Wasps' Favourite Songs

We had to have a wasp nest removed - it was in the soffits at the back porch where people walk.  A tiny hole was their entrance door.

A wasp's stinger is smooth, like a needle, so it can sting your skin many times.  Why would it have that capability? It preys upon other insects for food or as a host for its parasitic larvae.  The venom in wasps contains a pheromone that causes other wasps to become more aggressive and so many stings can happen.

The only wasps that survive the winter are young fertilized queens.  They emerge from overwintering in the spring to build new nests.  Initially the queen lays up to a dozen eggs and when they hatch into larvae she feeds them until they become workers. The workers then forage for food, feed the new larvae and defend the nest.

In late summer, the colony produces males and new queens.  They fly away to mate and the queens then find a place to hibernate.

In the world of wasps, here are a few jokes:

What is a wasps favourite film?
– Sting-ing in the Rain!

Who is a wasps favourite singer?
– Sting!

What is a wasps favourite song?
– Sultans of Sting!

What sport do wasps play?
– Sting-pong!

What is a wasps second favourite film?
– Lord of the Stings!

Dezi doesn't have anything to say about wasps in her house rules.

Betterphoto 2nd Place Winner - Dezi!

One of the most intriguing, yet easy to accomplish adventures from yesterday's top 100 was to: Send a message in a bottle So I found the 10 most famous floating note discoveries and here's what the article says: "People have been putting messages in bottles for much longer than a century: in 310 BC, Greek philosopher Theophrastus put sealed bottles into the sea as part of an experiment to prove the Mediterranean Sea was formed by the inflowing Atlantic Ocean. Oceanography is a common reason drift bottles are thrown overboard, but there are also some romantic and surprising stories of sending messages across the sea throughout history.  I've copied the top 3 most famous floating note discoveries: 1. FOUND BY: Konrad Fischer in the Baltic Sea, 2014 SENT FROM: Richard Platz in the Baltic Sea, 1913 TIME AT SEA: 101 years A message in a bottle tossed in the sea in Germany 101 years ago, believed to be the world's oldest, was presented to the sender's granddaughter, a Hamburg museum has said. A fisherman pulled the beer bottle with the scribbled message out of the Baltic Sea off the northern city of Kiel in March, Holger von Neuhoff of the International Maritime Museum in the northern port city of Hamburg said. Mr Von Neuhoff said researchers were able to determine, based on the address, that it was 20-year-old baker's son Richard Platz who threw the bottle in the Baltic while on a hike with a nature appreciation group in 1913. 2, FOUND BY: Scottish skipper Andrew Leaper near the Shetland Isles, 2012 SENT FROM: Captain C. Hunter Brown near the Shetland Isles, 1914 TIME AT SEA: 97 years and 309 days A drift bottle released out to sea on June 10, 1914 by Captain C. Hunter Brown was recovered by UK fisherman Andrew Leaper almost 98 years later, on April 12, 2012. Brown was a scientist at the Glasgow School of Navigation studying the currents of the North Sea, and the bottle was one of 1,890 released on June 10, 1914. It is the current Guinness World Record holder for oldest message in a bottle. The message inside read: "Please state where and when this card was found, and then put it in the nearest Post Office. You will be informed in reply where and when it was set adrift. Our object is to find out the direction of the deep currents of the North Sea." The bottle was discovered 9.38 nautical miles from the position it was originally deployed. 3. FOUND BY: Matea Medak Rezic in Croatia, 2013 SENT BY: Jonathon (identity unknown) from Nova Scotia, Canada, 1985 TIME AT SEA: 28 years A 23-year-old kite surfer, Matea Medak Rezic, stumbled across a half-broken bottle while clearing debris from a Croatian beach at the mouth of the Neretva river in the southern Adriatic. Inside the bottle was a message from Jonathan, from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, who had written it 28 years earlier, honouring his promise to write to a woman named Mary. The message reads: "Mary, you really are a great person. I hope we can keep in correspondence. I said I would write. Your friend always, Jonathon, Nova Scotia, 1985." The bottle would have had to have travelled approximately 6,000 kilometres across the Atlantic Ocean, entered the Mediterranean Sea, and then drifted into the Adriatic Sea. Jonathan and Mary's identity, and how the two knew each other, is unknown. Looking across the Twelve Mile Creek bridge towards Port Dalhousie, our 2nd place winner in the BetterPhoto contest.

Four Geese and a Dog

Dezi made a brisk exit last week as we checked out the view across the lake.  The geese seemed to march up the hill in formation.