Underground Yellow Jackets

I've been working on killing a couple of underground yellow jacket hives for the past week.  I finally had success with the one near the lilac bush, and am still fighting one near the back of the barn.

We didn't see any bees (yellow jackets, actually, but I'll just call them bees) at the lilac bush nest yesterday, so I decided to take a shovel and dig out one scoop last night.  Then I ran away very quickly.

And today, we still didn't see any bees, so we believed they were all dead or gone.  Being curious, I thought I would do some digging (yes - literal digging).  I dug up the following:

The top of a hive!

Chunks of a hive!

 The hive removed.

Closeup of my dead bees.

Yup - all the bees were dead.  I saw one or two bees walking around kind of funny, and on the verge of death.  As a side note, we were surprised at how bad it all smelled.  It smelled like a dead animal sitting in the sun for many days - rotten flesh.  Ugh.

My method for killing them over the past week involved many ounces of Sevin powder, gasoline, and fire.  I believe the Sevin powder was the key - only one out of the many chunks of the hive appeared to have any fire damage.

Tonight, we piled all the dead bees and chunks of the hive back in the hole, and had one last Bee BBQ.  Tomorrow, I'll fill in the hole and plant some grass seed.  Thereafter, I'll concentrate on my last yellow jacket hive behind the barn.  No gasoline, because it is 2 inches from the foundation.

 

Around Campus

We all toured around the campus this past weekend with 

the Purdue / Notre Dame football game.  

Here were a few sights:

Silly kids.

6 Months Old

Well that last post was so fun,I thought

I should go back a little bit further in time. 

Here are the 3 Kiddos at an age of 6 months:

First, the current 8 year old:

(Wow, look at those cheeks!) 

Here is the current 5 year old:

(Wow, look at those eyes!)

And lastly, here is the current 2 year old:

(Wow, look at that drool!)

Two Year Olds

Here is a comparison of the 3 kiddos at an age of 2 years old.

First off is my new 8 year old girl.  

This is what she looked like when she was 2 years old: 

Number 2 Kiddo at 2 years old:

And Number 3 Kiddo at 2 years old:

(He is currently 2, of course)

A Week of Firsts

Last week, 2 kids went off to their first day of school:

The 2 Hamsters also received their first real letter!

We also had our first bee hive professionally exterminated:

(Yellow jackets found a cozy home under the front door)

((These dead dudes are just the tip of the ice berg))

Chainsaw Party

How did all these chainsaws come to be on my bench?  

Am I in the business?  No.

Am I a collector?  I don't think so.

It just happened.

Pop Quiz - Can you identify all these saws?

(And as bonus - from whom they came from?)

Our Last Summer Vacation

Our trip to Michigan was great.  Here's a few highlights from our fun-filled visit:

We arrived Thursday evening, and were able to stay 

at the in-laws condominium.  Kids enjoyed running 

around the open space and playing on the hand-crafted hobby horse.

Starting Friday, we all went to the Ann Arbor Children's Museum.

All the kids had a good time.  We spent all day there except 

for a quick lunch at the local sandwich shop.

Number 2 Kiddo enjoyed the cash register 

in the "Old Town" section of the museum.

Number 3 Kiddo was sad to be taken away

from his garbage truck at the Museum.

Dinner was at Guernsey Farms in Northville. 

We introduced Kiddo #3 to mint ice cream.

He really enjoyed that!

Saturday, we went to the Kensington Metro Park

 and the petting zoo farm, among other things.

After church on Sunday, we spent the afternoon

 on the in-laws boat.  Kiddo #3 got a driving lesson.

Going fast in open water, we worked to keep

 kids from bouncing around too much.

Off to the Original Pancake House on Monday morning.

Kiddo #1 had Pigs in a blanket (sausage in a pancake).

Kiddo #2 had chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream.

Kiddo #3 had a banana because all the pancakes were prepared in peanut oil.

I managed to eat all of The Big Apple.  I'm not sure how, though.

A nearby waterpark allowed the kids to burn off 

a few calories.  It was perfect for them.

Even Kiddo #3 really got into it.

We were able to meet up with the family including 

Great Grandma one last time before everybody parted ways.  

I managed to take a few pictures this time.

On the way home, we stopped at Cabela's.  Kids soaked in all

the animals, and we got a nice picture under the huge statue.