Go Yellowjackets!

Yellowjackets was the mascot for my high school.  We often said, "Go Yellowjackets!" in relation to sports teams competing at my high school.  Today, we'll use that phrase in a different context.  The other afternoon, I was talking on the phone.  I don't like to sit down, especially while talking on the phone.  I'm in a habit of walking around and talking.  If I can do two things at once, all the better.

I was walking down a river rock path that leads to the garden in an area of the yard we call "the grove."  There is a canopy of shade that's cast by live oak trees, Bradford pear and pecan trees.  We have some piles of wood chips that have been decaying into good, rich compost for a couple of years now.  I'll move this stuff into the garden with a pitchfork and wagon, and it will turn into topsoil in the garden in a couple more years.

As I was walking, talking, observing my surroundings, something caught my eye.  Thank the Good Lord that I noticed.  Something was flying.  At first I thought it was bees.  It was not bees.  The insects flying were going into (and out of) a hole in the mulch pile.  Can you see it?  It is in the center of the photo below:

I got up close and zoomed in.  Can you see 'em?  Those are bad boy, right there!  Some call them yellowjackets.  Some people call them ground hornets.  Whatever you call them, if you stir up a cloud of these angry critters, you'll be sorry.  If I had busted into that pile with a pitchfork, you would have seen this ol' boy run!  Notice that you can see they made some "paper" to round out their hole.

I told Tricia to watch her step around the mulch pile.  I'd hate to see the little lady get tore up by yellowjackets.  I promised her that I would deal with them after work on Tuesday.  I made good on my promise.  

We haven't used charcoal lighter fluid in years since getting a 'charcoal chimney.'  I had a bottle of lighter fluid that has been sitting in the garage for years, aging.  This will be its defining moment in lighter fluid lore.  I stealthily crept up to the yellowjacket nest, opened the top, and squirted a long, straight stream into the entrance to the nest.  It was like Luke Skywalker flying his X-wing starfighter into the Death Star to deliver a fatal blow to the Empire.  Perhaps I'm being a little dramatic, no?

Numerous yellowjackets came out of the nest, before succumbing to the fumes and perishing.  I didn't get stung, fortunately, nor did anyone else.  Go yellowjackets!