The Irwins vs. The Wasp-Monsters, Part 2 AND Kelley vs. The Mosquitos

Well I promised a part 2 of our wasp-invasion story, but I'm afraid it might be boring :(


After the original post on the wasp-monsters, I BEGGED Jeremy to find out where they were coming from. Look in the air vents, climb in the attic, check the windows! His response was that he was not going to crawl into a small confined space looking to find a wasp nest. Can't argue with that. I concluded that they must be coming from a nest in the chimney. This had only one remedy..... Smoke 'em out.


BUT... it was 75 degrees in November, so we decided that it wasn't really economical to turn on the air conditioner just so we could have a fire.


A few more wasps later, we realized that the chimney flue blocked off nearly the entire chimney from the house when closed - which it wasn't. So we closed the flue and haven't seen a wasp since. 


Such a simple solution. And MUCH more effective than my attempt to rid the backyard of mosquitos this summer....


I discovered the joy of gardening early this summer, and we planted a large vegetable garden in our back yard in July. However, I found myself covered in mosquito bites daily, just from spending a few minutes outside watering the garden. I already knew that mosquitos will fly a mile to drink my blood, but to make matters worse, our yard seemed to be the site of a local mosquito village. I tried dousing myself with heavy-duty repellant each time I went outside, but to no avail. I spent most of the summer puffy and itchy, but as our wedding neared in August, I realized I had to find a way to avoid the mosquitos. 


I received an email forward one day raving about Listerine mouthwash as a solution to mosquito problems. A little desperate, I foolishly tried it. I purchased a HUGE bottle of Listerine and a spray bottle, and misted the entire back yard with it. And you know what I learned?


Mosquitos are attracted to Listerine.


The day after I sprayed the yard I was bitten about 752 times in a 5 minute time span. Ok I'm exaggerating, but hardly. The mosquito village had evolved into a huge, sprawling metropolis. 


Good news is the yard smelled minty-fresh for 2 weeks.


New solution. I bought a spray bug repellant that attached to the  end of the hose and, positive that it would do wonders immediately, tried it myself instead of waiting for Jeremy to come over and help me. Turns out there was a reason it was on sale, because as soon as I turned on the hose, the connector exploded, and in a matter of seconds I was soaked in water and bug-poison. 


To make things SO much better, I pulled the hose across the driveway just in time for a neighbor walking through the alley to see me dripping with water and white-foamy poison, in addition to the ridiculousness that is my normal gardening attire (workout clothes, post-workout, and nearly-knee high polka dot rain boots).


So the moral to the story? Close the chimney, spray all the poison that you want, but the bugs will most likely always still win.