Just a Froggy in the Birdfeeder

  A friend recently came to the Little Bayou House and, as usual, we wound up meandering the garden paths.  She was fascinated (if not a bit squeamish) of all the critters that were found on our walk.  It seemed as if every step brought a new bug, lizard, frog, bird or snake.  With each, I would tell my friend a bit about the critter and, sometimes, relate a whimsical tale.  She was not sure if this life would be to her liking.  "How can you live here with so many creatures crawling about?", she asked.   Well, that was an easy question to answer.  "I befriend them!"  I went on to explain that I get along better with critters than people as critters never judge anyone.

  This morning, I befriended yet another critter.  I had put about two dozen purple basil plants in the garden yesterday so was aiming to give those a nice watering.  As I was spraying the basil plants, a slight movement near my head caught my attention.  Right at eyelevel, a green treefrog was perched in an empty birdfeeder.  Froggy was trying to catch a drink from the droplets.  Aww, the sweet froggy was ready to turn in for the day but needed one last sip before bedtime.  I eased the mist from the hose slightly toward the frog.  The little critter seemed mightily grateful for the kindness.   

  Friend Froggy (have not named this one yet) patiently sat with me as I finished the watering and took a photograph.  It then climbed up the side of the birdfeeder and across to the hollow driftwood holding the garden sign.  There, it snuggled in safely from the perils of the daytime hours.  I am sure, come nightfall, my new friend will be chiming in on the froggy serenade that lulls me to sleep each night.  Yep, I CAN live with the critters.  

Wasp Attack!

   After yet another sleepless night, my morning was spent cutting out most of the summer garden.  The rains have done it no favors as the plants are huge but not bearing fruit.  Tomato plants are not supposed to be ten feet tall!  All was going well with wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow full of debris being hauled to the compost.  Finally, all that was left was to do a bit of weeding.  Mind you, I had been twisting and turning every plant in the garden up until this time.  The weeding should have been a breeze.  Right.

  Five minutes into weeding, I grabbed a handful of errant chives and felt the telltale zap of a wasp sting.  Thinking I had inadvertently grabbed a ground wasp, I actually apologized "I am sorry little lady!  I did not mean to grab you."  But it was not a solitary ground wasp.  Time and time again, I was zapped!  Oh, my.  Stepping back, I tried to find the nest.  There had to be either a yellow jacket nest (in ground) or a paper wasp nest somewhere nearby.

  Five stings later and I found the home of my attackers!  In a non-used birdfeeder, a red wasp nest was highly concealed.  Around it were dozens of wasps just waiting to protect their nest.  Ok, so now that I knew where it was, it was time to go dunk that welt covered hand in some vinegar.  About a half hour later, the wasps were all dead thanks to some well aimed bug spray.  The garden is a safe place once again and I am happy to say that the vinegar worked quite well at soothing the stings and relieving the swelling.