Yellow Jacket Twist

I love how nature teaches us things. Like…

Patience. There’s no rushing nature. Seasons come and go on the schedule that God set.

The ocean tides work along with the gravitational pull of the sun and moon. What does this teach us? I don’t know. I just find it interesting.

Animals often make better parents than some humans do. We can learn a lot from them.

The migration of the monarch is unique and impressive and should inspire us to do more than what we think we are capable of doing.

Nature can also teach us fun things too. Like how to dance.

Last year we learned the Cicada Dance. I wrote a post about that experience in June of 2021. Those 17 year cicadas came up out of the ground and really created a show for us. Or should I say, we put on a show for them. Cicadas would land on you just to watch your unique dance moves.

Well on Saturday I learned the Yellow Jacket Twist. And actually, Nyx learned it too. Whoever said you can’t teach old dogs new tricks? I mean…dances.

I know I’m not the first to do the Yellow Jacket Twist. I’m quite sure of that. It’s the first time for me though.

I was pulling weeds in the backyard when I disturbed an underground nest of yellow jackets. It took but a second for the angry wasps to find their way to me and Nyx.

Instantly, I felt their wrath. My arms began stinging badly. I had a hole in my jeans at the knee and they found their way into my pants. Stinging pain to my right leg. You could hear Nyx’s teeth as she tried to bite them out of the air. Thankfully, she was not stung.

I ran screaming with arms above my head moving swiftly in circular motions and batting at the air. My legs zig zagged me throughout a good half acre of my yard, twisting and twerking as I ran. (Well, maybe not twerking. Maybe more like convulsing.) And my loyal girl, Nyx, never left my side.

We ran through the backyard and then along the bean field behind the shed. We continued on through the side yard around the fire pit. We stopped once as I tried to get the wasps out of my pants and to free wasps caught in this wild hair. Stopping, though, only caused more pain so we ran some more.

We headed to the front of the house thinking we lost them. The screen door was locked. I began banging on the door! I saw a yellow jacket fly by my head. I was about in tears when someone finally let us in. Nyx and I ran inside only to find that two wasps followed us. One landed on my son’s shirt and he was able to kill it. The other was a little harder to catch, but we finally did.

I did some research and learned that yellow jackets are highly intelligent. No kidding. Then I researched how to get rid of them. I waited until midnight. I laid an old towel on the ground over the opening to the nest. I secured the towel with rocks and bricks. Then I poured a five gallon bucket of water mixed with laundry detergent and borax over the towel. Some of those babies were still able to get out and one chased me back into the house. I got him with wasp spray.

Two days later, I have yet to remove the towel. There are still clumps of detergent and borax laying on it. But I no longer see any sign of yellow jackets. I guess the survivors left for a quieter, less soapy piece of earth. Tonight as I sit outside, Nyx stands like a statue watching the area just daring them to come back.

I welted up pretty good on Saturday. Stinging, burning, and itching all at the same time. Today I’m just itchy.

So that, my friends, is the Yellow Jacket Twist. I’m sure the neighbor’s security camera caught my dance. Hopefully, they have no reason to review their footage of that day. 😬

Nature has a way of teaching us a lot of things. Sometimes those lessons come in the form of a dance. I can hardly wait for the dance of 2023.

Not. ♥️

Andi

Photos: beelinepestcontroldenver.com; my cicada pic; southernliving.com