Patio Time
This was the morning that the patio called to me. The smoke from Canada was less than the last several days. Dennis had put up the umbrella, wiped of the chairs . . . all systems go. I had a full cup of coffee. It didn’t take long and Snuggles showed up for some TLC as he wandered through the nest of catnip. That was my clue to break off some of the tips to allow for the aroma to waft through the air. Snuggles rolled and rolled in it taking time out every once in awhile to take a mouthful of it.
Dennis came out with his cup and I think we could have stayed there for some time. After a time I couldn’t believe that there was a swarm, more than four, of the Cicada wasps buzzing around. I know I have been told they don’t sting. I still have my doubts and am not going to push my luck. Dennis noticed several of them disappearing into the holes of the cast iron umbrella’s stand and there was fresh dirt that had come up through the holes. The umbrella stands over a stump of what was an Oak tree with a fairly large circle of dirt around the stump. That told the rest of the story. I exited stage right.
The first thing we did was hunt down spray. Spraying them on the fly is possible if attacked. The second thing we did was dig out the bag of mothballs. I stood back while Dennis put down the umbrella so he could more easily take the stand and all and set it on the flat patio. There was commotion of the wasps. I think Dennis did get one on the fly with the spray.
Needless to say, I moved over and onto the patio east of the porch while Dennis decided how to handle the umbrella site. There was one hole in the dirt that has had a lot of mothballs shoved into it. When in flight they just buzz so close. Even snuggles headed for the porch.
Last year they had burrowed into the flower bed next to the southwest corner of the house. I couldn’t believe how, overnight, they had been able to dig out such a huge pile of dirt onto the drive. Again, we used quite a few mothballs while shoving them into two different holes. That was then and today we fought the good fight again.
We had just mentioned how nice it was to sit on the patio without mosquitoes. There is a new nuisance in town.
Enjoy this day and all it holds, there will never be a rerun of it.