For the past three summers wasps have made nests on the side of our deck. Everytime the nest appeared Roy attacked it with wasp spray and a golf club. After his attacks on their home, the wasps seemed to take a hint and pretty much disappeared. This summer is a different story. The wasps are angry and they've started fighting back. They started off harmless. Making their presence known when we were on the swing set or in the pool. On Saturday they actually started attacking.
It all started like a normal summer. The nest appeared in it's usual spot. Roy bought two cans of 30ft wasp spray from Home Depot (I think he secretly enjoys conquering the nest). For awhile things were quiet. Whenever a few would appear, Roy would get the wasp spray and take care of business. We felt we were in control of the situation. Of course we had some suspicion there was a nest nearby.
On Saturday we were in Ste Genevieve enjoying a weekend winery trip with Steve and Kelly when we got the call. My parents went to our house to let the dogs out in the evening. Dewey, our bichon, was making his way back up the deck stairs when he was hit. My dad said he was yelping and as he made his way down the stairs to save him, he too was stung twice in the elbow. The war was on.
We returned home on Sunday ready for battle. Tyler was ready dressed in a firefighter hat, froggy rain boots, and a giant squirt gun (of course we would never allow him to actually battle wasps). Roy made a trip to Home Depot to purchase his two cans of 30ft wasp spray and then stood outside the new nest location. The wasps found a home for themselves under the shingles on our roof on the side of our house. As they exited the nest Roy sprayed them and yelled at them until they were clearly dead. He successfully killed 10 wasps and I've never been prouder. On Sunday night we made the decision to call an exterminator an just squash (ha squash!) the problem for good.
Monday night Roy decided to give the wasps one final warning and attacked a nest on the side of the deck with the spray and a golf club. Apparently they were watching and Roy swears they set a trap for him. As he was walking back up the deck stairs he noticed a wasp lying on the stairs. Just in case it wasn't dead he smacked it with the golf club. It was probably just out of frustration and so the dogs wouldn't step on it. Anyway as he was beating the defenseless wasp another one stung him 3 or 4 times in the arm. Today he has a giant welt on his bicep.
I'm sorry this was so long.
*****UPDATE*****
After 3 visits from Rottler (exterminators) we believe we are wasp free. There were a total of 4 nests. Two on our deck (one was empty). One under shingles on the side of the house and one in the gutter on the same side of the house. I guess the word in the wasp community was that the Parenzuela house was the perfect location to raise a wasp family. We still have two cans of 30ft wasp spray on hand. Just in case. ;)
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