August 19 -- Wasps, and a Gray Fox Visits Faranuf

I tell ya, this rural living is for the birds -- and I mean that in a good sense of the term. But before that -- wasps. A friend of mine has the correct attitude of "live and let live" and after all, all the critters that we come across here, whether they be snakes, lizards, scorpions, mountain lions, etc. etc. have all been here before us -- and will probably be here after we are gone. And wasps are to be included in that consideration, too; if you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone. But if you "bump" into one, then the just might sting -- repeatedly, for unlike bees they don't lose their stinger once used. One thing you have to put up with down here is having wasp nests under the eaves of the house, or tucked away on the front porch ceiling. Now, if they were tucked away in areas that doesn't see high traffic, then I wouldn't mind. But come on, THE FRONT PORCH. Where the front door is. And there were TWO nests there. Well, you just can't move a nest, so the only alternative is to get wasp spray and exterminate 'em. Commercial sprays can shoot a stream up to 27 feet, which is good because they don't like being sprayed  by a poison -- would you? The trick is to get them before they can attack you. Sort of like the "first strike" belief during the Cold War; knock out the Russians before they knock you out. So at about 3am (I have insomnia, or to put it more truthfully, I sleep only about 3 hours a night, and can't get back to sleep) I put on long pants, long shirt,  and goggles, and stealthily went out on the porch, and shined a flashlight on the first nest. Wasps are sluggish at night, which is why it't the best time to plan your attack. There wasn't much activity, and hopefully the wasps were at  "home", so I stood back about 15 feet, took aim -- and got the nest on the first try. You SOAK it, and it worked. Here's the nest afterwards, sans wasps --

And here's a closeup of a wasp, which was still moving about 2 hours later -- not a good feeling when your nose is about a foot away from it --

It's about as alien-looking as one can imagine. A few minutes after getting the first nest, I sprayed the second -- but neglected to take into account the breeze, which was blowing in my direction. So I felt some spray get on me; lucky that I had the goggles and was mostly covered by the clothes!  Now, if I were to come across a wasp nest while, say, hiking, I'd leave it alone as it wouldn't bother me. But ON the exterior of my house, that's a no-no. After the wasps have been exterminated, you knock down the nest with a stick -- and wait for the next one to pop up, as surely it will given time. 

OK, enough of the creepy crawlies. Wednesday and Saturday are the trash days in the Portal area. The trash truck parks in an open area across the street from me, and people can drop off trash bags at $2 at bag, and boxes, paint cans, and anything short of a nuclear bomb . Even old mattress pads, which Helen and I brought from an outside structure to a house that she just sold. The fellow operating the truck -- his name is Tom -- and I got into a discussion about colliding with deer, and an upcoming "improvement" on Interstate 10 east of Tucson that will limit our Costco runs for supplies; now we're more likely to make the runs to Douglas, at 55 miles away where there's a Wal-Mart and Food King. And just when I got a Costco Executive membership --- it figures!  After chatting with Tom I went to the Portal post office as I'd lost the paper with my mailbox combination. Luckily Debbie, the postmistriss' daughter who was working there that day, had seen it on the table after I'd left a few days before, and put it in my mail box. WHEW!  Then it was down to the Swap n' Shop, at the corner of Hwy 80 and Portal Road in New Mexico (Portal, Arizona is only abut 8 mles from the New Mexico border, and NM is one hour ahead, which can lead to quizzical expressions when you forget what time it is, and where) where I bought a few kitchen items. Then I went back to Faranuf, poured the gasoline/oil mixture into my Stihl weed whacker, pulled the starter cord -- and nothing happened. OK, one to something else, and I'll deal with it later...In late afternoon I went out to to back porch to do some bird-watching. I'm making a yard list, and the number of birds increases daily, with even some "families" making appearances -- 3 Cactus Wrens, 2 adult Black-throated Sparrows with a juvenile, a Say's Phoebe couple that perch on the front porch in the shade and hawk insects, Black-chinned hummingbirds that seem to have constant aerial battles over the hummingbird feeder, and 2 new birds for the back yard, a beautiful Blue Grosbeak and a Pyrrhuloxia; neither stayed around for long. Then, just after sunset, I noticed movement off to the right -- and darned if a Gray Fox didn't amble across the yard, clamber up a bird feeder tray, and chow down on bird seed!  

After snacking for a bit, it posed nicely for my 500mm lens -- 

And here's a portrait -- 

 Wow. In my own back yard. Who would've thought!  This is the time when my having the 500mm lens comes in handy -- I shoot from the back porch, and get quality photos as it's a prime lens. So -- what will tomorrow bring? Stay tuned...