Before Independence Day, we were set busily to work on the grounds of the property and household. The drought that was endured earlier this summer prompted colonies of ants to invade our kitchen, sunroom and living room in search of food and water. They are diligent, no doubt. They never give up, no matter what squashing and spraying they have to endure. Even though we have now received substantial amounts of rain, the ants don’t mind hanging around to see what treats they can pick up for free from the kitchen counter.
On July 2nd Abigail and Mary helped me clean the Dominiques’ coop. While in the middle of that project we realized Joseph (who was mowing the lawn behind the kennel) had been ambushed by yellow jackets. We ran to his rescue, diverting the hymenopteran militia. Now at the driveway behind the garage, I told Joe to roll on the ground. I quickly pulled off his shirt in order to prevent the embedded hornets from stinging further. Just then one of the devilish beasts swiftly and accurately took aim and stabbed me soundly on the nose. The venom was of an excruciating tension. Joseph was stung seven times. The doses of arnica and apis mellifica were helpful, but I still had to spend the 4th of July with an unbecomingly swollen nose. Exactly two years ago to the date I was putting up with a swollen right foot from an encounter with a velvet ant (that is by far the most painful sting to my recollection – even worse than a jellyfish, which I’ve also felt).
My first experience with yellow jackets occured when I was about 4 years old in Ithaca, New York. Two little neighborhood boys that I played with, Isaac and Errol, lived just across the street from us. They were warned by their father not to play in the woods that surrounded our houses. They called the area by their yard their “Woods”. I called the area in our backyard my “Forest” (around that time Dad would occasionally read aloud some Tolkien to me). Since we all badly wanted to play in the forbidden zone, I came up with a compromising facade. “You can’t play in your Woods,” I began, “but maybe you can play in my Forest…”.
Our trek ended when we unwittingly disturbed an army of yellow jackets. The battle concluded with a painful retreat on our part.
The next summer when my family stayed in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, we were introduced to another division of wasp superiority. While dining outside, very large maroon colored wasps would sometimes land on our plates. Being extremely American in nature, valuing our right to consume in peace and liberty, our first impulse was to slay the impudent insects. But our Uzbek maids, Luba and Olga, strictly forbid us to bother them. “Let them have what they want!” was the policy in negotiating with Central Asian wasps. We were warned that their sting was extremely painful. The wasps thus carried out their thievery – actually picking up chunks of meat and flying off with them. I have one recollection of walking under the arbor eating my shashlik (meat and vegetables roasted on a skewer), and being confronted by one of the sting-bearing maffia. It chased me until I finally threw down the skewer (which it dived after). I wish I could find the sketches I made of them at the time. I think they were scribbled on a piece of cardboard from a crayon box and are probably long gone.
Well, that’s one post for summer. I intend to make another one regarding the projects that have distracted me from the internet realm thus far.
GOD BLESS,
~Amanda~
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Comments
Saturday, July 21, 2007 – Untitled Comment
Posted by DarthYxpu
Ah, thank you very much for your comments.
Good to see you back in the blogging world.
😀
I posted yet another entry.
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Saturday, July 21, 2007 – Untitled Comment
Posted by BlogBoy
I started this whole Chris discussion by asking Chris about his religion. Now I have written post about the Homosexual issue, and Chris’s “statements.”
I am not doing this to be mean, or to cause problems, but Christians are supposed to stand up for biblical truths.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6 says, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Please read my blog at this link, and feel free to post a comment:
http://ericnovak.com/?p=9#comments
Eric Novak
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Monday, July 23, 2007 – Untitled Comment
Posted by DarthYxpu
HAHA…
“That’s NJAO quality”
LOL, that’s funny…
That is a very good comment, thank you.
But I wrote another post (http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/DarthYxpu/360317/) on this whole deal and it looks like it’s going to be the last ’cause… well, you should look at the comments I left Chris on his last entry…
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Chris/360281/
and how he replied to them…
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Chris/361194/
Your comments were and are greatly appreciated!
Thank you.
Edited by DarthYxpu on Monday, July 23, 2007 at 11:38 AM
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Monday, July 23, 2007 – Untitled Comment
Posted by BlogBoy
Great comment Amanda!
“Some think that homosexuality occurs “naturally” in some animals. Well, cannibalism occurs too. Detrimental abnormalities of those sorts should NOT be tolerated by humanity.”
Good point, why can’t everyone think like that?
Eric
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Friday, February 22, 2008 – dresses
Posted by Anonymous
wow. if I knew where to get those dresses I’d love to wear them. could you give me some links? I used to take sewing, but not recently. I am a huge fan of the empire style… you know, pride & prejudice, sense & sensibility, etc. I’m a hopeless romantic. want to know more.
