Yellow Jackets in the House AGAIN

This situation in my life was not going to be blog worthy. I wrote about it on facebook and thought that was the end to the story. Ten years ago I also wrote about this and didn’t want to revisit this subject. https://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/08/wasps-in-house.html  Now it is between me and the yellow jackets once again. 

It all started out as a perfectly normal summer day. I was out on my deck watering plants and when I bent over to water the last plant and the one closest to the back door, ouch!!!! I got stung by a bee, then another and yet another. I ran as fast as this old body can run, but they didn’t chase me. There was no need, they had taken up residency near my back door. My concern was soothing the stings and feeling sorry for myself. I didn’t know they had moved in at the time so I let a few days pass. Then I noticed a lot of bees swarming around outside the window. Forgetting all about the experience years before, I went out to look around. Bingo, there it was, a hole as big as a dime in the chinking right next to the door frame. It was the same senario as ten years before. I thought that it was not a problem. I would just plug the hole when it gets dark and that would be the end of it. 

Little did I know it wouldn't be as easy as I thought. It hasn't been easy at all. I did go out after dark and plug the hole. There were a few sentry bees guarding the hole, but not many and I was stealth. The hole was under the curve of the log, but I thought I did a good job. I sprayed wasp spray, plugged it with gap filling foam and caulked over it. The next day I went shopping for a couple hours and when I got home, the windows near the door were covered with live bees. I got the vacuum and started vacuuming bees, counting each one. I removed 80 bees. I guess by plugging the hole, I forced them to find an exit point inside the house. The difference between this year and the past experience is I can't find where they are coming in. At first I thought they were coming in under the door, so I put a new door seal on the bottom of the door. Although they weren't coming in as fast, they were still appearing mostly on the window. My next idea was to get a couple yellow jacket traps. I went to a local store. I live in a small town without many options. They didn't have any traps so I bought some mountain dew. I know soft drinks attract bees. I set up a container inside and outside. By this time it was bedtime, so I would see what would happen in the morning. In the morning there were only two bees in the container but as the day went on I caught more, but not enough.

The container outside hadn't caught any, so scratch that idea. For the next couple days I observed. The bees were still finding a way in through the original hole and had found another crack to explore. 

I got out some steel wool and stuffed it in the gaps. I sprayed WD40 because it worked last time and sprayed a soap and water solution. I emptied two containers of wasp spray, and still they were buzzing around. Now it was war. I got out some Murphy’s Oil soap and a super soaker squirt gun I had in my thrift store pile. I am not sure I can post the picture of me in action even if it is a fake water gun, but I did look a little looney. From my research you can't post real guns for obvious reasons, but non-violent posts like this are fine. 

I filled the water gun lots of times and every time I directly hit the bee, it went down.  I’m not sure if it will discourage the rest if them but in the last three hours I have seen only two live bees in the house. There are still a few milling around outside but the population is less.  If this fails, the power washer is the next thing in my arsenal. One way or another, I am going to win this battle. 

I admit it is probably my own fault. Every year the house should be inspected and any small cracks should be filled. I completely forgot to do this, but I probably won’t forget again.

Homemade Ketchup

I posted this recipe for Ketchup more than ten years ago. https://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/05/make-your-own-ketchup-and-barbeque-sauce.html. It's good but it makes a big batch. It's way too much for me. I recently found an easier and delicious version. 

The other day I wanted to doctor up some canned pork and beans. They are so much better than straight out of the can but I was almost out of ketchup. I had to improvise which I often do. This is what I found. I am not sure where it came from so I can't give credit to the original person, but I did tweak the recipe a bit. I always look for products that contain more healthy ingredients. Many purchased ketchup brands have high fructose corn syrup. This is sweetened with maple syrup rather than the date paste I used in my previous recipe.

Just combine:

2-6 oz. cans of tomato paste

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/3 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup plus a small amount of water if it seems too thick

That's it. Just mix everything together. It's super easy, healthier than store bought and much less expensive. I know people are Ketchup snobs and will only buy certain name brands so this might not be for you, but I think it's just as good. I just put it in a Heinz squeeze bottle so maybe I am fooling myself.  I also made barbequed hamburger. I just kept adding this ketchup to browned ground beef until it looked about right. It's very flavorful so I didn't use any other ingredients. Easy and good for a quick meal.