Friday, September 9, 2011

The Saga of Toxic Wars

We have hornets / bees that want to live in our house. It used to be crickets when we first moved in- once a year the crickets would sing to us from the attic and the air ducts, but some time ago they left and didn't come back. I don't know why. The first family of bees to come tried to set up housekeeping in a crack in the stucco above our back deck. I bought some foam spray installation and sealed them in forever. The second family arrived about a year later and set up housekeeping in a bird house hanging off the back eve of the house. That one was easy, I rolled the trash can under it, and cut it down.

This last time they have found another eve at roof level and moved in big time. I tried the foam installation spray a couple of times, but they keep finding new entrances. It turns out that there is a secret interior door to their home that lets them into my studio, where they fly against the glass of my windows and butt their heads until they die. There were about 50 of them there dead when I first tried sealing them up outside. Then when they found another way out of the roof to the outside directly, they quit coming in. Except for the one or two that come to buzz at my lamp late at night when I am trying to practice banjo.

I also tried spraying poison sprays into the holes in the shingles on the roof -about 10 cans so far. And spraying the whole area down with the hose, but that only managed to leak in and water stain my ceiling tiles inside.

I've been stung about three times in this endevour.

So, I had the idea of soaking rags with the spray poison and draping them over them atop the shingles and weighing them down with bricks. I tried to do this early in the morning and they attacked me, got in my loose hair and stung my scalp about 3-4 times and got me behind the ear and on the arm. (On the arm where it rubs the edge of my banjo drum as I play)   I ran in and took a shower and left a couple of them on the shower floor. So I tried again late at night. So far none are coming inside the studio. I now have three rags soaked in poison spray up on the shingles and I don't see very many of them. I've been re-wetting the rags every night. Will let you know if this has worked or they are just hiding out waiting for me to come look again. Anyway, I think I've created a Super Fund Toxic site and will probably be unable to sire healthy children again ever. 

1 comment:

Rosaliene Bacchus said...

All the best next try.

Seems like you're slowly killing yourself with toxics that have no affect on your home invaders.