
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Parents like to try and make you eat the most inedible of foods on the premise they are good for you. I’m with you on almost all offal. Lucky as an adult you can eat to please yourself most of the time.
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I refused to eat liver while pregnant too! 😉 Not sure what the big deal is about (especially expensive) pate.
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I agree.
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Wasps give painful stings and are toxic to some people. The trick is to find a comfortable balance. Frankly I wouldn’t allow a wasp nest to be near my house.
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Roger agrees with you and so do I in principle. I just don’t want to be the one to kill them.
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Just had one of these in our house today. Gives new meaning to the term “rude awakening” with my two boys running into my room shouting about a wasp in the house upstairs near their rooms. I was sure I’d get stung and didn’t know what the hell I’d do if/when that happened. Of course, I was the hero when I got it outside unharmed and I was unstung. 😉
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That would have been horrible but it must have been worth it to be a hero for a day in the eyes of your two boys. 🙂
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Yeah. I was so cool (for a day). 😉
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Such unusual nests. I did one of my first blogs on the subject. I hate to remove the nests as well. Once they built on on a window and I could see into the hive. I loved it. Unfortunately friends stayed in my house while I was at the beach and when I came home, they had had it removed. I was really sad that I hadn’t told them not to touch it. enjoyed your pictures and story. http://judydykstrabrown.com/2015/08/17/step-by-step/
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Thanks Judy. I do think we can all live in harmony. It’s just a matter of being aware of them and respecting their space.
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I know. I had Pasiano move the nest over my kitchen door only because a visiting guest said he would never enter or leave that door until I did. My visiting tyrant!!! (Said affectionately.) I’m going to try to find the link to send you, because I sort of forced P. to over-protect himself and as a result the process was rather hilarious.
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Hope you can find it – it sounds like fun.
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Here’s the wasp story, Irene.
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Thanks for the link Judy. I loved your wasp removal technique. I know I have buckleys of getting Roger to do the same. 🙂
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Want to borrow my gear? Pasiano couldn’t get it off fast enough and he’s done fine relocating wasps without it ever since. When he laughs, he giggles, and quite a bit of giggling was done during this process! He especially enjoyed the scarf and rubber gloves!!!
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I’ll borrow Pasiano. He probably thought you were a strange foreigner. No wonder he giggled.
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He’s known me for 14 years so he is pretty accustomed to me. I was teaching English to both Yolanda and Pasiano for awhile and we would collapse in laughter several times during each session. I appreciate being around people with senses of humor. Life is growing to short to put up with the formal, staid or grumpy–not to mention the unimaginitive. So we giggle, instead.
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Laughing is a great way to live. I went to a laughing workshop recently and it really was a lot of fun. I left vowing to laugh every day in a similar fashion and I’ve been slack. You’ve reminded me to do it again.
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My best friends who lived next door and two other friends who made me laugh every day all moved away two years ago. I’ve been seeking laughs ever since! These blogs have furnished a few and I have a monthly film group that comes to my house that furnishes lots of laughs. Also, one of the friends moved back who is a pretty good laugh inducer–(Audrey) so I’m getting my laughs back!!! An important factor in life, for sure!!
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Absolutely. Apparently the good effects of laughter occur whether it is genuine laughter or not. I said to my husband when we were walking the dog we were going to laugh when we got home for ten minutes. I forgot til now so I am off to laugh before I forget again. LOL
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So glad to bring back past pleasant memories.
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To me, this would have also qualified for the WP photography challenge “creepy”. I’m not a fan of wasps.
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From the comments I’ve been getting I think you aren’t the only one who is creeped out by the little critters.
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Great photos, and I am now cowering 😉
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LOL 🙂 ❤
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