Killing Hornets

[poliphilo]

The pest controller came round this afternoon and did for the hornets in our roof.  He worked from the ground, using a pump with a telescopically extending, semi-rigid hose. At full stretch it looked like one of those rods you catch marlins with. He inserted the nozzle under the tiles and gave the nest a couple of squirts. Each squirt produced a plume of vapour that drifted.

We stood back and watched. The hornets were circling giddily. Their bodies, coated in poison, had turned white. "They're looking for another way in," he said. "But they're stupid creatures; they only ever build one. No escape routes or nothing".

He told me about a case he'd been called to where some chap who was cutting a hedge had put his blade through a nest and had to be stretchered off to hospital. "His face was out here," he said, holding his hand about a foot away from his cheek.

Comments

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

They are dangerous. We did it ourselves, but we bought a red flashlight and did it in the dark. The are asleep at night, and cannot see the color red.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Cunning!

My mother said one of them stung her, but I don't think it did. A hornet would have left more of a welt. I think the thing that stung her was a mosquito.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

If one stung her, she'd know it. Also, they can sting over and over again. I got stung, and it REALLY hurt... and I have a natural resistance to venom.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what I thought. A hornet got into her room and something else bit her and she put two and two together and made five.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Hornet stings are nasty things and yes, she'd certainly have known! I'd guess if anything stung your mum it'd have been a wasp. At this time of year with minimal bedding and windows open at night, there are any amount of stingy bitey thingies on the loose.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ailz ans i both sport a number of mosquito bites. I imagine it was a mossie that got my mother too.