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| Guarding the door. |
I was hoping the harder-than-normal winter would have “taken care” of a few of the abundant insects in Indiana. Nope. This week alone, I’ve seen several species of bees and wasps in, on and around the house, sniffing out their favorite spots to put a hive.
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| Caught in the act! If Jack were there, he would’ve done something about it. I was too intimidated… |
If they were the friendly little honeybees we keep, we’d let them stay in a heartbeat (even though they sometimes try to nest in the house). But they’ve been yellow jackets and and ground bees and blue mud daubers and most annoyingly of all, carpenter bees.
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| That’s the kind of damage carpenter bees do. And on top of my riding tack. Nice. |
They’ve come back from last year to the same shed I’d like to convert into a horse shelter to gnaw out holes in the beams for their babies. If it weren’t bad enough that they’re slowly destroying my property, they’re incredibly aggressive and intimidating. Jack assures me they don’t sting but it’s hard to overcome my primal instincts that tell me to run from a large buzzing insect. While I waited outside the shed (I needed to grab some wire I had stored inside), I watched the bees. More than once, the bees flew over to other passing insects to assault them and scare them away from their nests. I even saw one attack a few cottonwood seeds floating in the air. Geesh! Calm down lady!
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| This lady was attacking floating cottonwood seeds. I did my best to stay out of her way… |
I’m hoping to get to the shed by late summer. By then, the bees will have moved on so I can fill the holes and paint without the threat of being beat up by a bee. I guess it’s all in a day of the life of a rehomesteader.
