Stinging Critters and Death Traps

I have yellow jackets living in my house. They aren't swarming around inside yet, but I can see where they are entering through a small hole under the outside molding. How big is the nest and where it's located, whether in the walls or floors or crawlspace, I have no idea. I would, however, like a house with less holes in it. I can see hundreds of yellow jackets going in and out all day long constantly. This is much like it was with the bumble bees last year. Problem is yellow jackets are vicious and I've been told they will fly all the way across the yard just to attack a person. Great.

Case in point, about two weeks ago I was out trimming back my daisies and buzzing critters were all over as usual. I didn't think anything of it. I plant bee-attracting flowers and I've never had a problem. Honey bees are very friendly and sweet. One buzzer started aggressively flying around me in a hostile fashion unlike a normal honeybee. I kind of backed away and he went away. I continued cutting the flowers. He didn't like that, landed on my arm, and bit me! Not a sting just a painful bite as a warning I guess. Totally premeditated. Very much like a yellow jacket and since I saw him close up, I can confirm it was a yellow jacket.  I got the message and left.

A few days later I was trimming the daisies in another part of my garden while keeping a close eye on my cutters which are quite sharp. I should have been watching where I placed my hand and I grabbed something with a stinger! I hadn't got stung since I was a kid. I don't remember it feeling like being electrocuted. With LOTS of pain. I used some baking soda and crushed plantain weeds and the pain and swelling subsided immediately leaving a red mark that itched for days. Then yesterday as I was out in the garden my neighbor's little three-year old granddaughter started howling high-pitched screams of terror, each one louder than the last. Yep, something stung her. I've noticed any time I wear my purple t-shirt, I get buzzed too close for comfort. I decided to take action.

I don't want to use smelly, toxic poison as I don't know if it will infiltrate into my inside air space so I got online and searched for ways to kill them. There are many instructions on how to build a homemade trap, but from what I understand this will just trap the workers and leave the queens to nest over the winter IN MY HOUSE! Hmmm...I may have to get some poison eventually, but I'll try this worker trap first.

I used a one-gallon plastic water jug. With an exacto knife or sharp instrument, cut an X into the sides of it, bending the sharp bits so they go inside. Make sure the holes are big enough to allow the yellow jackets in, but not too big so it's easy for them to get out. You want some to crawl out that way they'll go back to the nest and tell their friends about the yummy treats.

 

 

Next, make an attractant. In the spring yellow jackets are in need of protein so a piece of raw meat hanging from the top works well. Put a few inches of water in the bottom with a few drops of dish washing soap in the water. For some reason when they hit the water, the soap renders them incapable of getting out and they drown. Maybe the slippery stuff gets on their wings and legs?

 

Another recipe for death is something sweet like wine or apple juice. Since my apples are ripe and so abundant I can't even eat them fast enough, I decided to go this route.

 

 

Plus apples in the refrigerator...LOTS of apples this year!

 

 

I have lots of windfalls that the yellow jackets love. Place about 2-3 inches of apple juice in the bottom made from about ten apples. Skim the foam off it and add with a few drops of soap. Place the lid back on the jug.

 

 

I placed the jug on top of a ladder right next to the entry. I've been watching it all day. For some reason I thought they'd be all over it like they are with the windfall apples, but I do see two dark bodies so it's working. Slowly. I might need to replace the juice with wine. I think they'd like that better. I know I would.

 

I also made a trap with a small plastic water bottle. I think a big gallon soda pop bottle would work better, but I don't have access to one. For this type of trap, cut off the top 1/3rd of the bottle, invert it so the narrow spout is inside, place the sweet stuff in the bottom with a few drops of soap. It has not captured any yellow jackets, but I'll give it some time and see if one of my junk-food-eating neighbors has a gallon soda pop container.

 

I just hope these traps don't catch any honey bees.

 



 

REVIEW OF STINGING CRITTERS IN CASE YOU NEED A REFRESHER COURSE:

Yellow Jacket


 

Honey Bee

Bumble Bee

Wasp




Now what to do about the giant spiders coming in the house at night?

The Winter War is upon us...



Squash Babies

My squash are growing wonderfully. I have about three pumpkins and around six delicata with many more baby starts.

 

I wasn't sure how the delicata would do on the side of the house so I am delighted they are doing so well. Only one of the four delicata are crawling on the pallet, the other three are traversing through the garden with no intention of stopping. We'll see how far they travel.

The pallet trellis is supporting the pumpkin vines which are skinny and not as big as the delicata vines. The pallets keep the fruit from being on the ground and susceptible to insects.

This garden bed was piled high with rabbit manure last fall but one would never know. The dirt mounds are all gone and the bed flat. So much for the raised bed idea....

Echinacea!!!

 

I finally found some Echinacea!!! So beautiful! And they smell so good! They are perennials so hopefully they will survive the winter and grow giant in my daisy garden next summer. I bought seeds in the spring but nothing came up so it might take them longer to germinate. These are called "Cheyenne Spirit."



 

 

I was so excited I also bought another perennial - Rudbeckia, which is a type of sunflower but also similar to Echinacea. These are called "Tiger Eye".

I've been working on this daisy garden all year but unable to find the plants I need. Next year it should be spectacular.

 

I LOVE CHEERFUL FLOWERS!

The Sensitives

Melinda Honn's Environmental Health Bulletin is a newsletter for chemically sensitive people in the Arizona area. It's filled with great ads for safe housing options, MCS-related articles, petitions, government lobbying, and products. If you would like to sign up for a copy sent to your email address, I added information from the bottom of the bulletin on how to do that below. *

This month's edition included a notice from Drew Xanthopoulos who has been filming The Sensitives for the last three years and now needs funding to edit the film. It features a short teaser. I met Drew on my vacation to Snowflake, AZ, when he was filming. The last person featured in the teaser is the incredibly-generous-woman who graciously let me stay with her during my visit. I am eager to see the film.

I think this notice is old as the fundraising started a month ago, and Drew did raise the $50K needed, but I'm sure he'll need more money for production. Here is his notice and the link for the fundraising site and video preview:

"A film is being created called The Sensitives.. The film tells the story of families living with a mysterious illness called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and their struggles to adapt to this invisible disability with very little support from society or the medical profession.  I promise, when you watch the teaser it'll be unlike anything you've seen!  We're launching a Kickstarter campaign TODAY to raise funds to get this film to the finish line and I need your help to make it. Please watch the teaser, read more about it, spread the word to all your friends, and pledge support at this link  bit.ly/SensitivesDoc.  Thank you."

 

 

*EHB is produced privately by amateur journalists, usually on a monthly basis. It is provided free of charge. The contents are from readers and do not necessarily reflect the position of the editors or any organization.  EHB is not affiliated with any organization.
 

Unless otherwise stated, general interest items may be republished.  Items of a personal nature, such as personal stories, housing ads, for sale, and wanted ads, can be shared by email, but should never be posted or linked to a web site.  This allows the world to have access to phone numbers and other personal information in the ads.  If you have a web site, instead, please encourage people to sign up for the bulletin by asking them to email phxhealchapter@msn.com for their own copy.

Editor              Melinda Honn

To submit an item, email phxhealchapter@msn.com.  To respond to an item, please use the information provided in the item.  Send emails to phxhealchapter@msn.com to subscribe or unsubscribe.  No phone calls please.  The editor reserves the right to edit and/or withhold items and claims no liability for items in the bulletin, nor for any results anyone obtains by following up on a particular item.  Readers use their own discretion and are responsible for checking out the items themselves.  No medical advice is intended by the posting of information regarding physicians or articles and information related to health.

 

HOW Do I Eat This Thing?

To aid in fat digestion I am to eat bitters and artichokes. Well, I've never eaten an artichoke in my life and have had little desire to do so. Hmmm...does my body know something my brain doesn't? Artichokes are nightshades so there is some controversy. Some people tolerate them very well and others not so much. Maybe they'll end up like the parsnip experiment and create a whole lot of misery for me? Or not? I appreciate my doctor understanding my aversion to pills and opting to go the food route for natural healing so I will be brave. A little at a time.

I bought a can of artichokes hearts. They have a metallic taste and I'm pretty sure it's the canning process or the citric acid they use for a preservative. Yuck. An hour after I ate a few bites the back of my head started pounding. Artichoke-induced headaches? Maybe. Too coincidental to think otherwise.

So I bought a fresh artichoke! Can't get anymore natural that that. I asked the produce woman if she knew how to cook them and she went into great detail exclaiming how wonderful they are if you are so inclined to work at it. I got home and researched online. I'm going to add here it shouldn't be so hard to eat a food...

I followed steaming directions and for thirty minutes boiled the hell out of it. With the artichoke stem soft and squishing, I placed it on my plate, and with great anticipation proceeded to peel away the leaves.  So...WHAT do I eat? The produce woman said not to eat the hairy parts. OK. I don't want to eat the hairy parts. I'm not seeing what I'm supposed to eat! I've heard one must use their teeth and scrape the meat off the leaves. There's nothing on these leaves! They are skinny and hard!

I have failed in my artichoke-for-digestion experiment. Maybe that's a good thing?

Building the Probiotic Arsenal

I made a trip to the big city today for a visit to a doctor I went to years ago. I really liked her back then except she loaded me up with pills and the side effects made me wish I would just die. I got frustrated, ran out of money, and stopped going to her. The eight hour round trip with traffic jams also discouraged future visits. However, I am so incredibly disgusted with the doctors who are closer to me I thought I'd suffer the drive and go back to this doctor. I told her I was the "prodigal patient". LOL I did NOT admit I am also the "reluctant patient".

She was wonderful. Knowledgeable, articulate, pleasant, conversational and had LOTS of ideas. We also had a long discussion regarding my intolerance to pills and she very respectfully acknowledged my issues. It's so nice to have someone who listens.

First step: probiotics. Nothing will work without good digestion and she suggested the fermented foods I have been reading about for quite sometime: kimchi and kombucha. These bizarre probiotics are difficult to get anywhere in my neck of the woods, but they are plentiful in the big city. So I headed to Whole Foods after the appointment and loaded up on kimchi and kombucha. I already have sauerkraut at home and I forgot to buy artichoke hearts which are supposed to help with digestion. Oh, yeah, and I bought dandelion greens and some other weird bitter to help with fat digestion but I don't remember the name. Neither of the greens taste good. They are bitter. Maybe that's why they are called "bitters." Duh.

 

The kombucha is really interesting. It's tangy, carbonated, and one of the bottles is ginger flavored. It's a little like drinking carbonated soda...only it's healthy! I can't quite get used to the idea something that tastes so decadent is actually really good for your digestion.

UPDATE: Can you believe I'm still eating/drinking things without researching them first? When will I learn? Kombucha is made with black or green tea. CAFFEINE! First, no wonder I thought it tasted so good and second, yes it was too decadent to be good for me. I can't go near caffeine. I didn't seem to have a reaction but I was only sipping a little each day. Supposedly it has less than regular tea, but with my sensitivities it would be best if I avoided it. Also, due to the fermentation, it's considered an alcohol...so strange to have an upper and a downer all in one drink? Maybe they cancel each other out? Yeah, I knew this was too good to be true! I have found if I drink more than a few sips over more than one day I become irrationally depressed. Caffeine is evil.

The first time I tried the kimchi I didn't think I'd like it. It was really hot with peppers so at first I thought maybe I'll just do it a little spoon at a time. But ten minutes later I was CRAVING more. That is always a good sign that my body wants it. I try to listen to my body.  I love it on top of food like hamburger or fish.

Here's to being on a new path for improved health!

Wish me luck!

July Movie Reviews

The Captive is about a ten-year old who is snatched from her dad's truck when he's in a store buying pie and she's kept captive by this lunatic who kidnaps kids for some ring. They constantly imply the horrors these children go through, but they never deal in details. I didn't like how they jump around the story back and forth in time. It's like someone didn't think the plot didn't have any merit on its own. ***

Free Samples was a movie about a woman who takes a sabbatical from law school, goes to L.A. to try her hand at art and music, but spends most of the time drunk. That's the background. The friend she's staying with needs her to cover for her by giving out free samples of ice cream out of a taco truck in a parking lot. The hang over she has makes her anything but friendly and patient. She has no filter. All kinds of strange people walk up to the truck to get their free samples.. It was surprisingly good with some LOL moments. ****

The Last Five Years is a movie based on a Broadway musical starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, both outstanding performers with great voices. The storyline is the progression of a relationship from the beginning to the end. I was perpetually confused. The scenes kept jumping back and forth in time although I don't know why they didn't just go with a linear plot. I kept getting up to do other things without pausing the DVD and that is never a good sign. I hated Anna Kendrick's dye job. But the music was great. **

Selma is a movie about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 1965 march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama. The opening scenes set the stage...very disturbing, but the photography is outstanding. The acting is superb. It's outrageous that people in this world are so racist and the culture they grew up in promotes such hate. Excellent movie. ****

The Sixth Sense is about a little boy who is scared all the time and a child psychologist tries to help him. If you've never seen this movie or have never heard about it [because you live under a rock], don't watch the preview. Unfortunately the preview was wide-spread before the movie came out so everyone knew what it was about. This is probably the fifth time I've seen the movie and I tried to watch it with "new eyes". If you didn't know the story in advance, it's not really clear until the middle of the movie. Of course, if you've ever seen the movie, you know it's really not clear until the end of the movie! Love it. The kid is spectacular. *****

Small Time was about a car salesman in the 1970s and his partner who agree to hire the man's newly high-school graduated son and teach him the skills of [sleazy] salesmanship. It was OK. Nothing special. **

Voices is a movie about a crazy guy (Ryan Reynolds). He lives alone with his cat and his dog and works at the local factory that builds bathroom fixtures. If he doesn't take his meds his pets talk to him. The cat keeps telling him if he wants to feel alive he should kill things. He accidentally kills the woman he's in love with, cuts her up into little pieces, stores the pieces in Tupperware, and places her head in the refrigerator. The head starts talking to him telling him she lonely and wants a friend... Such a weird movie. ***