Helping Hand

We were happy that Grandad was able to visit us again so soon especially with Andy on a training camp conference in Melbourne for the week!! It seems that when Andy departs, some drama unfolds only this time it began the night before he left.

While us girls were out on Sunday afternoon and Grandad was yet to arrive, Andy was busy preparing his talk in the loungeroom. Now with everyone out, it was wonderfully quiet for Andy to concentrate only he heard lots of scratching noises. Convinced that a bug was stuck in the roman blinds he got up to investigate. No signs of any insects, however standing next to the window he could still hear the scratching sounds and then noticed on the outside, the constant stream of wasps disappearing into the corner of the window. Hmmm.....

On my arrival home I was shown the wasps and after googling we decided that they were European Wasps which would need to be dealt with in the morning by an expert.

Grandad flew in Sunday night and Andy flew out early the next morning. After school drop off I contacted the wasp expert who agreed to come by at 6pm once we are home from swimming.

In the meantime, Grandad and I did the food shop and assembled our new couch which had arrived earlier. An easy task without instructions although one of the timber boxes wouldn't screw together...eventually did after a few phone calls to the company.

The wasp expert arrives shortly after we get home from swimming. I learnt a lot as he obviously loves wasps! European wasps are a pest. They can sting multiple times and are very protective of their hive. Apparently the queen establishes her nest in October usually in a roof or wall cavity or in the ground. They like to build their hive in a circular shape and so if it is located in a confined space such as a wall cavity, the wasps will eat the gyprock. Thus according to our wasp expert, it is important to test the integrity of the wall.

He begins tapping up the side of the window with nice hollow sounds resonating. While I was holding the cord for the blinds, wasp expert moved to checking the section above the window and below the ceiling. He hadn't gone too far before his hand went through the wall and a few wasps began to crawl out!!! He swore, I dropped the curtain and promptly fell over the dog :) It was all a barrel of laughs...well kind of.

The girls, Grandad (who is allergic to bees) and the dog were banished to the other room. We opened the front doors but luckily the wasps seemed to be content behind the curtain trying to fly out through the window!! Wasp expert then quickly suited up and sprayed powder in the nest from both the inside and outside. The powder works fairly quickly with most wasps dying within 15 minutes. However wasp expert advised us to wait at least a week to ensure that the wasps yet to hatch would die too.

Next phone call was to our lovely builder Paul to organise for the hole in the wall to be fixed and plastered!! Thankfully we hadn't signed off with him. And now we can add another painting job to our list!!