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Over The Hills And Right On Through
May. 29th, 2005 11:32 pmSo, to make a long story short, the wasps are gone.
To make a short story long...well, we went to the Cult of Pain meeting last night, and my dad babysat the boys. We told him about the wasps before we left, so that he wouldn't send the boys to play in the back yard.
On the way home, after having received more votes in favour of burning them out, we decided that we'd just do it. It seemed like the most popular choice, after all. But it didn't seem quite cool enough to do it that night. We wanted something at least below 10° Celsius, if we could manage it.
When we got home, my dad said that he had decided that he would go burn them out before we got home. My dad has years more barbecue experience than we do, and he's one of those year-round barbecuers--not always easy in Edmonton's climate. However, his intentions were thwarted, because, it turned out, we had no propane left in our tank. I can't understand it, really. I mean, it's only been five years or so since we bought the silly barbecue, and it's not like we ever had to fill the tank before...
It was a bit late when we got home, so we decided Dad should just crash on the futon. He and I stayed up to watch the end of "Fiddler On The Roof"(love the musical, but have never watched the entire movie; this time I watched about the last half), and then went to bed.
In the morning, Nicole made omelets, and then Dad decided he would at least go and spray Raid on the wasps for us. It was already about 18°, but I confess that I wasn't going to stand in the way of someone taking an onerous task of my shoulders. It was obvious to me that however hard this task was in my brain, it wasn't all that challenging in his, which made him a better person to do the job.
After all that, it was anticlimactic. He opened the lid, sprayed the nest(which looked about half the size that it had loomed in my memory), sprayed it a couple more times, lifted off the grill and scraped off the nest, sprayed it again, then got a bag from me and put it inside. Now it is, presumably, sitting in the garbage can. He even disconnected the propane tank.
So a great load has been lifted. Oh, sure, I haven't washed off the barbecue grill yet--which wasn't particularly clean from the last time we barbecued in the fall, I'm sure, and now has Raid on it. And I didn't get around to refilling the propane tank yet. But we were spared having to get rid of the wasps ourselves, or having to pay someone else to do it(more than the cost of an omelet, anyway, and since we got four dozen free eggs from my mom, who has chickens...).
It's been a great weekend that way. The Internet connection got fixed with minimal effort, the wasps are gone likewise, and it even looks like our tax refund has come in, which relieves some of the money worries we've been having recently. And next week all I have to do is go to a Visual Basic.Net course at an office which is just up 50th Street from our house, about a ten minute drive. Sweet.
To make a short story long...well, we went to the Cult of Pain meeting last night, and my dad babysat the boys. We told him about the wasps before we left, so that he wouldn't send the boys to play in the back yard.
On the way home, after having received more votes in favour of burning them out, we decided that we'd just do it. It seemed like the most popular choice, after all. But it didn't seem quite cool enough to do it that night. We wanted something at least below 10° Celsius, if we could manage it.
When we got home, my dad said that he had decided that he would go burn them out before we got home. My dad has years more barbecue experience than we do, and he's one of those year-round barbecuers--not always easy in Edmonton's climate. However, his intentions were thwarted, because, it turned out, we had no propane left in our tank. I can't understand it, really. I mean, it's only been five years or so since we bought the silly barbecue, and it's not like we ever had to fill the tank before...
It was a bit late when we got home, so we decided Dad should just crash on the futon. He and I stayed up to watch the end of "Fiddler On The Roof"(love the musical, but have never watched the entire movie; this time I watched about the last half), and then went to bed.
In the morning, Nicole made omelets, and then Dad decided he would at least go and spray Raid on the wasps for us. It was already about 18°, but I confess that I wasn't going to stand in the way of someone taking an onerous task of my shoulders. It was obvious to me that however hard this task was in my brain, it wasn't all that challenging in his, which made him a better person to do the job.
After all that, it was anticlimactic. He opened the lid, sprayed the nest(which looked about half the size that it had loomed in my memory), sprayed it a couple more times, lifted off the grill and scraped off the nest, sprayed it again, then got a bag from me and put it inside. Now it is, presumably, sitting in the garbage can. He even disconnected the propane tank.
So a great load has been lifted. Oh, sure, I haven't washed off the barbecue grill yet--which wasn't particularly clean from the last time we barbecued in the fall, I'm sure, and now has Raid on it. And I didn't get around to refilling the propane tank yet. But we were spared having to get rid of the wasps ourselves, or having to pay someone else to do it(more than the cost of an omelet, anyway, and since we got four dozen free eggs from my mom, who has chickens...).
It's been a great weekend that way. The Internet connection got fixed with minimal effort, the wasps are gone likewise, and it even looks like our tax refund has come in, which relieves some of the money worries we've been having recently. And next week all I have to do is go to a Visual Basic.Net course at an office which is just up 50th Street from our house, about a ten minute drive. Sweet.
