Tag Archives: wasps

Struggling for Words

Oh dear, what should I talk about?

Julia has put an end to talk of funerals for the moment. She thinks it’s morbid.

She’s also put an end to posts about how she bosses me around. That is tricky, because if I do what she tells me I sort of prove my point. And if I don’t do what she says I might have to develop early-rising habits and cook my own breakfast.

I also don’t want to talk about work too much, as I admit that many people will find it less than fascinating. Not everyone is blessed with my capacity for loving ancient rubbish.

Nor will everyone be fascinated to hear how we reset the credit card machine after it stopped working.

Nor will the news that we’ve increased the stock of our on-line shop by 10% this week be greeted with much more than the thought of raising an eyebrow.

We have been shown some interesting things this week – including a George Medal that required a new ribbon, a medieval lead token someone found whilst digging the garden and a box of World War Two medals which included King Haakon VII’s Freedom Medal. I would have liked to have known the story behind the last one, but they didn’t even know which member of the family they had belonged to. Needless to say, as soon as I showed interest they decided to keep them.

The big news is that the shillings are all done. On Monday they will be delivered and, hopefully, out of my life forever. The same goes for the 1,000 crowns we’re also sending. However, don’t worry, we’ve already bought more. It seems like everyone who comes in has cupro-nickel crowns.

Shillings of Elizabeth II - English and Scottish varieties

Shillings of Elizabeth II – English and Scottish varieties

I have some. I bought them in 1968 after reading about how they would be a good investment. My Mum got them from the bank for me – four at face value of five shillings each. (This was before we went decimal and they became worth 25 pence). They are still worth that. Allowing for inflation this is a bit of a disaster.

Things could be, as I often say, worse. There’s a website you can use for selling things and they offer 19 pence each. I won’t send you a link as I don’t want to encourage them.

There would be more photographs but for the last few days I’ve been having trouble with my media contents – scroll down a few weeks looking for a suitable library shot and the whole thing freezes, making me shut down to get going again.

Looks like I may have to email WordPress.

It rained this afternoon. I’m hoping this isn’t a sign that summer is over.

We also had to evict another wasp queen. That is two in the last three days. Opinion in the shop is divided between gently showing them the door and killing them. At the moment I’m with Eddie on gently showing them the door. However, I’m wondering if I might change my mind shortly as the suspicion of a wasp invasion builds up.

As lives go, this is not cutting edge…

 

The lead picture is a Roesel’s Bush cricket. We spotted one last year in a cosmos flower and this one (as you may be able to tell from the pipe and water droplets) was disturbed as I watered the polytunnel.

If you go to Resources then Insects, there’s a link if you want to find out more. There’s also a picture and a link to something that scared the life out of me. We have a feverfew plant growing from a pile of tyres by the verandah at the back. There seems to be a wasps nest in it, judging from the number of wasps disappearing into it and I was checking it out as it will have to go. I’m all for biodiversity (even if it does sting) but there’s a limit, and the limit comes when wasps build a nest with a flight path that crosses a wheelchair ramp.

Anyway, there I was, with wasps flying past me and disappearing into the tyre stack, when I saw something decidedly scary. It was at least twice the size of a wasp, with red eyes and an air of menace. You can see a picture of it and find more details on the Insects page.

Meanwhile the group progressed with their task of measuring 53 trees and, as you can see from the pictures, found a broken bird-scaring kite. I know that birds are scared of snakes, but I’m pretty sure it only works if the snake is on the ground.

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