Hornets No More

Well, last night I went out and eliminated this summer's hornet scourge once and for all.


The first photo shows me wearing my neighbor's beekeeping outfit, some beat-up hiking boots, and a pair of old gloves.


The suit was a little tight but visibility through the mesh was surprisingly good. I felt ready for action, as the second photo demonstrates.


Lisa got the action shot of me on the ladder about to spray the nest by getting much closer than I thought was wise. I put the ladder in place earlier and clamped a worklight to it by running an extension cord up the yard to the house. It was nice and cool last night and there was little hornet activity even with the light shining up from below the nest.


This is what the hornet's nest looked like after I sprayed the hell out of it, no doubt using about double the amount necessary.

This morning I went out to check the nest for activity. Nada. So I carefully cut it down and packed it into a cardboard box with foam peanuts surrounding it. I also scooped up twenty or thirty dead hornets from the grass and packed them into some Ziploc bags.

Hopefully my son's teacher will let me bring the nest to school so that the kids can see it. Then we'll cut it open. I figure as long as I bring some plastic gloves for the kids, handling the nest should be safe (I don't want any residual poison to give someone a rash).

You can't pass up the opportunity for science.