Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Opportunists

The primary weekend activity was to get flowers and peppers onto the deck. Now that the last day that we could, in theory, have frost is passed, it was time to make that space more inviting. On Saturday, I hauled flower pots and deck chairs out of the storage shed. When it became clear, during the potting, that I'd bought more flowers than I had originally brought pots for, I had to rummage through the stacked pots for the ones most likely to handle the overflow. That's when I decided the shed needed to be cleaned.

I didn't take a photo of the before state of the shed. Heavens no. There are some things I don't wish to share. The floor of this Rubbermaid storage shed was covered in about an inch of potting soil, spilled, over the years from shifting stacks of flower pots. I have a lot. This is another place I could, conceivably, pare. I don't think I'd ever fill all the pots I have with flowers. My deck isn't that big. But, until I'm motivated to cull, I'll just clean this shed out, sweeping all the potting soil onto the ground and maybe the new chair will fit in here come October. That's when I noticed them.

Wasps. There was one, at first, but he was followed by two more and then another one after that. They flew around me and I know to stand still and let them pass. But where were they going? Aha! They were going inside the wall of the shed where the metal stake is for holding up the roof. Opportunistic buggers.

Now, in theory, I won't get into the shed very much until October and putting things away. But, in practice, wasps could build a hive that encompasses the entire wall of the shed. This would not be a good thing. So, I got out the wasp killer and hosed the area down, spraying inside as best as I could see. Then I finished the cleaning of the interior, replaced everything neatly and put the top back on. As I was putting the top on; it snaps on very nicely which is one of the reasons I bought this; I found a small nest. It was located on the top over the area where the rod is in the wall. They were covering all the bases I guess.

So, the storage shed is good for the time being. I probably should open it up in June just to make sure they didn't decide to take over a corner.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

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