Bear here...

Anybody afraid of wasps? I used to be afraid of them too. Then I got interested in the Small World and bumble bees (see the Save Our Bees page). I figured wasps weren't that different from bumbles, so the fear went away. I have seen many different wasps in our yarden. I have had a wasp land on my arm and my first reaction was "Oh crap" and a little fear. Then I took a breath, looked at the wasp, and said "Hi dude." I am thinking he or she could have been thinking the same thing. I gave my arm a light shake and it took off. No harm, no foul. We exist together. This theory was pushed and tested even more in 2020.

We noticed a wasp nest being built above our back door. These were Areal Yellow Jackets, known to be a-holes and have a reputation of being dangerous, provoked or not. I felt a thump on the back of my head that was a wasp "bumping" me as I went out the door, giving me a warning to move on. We didn't want to kill them and we didn't know who to call to get them safely moved, so we decided to handle it ourselves and hope we weren't being really stupid... Below are pictures of what we did and me getting ready for the worst...

I did a little research and there are four big rules to what I was about to do...

1. Armor up in case you screw up. Wear several layers and netting over your face. Dress like a bee keeper, no gaps in your clothing.
2. Do it at night when they are mostly asleep.
3. Use minimal light to see what you are doing. I read they can't see red light, adjust accordingly.
4. Have an escape plan in case things go FUBAR (bad). I had the back door partially open for quick escape and if any came in they were fair game to get smashed, just sayen... 

The sheet worked for Theresa for a while until she got stung, after which she starting just using our front door. I used the back door to go in- I usually made sure it was unlocked and easy to get through. No stings for me!

The wasps were only aggressive for two or three weeks, then for some unknown reason, they abandoned the nest. I think putting the sheet up reduced the possible size of the nest- maybe that's why they left? We decided not to take chances, though, and left the sheet up after it was too cold for the wasps. Supposedly wasps don't build nests next to abandoned nests, so we've left the nest there. It is really cool looking.

Everything went right. I clipped a sheet to the awning the best I could and used duct tape to secure the sheet above the door, so we could still go in and out. The wasps could fly above the sheet to get to their nest, but couldn't get a direct shot at us. Here are a couple close ups of the wasps doing their thing. In case you are wondering, yes, I used zoom on the camera, I'm not that trusting of these gals...

Some wasps are solo hunters, others that live in colonies and make group nests are considered "social wasps" In case we didn't have enough wasp pictures in this blog, here are the "social" areal yellow jackets enjoying a grape jelly social at our bird feeder (my guess is the birds were not amused)...

Type at ya later,
​Bear

You are cordialy invited to a history tour of what's been going on for 17 years under the large pine tree in our front yard. Be like Theresa, sit back, and enjoy...

Did you notice the first relaxing thing? I didn't for the first few years, then Theresa let me know how to get rid of a weekly chore. If you leave the pine needles where they fall on the ground, you don't have to mow, ever. Just sweep the pine needles off the sidewalks and back under the tree, easy. Exceptionally great news for me. I'm 6' 4" and the pine doesn't have 6 feet of clearance under its branches, so mowing sucked.

The next cool thing is: we decided to do front yard artwork in 2005 or 2006. You can see three stumps and some rocks behind the bench. That is StumpHenge. Here is a close up pic below, where you can see the stumps and how the rocks and crystals (which we got at a geologist's garage sale) were placed around them...

For a couple years (2015 - 2018) the pine tree provided good storage for our shitaki mushroom logs. It created plenty of year round shade to protect our $80 investment. The logs were from a commercial grower who was going out of business. It was a great investment. We got at least 5 to 10 lbs of shrooms each year for 5 years. 

The next big project was in 2010. We decided to try a rock garden under the pine tree. It's a tricky space because it's dry and shady under the pine, but Theresa figured it was sunny enough along the edge to try plants that like partial sun. We are almost done with creating and planting it in the pic below.

Here (below) is the rock garden two years later and we noticed a few things about the pine tree area:

• The pine needles still makes a nice ground carpet.
  
• The bench we put around the pine tree needed to go soon so the tree could keep growing.
• The garden didn't maintain its initial neat appearance, but still had its cool (at least in our opinions)....
  

Here is a better picture of 4 bumbles and a drinking buddy on the sedum plant:

The last project in this area was in 2018. We finally got a free little library in the front yard, where people could take our books or leave theirs. We even had a place to sit if you wanted to rest and read a while. The library is gone now- it wasn't used as much as we thought it would be. We put a bench there instead of the chairs for when we want to watch sunsets. See the standing rock to the left of the chairs? It is formed from stones from different geological eras. It also weighs over 500 lbs. It's staying there, no matter what projects we decide to pursue in the future. Just sayen. 

I'm guessing if you got this far you liked the historical tour, so thanks. Next up... who knows? Oh crud, that's my job ain't it?

Type at ya later, 
​Bear

Bear here...

Ever do something cool by accident? We have. Here is the history of our bird condo. It started in 2014 when we needed a place to temporarily put some limbs that we had trimmed from our trees. We made a pile and figured we could burn the limbs at our fire pit when we wanted to and keep the pile small enough to be rid of it by Winter. Below is a picture of our small brush pile.

We were wrong. By the time I wanted to burn the pile Theresa noticed it was full of birds. It was Fall, so no burning- we left it so the birds could have habitat over the Winter. It became our bird condo and it has been growing ever since. We both like it, so we don't try to burn it. It is good bird shelter for all seasons. Below are some pictures, see if you can count how many birds are there.

One day we noticed a young hawk waiting by the condo (below). He sat there and four birds took off from the condo and he went after them. While he was gone we saw at least three flights of birds leave the condo, each flight had at least 20 birds. When the hawk came back, everyone was gone. Who said birds weren't smart? ( Name story: We tend to name some of the wild critters we see in our yarden. Why do I call all hawks in our yarden, MaGee? I called that first hawk MaGoo after a cartoon character that couldn't see well. Theresa informed me the hawks had to be good hunters to survive the winter so I changed the name to the computer expert character (who a master at hunting information) from NCIS. Thus... Magee.)

Above is a better hawk shot at our bird feeders. We think it's cool, I am guessing the smaller birds and squirrels don't. Good thing they have a bird condo to hide in until he leaves. Some people think brush piles are ugly, we think they are cool because they bring wildlife into our yard and we get to watch it. If you'd like to see a hawk up close in your yarden, you might want to start a brush pile too.

Type at ya later
​Bear

Bear here... 

Ever been to one of those houses that is always clean enough you think the people have cleaning staff? Everything seems perfect all the time? That ain't us and I am guessing others feel the same way. While we always try to maintain a certain level of cleanliness, we don't sweep and dust every day. Cleaning the house every day sucks. We have better things to do. Theresa and I (mostly Theresa) came up with a plan that works for us. We have a monthly cleaning day, usually on the new moon.

Theresa inserts that the New Moon is a time of clearing out the old and then starting the new, so it's a perfect time for house cleaning. She also points out that one reason she was able to talk Bear into this system is that even he couldn't say that cleaning only once a month was too often. She likes the system because whenever she sees something untidy that is driving her nuts, she can tell herself that she'll get help cleaning that on the next cleaning day.

So sometime near the new moon everyone, even me, helps clean the house. Only the cats don't have to help. They tend to get in the way. (This was Clover, way back when, saying "OI, you forgot sumthin!")  

Like I said, we work, they sleep...

The plan we came up with has a few parts...

1. We hope to get everything done in 2 or 3 hrs, but sometimes it ends up taking all day. Usually it's only half the day. We also (try) to go into the day with a good attitude. Theresa is better at this than me. Music helps. When we're done, we get a treat meal (did someone say steak?) and the rest of the day to goof off. 
   
2. Next thing is we got a 2do list to keep track of what needs to be done once a month or a couple times a year, as well as the basic things we do every month. What would your basics be? Our minimum work includes: dust shelves and lights, sweep all rooms and move furniture to get into the corners, deep clean the kitchen and bathroom, have all dishes done, etc... The list can be as long or as short as you want. As a bonus, you get to cross things off the list, doesn't that feel good?
3. Like I said, every room gets swept and dusted, but we also choose one or two rooms a month to get extra treatment. Whatever untidiness happens to be bothering us (mostly Theresa) the most, such as cleaning closets, moving nicknacks to dust behind them better, washing the covers of the couch cushions, etc....
   
4. What are the (big?) projects we usually forget? It's usually a home maintenance list. Add these to your 2do "sometimes" list and keep track when you do them so you wont forget. Like cleaning the lint out of various machines like the dryer, refrigerator, or computer? Deep cleaning the refrigerator or freezer? Clearing out the cobwebs in the unfinished basement you don't go into often? Washing the curtains that are collecting dust?  We run hot water down our sinks then pour a pan of boiling water down to clear them of old grease (it's cheaper than calling a plumber). Look around, you will find stuff you usually miss, then don't forget to add those to the 2do list.

That's about it. Remember to take some small brakes if you are going to have a long list. As you can see below some breaks are more  intense than others...

Type at ya later,
​Bear