Tuesday 1 October 2013

Howzatttt!!!! Thwack!!!!



So there I was,
under our fig tree,
stretching, bending, and "oh can I reach that one",


.... "and these two"...


....and "oops, that one squelched a bit",
.... and "wow this bowl is getting heavy".


But I can't put the bowl down,
because the dogs are also fig hunting,
and they will have those figs away from the bowl tout suite, 
and down into their tums
they will go,
to then make a return from the other end,
in the form
of poo,
this current situation having been going on
for weeks,
with little poo-ey piles dotted everywhere,
house included.

So there I was, 
deep in the essence of the fig tree.
What 'essence' is that?
I don't know,
it just is.

And as I was being thus moved,
I espied a difficulty
at the bee hive. 

This is the 'difficulty'...


....there,
just in front of the grill,
that humungous orange thing,
an Asian Hornet,


waiting to pounce,
and take away up into the air,
one of our honey worker girls
to dismember
and eat.

With loud voice did I yell "Lester",
and that mighty hunter of flies,
strode manfully to the hive
and did smite that Asian Hornet
stone cold dead,
with his fly swat,
which he have been practising all summer with,
on every single fly
which had dared to enter the house.
Howzatttt!
and
Hurrah! 

And I found myself being regretful for the bad humour,
which oft I had fallen into,
especially if I got inadvertently swotted as well,
as the fly cull went on and on,
It having been a very long hot summer,
and flies tend to land on me,
it is my pinny you see,
carrying the aroma of all that cooking I do,
that is what attracts them to me,
and Lester will thwack them,
so I get thwacked as well.
Not to worry,
the sting soon goes,
and it is all done with good humour,
sort of.

Four dead Asian Hornets,
that is the count so far,
we shall continue to fight the fight.
Hurrah!

10 comments:

Rhodesia said...

Have a look around and see if you can find their nest. We had a big one in our Oak tree last year. It was removed for us and we have not noticed any more. You certainly do not need them around now you have your bees working. Take car Diane

Tommo said...

Damned hornets. Nasty little burgers.

The Broad said...

We too had an abundance of flies this year. Fortunately, my grandson and his grandpa had a contest to see who could thwack the most -- a contest both were determined to win. The hornet problem this year was not as bad as in the past, nevertheless, my husband did get stung once when pulling the shutter across. Enjoy the figs, Vera!

rusty duck said...

Dreadful things... they have been buzzing around the shed as I go in and out with my tools. I hope it's too late in the season for nest building.. ?
Don't fall out of the fig tree Vera.

Ohiofarmgirl said...

yay Lester! Mighty Hunter of Pests!

Vera said...

Diane, I don't think that the nest is very near to us because the hornets tend to come in ones or twos, and not in a huge great swarm. Will keep a lookout though.

Tommo, I agree, and so does Boolie because the hornets tend to want to sting him, for some reason!

The Broad, figs nearly finished but they have been a good harvest this year. I suppose fly swatting does keep the men amused!

Jessica, Lester climbs the fig tree, I just stand and stretch! Hope you don't get into a bother with those hornets either!

Ohiofarmgirl, yay indeed!

John Going Gently said...

Vera..... So many fingers in so many pies...
What are you going to do next I wonder?

Denise said...

Huzzah!! We've had Asian hornets here and I do not like them one bit, oh no I do not. Nasty and hideous and yuk. Good for you for defending your bee girls! I would do the same. X

Kev Alviti said...

We've got "euro" wasps which are big massive wasps and I could do with finding the nest and ending them really as it means we can even crack a window open at night for fear of them coming in.
Your figs sound great.
The dog poos do not!

Vera said...

John, well that's a mystery to me as well!

Denise, it is surprising how great was our desire to defend the hive from those hornets, and we are now checking on those girls almost hourly. Lester got two more yesterday!

Ken, I used to have net curtains up at the windows in the UK and that seemed to stop most insects from coming in. Here we keep the windows closed because of mozzies, but we have enough fresh air coming into the house because of the drafts which still zoom all about the house!