YELLOWJACKETS and divine intervention...

I have to admit that I'm not the most religious person in the world. Like others, I have my beliefs about what lies beyond and even what happens here on earth, but rarely do I ever talk about it. Sometimes its better to keep those ideas to yourself. It keeps everybody happy and out of a fuss. Same thing with politics.

But in this situation, I just had to blog about. It was my encounter with yellow jackets while mowing my yard today. Read on...

After returning from a morning doctor's visit (I have a horrible sinus infection from the air conditioning, I get one every year) I decided to mow my back yard and concentrate close to my bee hive because the grass was a little high. After having my yard graded, I planted grass, and now it is coming up like crazy, so I decided to mow and trim near my hive too. Even though I've been all around the hive with my weedeater, and without my protective overalls, I decided that since I would be using the lawn tractor, it might be a good idea to wear it just in case they get a little testy because of the noise. Besides, I'd already been stuck once today (a shot in the rear at the doctor's office) and didn't want to try for more from my girls.

I mowed all around the hive and didn't even get a response from my bees at all. I guess they had other things on their minds, and I was the least of their concerns. And while I was at it, I decided to mow up the fence line which separates my yard from my neighbor's. But the sun was beating down and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I started to get soaking wet with sweat from my overalls so I went inside the house to take them off and come back to finish mowing the back yard.

In jeans and a tee shirt, I cranked the lawn tractor and decided to continue mowing near the fence line. I made it right to the fence line and that's when I saw it. A cloud coming out of the ground. A thick cloud coming out of the ground. A thick, yellow cloud coming out of the ground and it was in a frenzy. I bet there were at least a hundred or more and the cloud kept getting thicker.

YELLOW JACKETS!

Now mind you, they were flying in the same exact spot I just ran over with the lawn tractor while I was wearing my protective overalls. I normally just wear them when I'm at the hive, but for some odd reason, I wore them going up that fence line and right over top of that yellow jacket's nest.

Needless to say, I panicked. I turned the ignition off and jumped off the tractor with the blades still engaged, so when it shut completely down, it backfired and sounded like a pistol went off. I stood a good distance away and watched them and finally figured where the entrance was. And that's when I decided on a plan of attack.

WARNING: Don't try this at home. I just have to say that just in case you're thinking of doing it if you find a yellow jacket's nest in your yard. I don't want you to get hurt and blame me. Nuff said? Okay, so I suited up again and took some gasoline and burned the area where they were flying out and hoping that I got some yellow jackets in the process. Then when I put that out with my garden hose, I found the entrance hole..that was big enough to put my index finger inside. At that point, since there was no danger of fire, I took more gasoline and poured it inside the hole, maybe a half to one gallon, and just stood back and watched. A few were determined to get to the hole, and I even got divebombed a few times too, but they eventually went away. An hour later, I would see the occasion yellow jacket fly over the hole, make a few passes, then fly away.

I then finished mowing my back yard which looks great now. And bee-free too (except the honey bees in my hive).

About me wearing the protective overalls that far up the fence line. I have no clue why I decided to do it, but I did. Maybe I just thought about it and did it...or maybe there was some sort of divine intervention that forced me to wear them. Whichever it is, all I can say is, thank you, thank you..THANK YOU!

Until next time, watch the ground when you're mowing, and bee careful!