Hornet Update

Some of you may recall that I have a hornet problem. This seems to have resisted earlier spraying attempts using one of those cans that shoots a pressurized spray from 20 feet away. My next serious thought was to apply fire to the situation. Tim Taylor would have been proud. But I needed the hornets to all be inside the nest at night, which requires some cool weather to may sure they go inside (instead of resting on the outside) and settle down.

So, after pricing out the cost of buying or renting a weed burner and going over several plans as to how to go about firebombing the big hornet nest, I find that the weather tonight is finally going to be relatively cool.

And after the heartfelt protests of my wife, I've decided to go another route. (She isn't concerned so much for my safety as she is afraid of burning the house down. She's got a bad personal history with fire and nearby buildings--and no, I'm not implying that she's a closet arsonist or pyromaniac.)

I bought a can of this expanding foam-wasp killing spray that is supposed to seal the holes in and out of the nest and harden to create a poisonous barrier. A Tomb of Hornet Doom, if you will.

The problem is that you've got to use this stuff at fairly close range to be effective.

So today I went out in a t-shirt and flip-flops, watched the nest for signs of activity, and then proceeded to use a pair of loppers to cut off a lot of branches surrounding the nest, pausing each time to see if anything came boiling out.

One branch actually brushed the nest, causing my testicles to climb physically back into my body as I waited for stinging hell to be unleashed. But everything was fine. Either all the hornets are out and about wreaking havoc, or my prior two poison-spraying efforts have taken a greater toll than previously suspected and the hornets assaulting my neighbor's bees and grapes are coming from somewhere else.

I've borrowed said neighbor's bee-keeping outfit, which I plan to don this evening so that I can climb a ladder, get up close and personal to the nest, and spray the ever-loving-crap out of it with this foam stuff. I'm prepared to use the entire contents.

So I will try to post another update tomorrow, hopefully with some pictures.