I missed my deadline on the project I've been working on for the last couple weeks.
I was chased out of my wood shop by bugs.
I felt a great disturbance in the Force tonight,
as if dozens of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
Last night I had some final work to finish my project I've been working on this last 2 weeks.
I was looking through some sheets of plywood I keep stored in a rack.
I must have pulled out a fairly long sheet and perturbed a hornet nest.
I didn't see it, though I did see a single hornet buzzing around.
While sanding a part I felt something hit me on the calf. I reached down and swatted it.
It was a hornet and I had mortally wounded it.
One thing you don't want to do is mash a wasp or hornet.
A mashed wasp emits a pheromone that signals its wasp sisters to investigate and sting.
I closed the roll-up door and proceeded to sand a few parts. Something hit me on the neck.
Burning horrible pain.
I looked up and saw a hornet buzzing around.
I backed out of the garage and scoped it out. There were three of them!
All of my fluorescent shop lights were on.
I turned out all but the two on the far end of the shop.
I got some flying insect spray and waited for them to buzz close enough to squirt them
while I lurked and cowered on the dark side of the room.
I got all three of them squirted but the poison was slow to take effect,
so they continued to angerly buzz around the lights.
I waited about 30 minutes but they were still buzzing.
I searched with a flashlight for the nest but didn't find it.
So, I gave up, went inside, and missed my deadline today.
Chased out of my shop by bugs. It was the first time I ever used that excuse.
Early this morning, I went out and continued the search.
I found the nest. It was a big one with 30 to 50 hornets on it.
It was right over my head above the door where I had been working.
This would not stand.
Late this afternoon, I cleared out some space so I could get a good shot at them.
Coldly and without mercy, I plotted their murder.
I would wait until after dark when they were all on the nest (they don't fly in the dark),
move up on them by the light of a flashlight and give them a good soaking with wasp and hornet spray.
That stuff really works.
It shoots out a big wet stream of dripping death that soaks the nest and drops them straight to the ground.
They are gone. They never had a chance. It was not a fair fight.
The words of this post is their eulogy, such as it is. They will not be mourned or missed.
fin