Wasps on the Half-Shell

Maria's post on wasps in the garden reminds me that I never posted this photo of an odd sight: A big paper wasp nest in one of the architectural details of a building at Park & Eighth.

Wasps can be vicious to perceived intruders. I once had to go to the emergency room after I crossed the flight path of some wasps that had a nest on the building where we lived several years ago. I was just minding my business, but to the wasps I was in their space and paid the price.

We also had ground-dwelling wasps at another house. They did not take kindly to my attempts to mow the lawn. We had to apply some stuff that, I believe, froze them. A few ghostly white ones flew dizzily about before the drama was ended. My children were young then and we worried for their safety.

Last year, the big garden pest here was the tiger mosquito, a black and white striped species that is out all day looking for victims. The mosquitoes I knew as a child pestered people at night and many a wee hour was spent looking for the elusive ones that whined a teasing song in the ears of sleepy people. The lights went on and a search with a swatter or rolled-up newspaper ensued. Sometimes the people won, but often the mosquito won.

Last night I went to the window to see who was making all the human racket outside, but then happily heard katydids in the distance. To hear them in the city always means to me that the environment is getting more like the country (just a theory).

Wasps, mosquitoes, katydids - they live here, too. But sometimes we just can't all get along.

--Bernice