It’s hot today. It’s not too humid, surprisingly, but it’s darn hot. It’s definitely too hot to go to the non-shaded park and I’m just getting over some weird bug so sticking close to home makes me happy. I thought I would set up the “ghetto pool” for the kids (and hopefully get a real one on the weekend) and let them play in the water with their dolls while I caught up on some Vitamin D intake and read my book out on the balcony.
We JUST got set up out there and the kids had just gotten in the water to cool off when a wasp showed up. If we were in a big yard I wouldn’t freak out too much about it even though I hate them, but this is a small apartment balcony. There’s not much space to put between us and the wasp and it was sort of hovering very close to the kids so I shooed them back inside.
We watched as the wasp decided it had nowhere pressing to be and continued to hover. I don’t know what’s so appealing. We have no garbage out there since we have dumpsters downstairs, we don’t have flowers, and there’s nothing sweet outside. Yet it’s certainly enjoying it. Maybe it’s the new bistro set. Perhaps he’s waiting for a waitress to take his order for a latte.
I got online and started looking for things to use to kill wasps when you don’t have the specific sprays, and more than one person said WD-40 works, and frankly that stuff reeks so much that I believe it. I’m surprised it hasn’t killed ME yet just from the spray whenever we’ve had a squeaky door.
The kids are currently playing in the other room with the door closed and I’ve sprayed at the wasp twice. The biggest problem is that I’m an enormous chicken shit so I can’t bring myself to get too close, so I’m sort of stretching my arm out as far as I can reach, spraying towards it, and then ducking back in, slamming the door behind me. If I could just face it up close, I could get it directly. I think it’s starting to work because I haven’t seen it for a few minutes but I want to wait until a full five minutes passes by without a sighting before I go back out, especially with the girls.
Because this is war, baby, and if that wasp isn’t dead yet, it’s going to be PISSED.
Try Windex window cleaner but leave yourself room to back out just in case it doesn’t work. I know it kills many insects on contact. Here’s hoping a wasp is one of them.
I forgot to add, use the stream, rather than the spray, option on the Windex bottle. I’m assuming almost any window cleaner in a spray bottle would be simliar.
i have a wasp problem too and i just heard about this GREAT deterrent. fill a brown paper lunch sack with a wad of newspaper and hand it in the garden/balcony/wherever. they think it is a hive, so they stay away because they are territorial. i know it sounds crazy, but it freakin’ works. i hung one by my grapevine because they LOVE to set up shop there, and i have noticed a SIGNIFICANT decrease in wasps. so, incase you wanted a natural and smell free solution. 🙂
Andromedas last blog post..it’s like a disease, but better.
The wasps are attracted to the water. Everytime the kids play in water outside all the wasps come and land on the little puddles of water.
Yesterday I cheated. A huge wasp was between me and mowing the yard. I got my can of Raid wasp spray (that shoots about 3 meters) and nailed him. So much for Windex although I ought to try it.