Pesky Wasps

Today I was cutting grass for my sheep because there is a shortage of grazing due to the hot summer.

No sooner had I started when I experienced a sharp pain between my eyebrow and my eyelid and the buzzing around me alerted me that I was under attack by wasps!

I intended to kill the nest when it became dark by pouring a bottle of petrol down the hole and sealing it off with the bottle! My usual trick.

No more than an hour after my sting, a neighbour visited because he was drumming up support to purchase bait stations and a new protein based poison for wasps. The stuff is apparently untouched by bees.

I had heard of this Nelson-produced  product, which has been used with success in the Abel Tasman National Park.

So I told her I would contribute my $20 towards the purchase.

In passing she mentioned that her husband had tried to follow wasps to locate their nest, but with no success – he even used binoculars during his chase!

I told her the trick was to tie a piece of cotton around their middle to slow them down and to make them more visible.

She was skeptical, probably thinking I was bullshitting, saying that she said she would bring me a wasp to tie cotton on to.

I didn't let on but it is not hard and it is safe.
Just put the wasp in a sealed jar, and put the jar in the fridge. When the wasp is cool and still, tie the cotton to the ‘waist’, then put the wasp in a sunny position close to where you caught it. When the wasp warms up, it will lead you to its nest.

Simple.

The next day :
The previous evening, the beer bottle of petrol did not work because in the torchlight the shadow of the grass cover made the the entrance hole impossible to see. So I abandoned the idea for that evening.
Still dark early next morning, I went with a slasher to clear the entrance. Doing so was only moderately successful. The wasps were angry but only attacked the torch, which I had placed on the ground.
After safely recovering the torch and switching it off, I secured the beer bottle of petrol ready for a daylight attack on the nest. Crawling wasps climbed up each trouser leg and they began to sting! Bugger!
In the light of the day, the hole was still not really suitable for the beer bottle trick, so I attached a small pottle to the end of a broomstick and put in some carbryl powder (insecticide) that I've had on a shelf for about sixty years!
A liberal dessing of the powder in and around the hole soon dealt with that pesky wasp colony!

Looking for Beauty

If you take the time to watch any news broadcast, you are entitled to shake your head in wonder of just what possesses people. We see the warring, the protesting, the drugs, the violence and all manner of illegal activity. We see the people with a point to prove or a point of view and we see the sick in desperate need of medical attention or resources.

We see mostly the dirty side of humanity and less often we see the good or heart warming.

Mankind has the need to scratch together whatever is possible to make life better or perceptionally better with the rich finding ways to make more money and the poor finding enough to eke out enough to last another day.

Justice does not necessarily prevail and rights are often trampled. Life is not the fair thing that most would hope for.

True happiness is fleeting and a target often missed.

Most people believe they are busy doing what they do; making money from the labour of others, firing AK47’s into the innocent, pushing a pen, clacking a keyboard, hoeing vegetables, doing the laundry or whatever anyone does at any given time – including politicians yakking.

But time can be made, even brief time to appreciate the things around us and to look for a glimmer of beauty, because it is beauty that inspires and soothes us! 

No time or money to travel to beautiful places or to look away from the importance of what you are doing? You are lying to yourself – kidding yourself as to what is important.

I recall my father telling me to look into a rose – not just the flower as a whole. Look how those petals are arranged, the colour and texture. Look closely at the structure of the petal, the little veins that pump energy that reflects light producing the colour you see and sniff the scent attracting insects.

Turn the flower over and see the dying scales that protected the forming bud. There is beauty there – flowers bear no ill will or malice – well most.

A sizable chunk of my time is spent controlling thistles and in fact the invasive weed is a huge cost to farmers, however, look at the plant – the ends of each leaf section has a needle. None are ever missed. Look down into the flower and admire the blue/purple colour and the pollen laden anthers – forage for bees and other insects. The round ovule where the seeds form are delicately protected by thorns.

Even the down is worth a second look. So light and able to carry the seed for great distances – not so good for the farming or gardening community, but beautiful none the less.

Another battle, more or less a health issue is the filth of blow flies. In nature it is conceded they do an important job, but they spoil food, attack lambs and are generally a nuisance.

Look though at those compound eyes, structures of beauty and the reason that when swatting the fly, the odds are far in favour of the fly.

The blue of their body in a certain light is similar to the sheen of starlings. The metallic sheen is a bit like the sheen of refracted light of oil in a puddle – environmentally degrading but amazing on the eye.

But starlings are arguably the least liked of birds because of their nesting habits their propensity to defecate over all and sundry! Actually they significantly assist in the lowering of porina and other grass grub numbers in pasture.

When murmuration (mass flying) occurs, it is a spectacle of beauty! How these birds manage to swoop and turn in unison and without crashing is something of beauty on its own.

There is the beauty to be found even in stones. Pick any stone up and feel its texture and look into it and marvel at its history. Maybe it is basalt and came from the bowels of the earth. Maybe it is a sedimentary type of sandstone that has morphed into a hard rock. Think of the millennia it took for it to form, and that it’s journey is ongoing and never over. Think of the precious metals or stones that sometimes can be trapped inside.

Problems can become insignificant compared.

There is plenty of beauty to be seen if you are prepared to look for it – the old saying, ‘if you look for trouble, you will find it’ is true, but the antithesis, ‘if you look for beauty, it is there’ is as true.