Paper Wasps and a first attempt at landscaping

I meant to create an entry just dedicated to paper wasps, but now I have more to talk about besides just insects. I also mulched and planted a few flowers. I have lots of pictures this time.

First, the wasps:

I did some research on the internet and found the wasps that chill on our deck are Paper Wasps, and they are eating parts of our deck to make nests. For Sara, these ARE the wasps with the hangy-legs.

But that's not the only place I've found them...The other day I went to fill the car with gas, opened up the door to the tank, and there was a wasp. I about shut the tank door and drove off, but it was raining out so I knew he would be helpless. I beat the area around the tank with the windshield cleaner thing so somehow I must have drowned it. I never did find him, but he doesn't appear to be on the gas tank anymore.

Anyway, so how do we get rid of these beasts? Well, everything that I've found has said you have to get rid of the nest. We have yet to find a nest anywhere around the house, so I have no idea where they are coming from. I'm hoping after we power wash and seal the deck, the wasps won't be able to eat it anymore so they will go away. The other remedy that I read about was using peppermint oil. I'll have to try that, too.

Next, landscaping:

For Mother's Day weekend, we both went home and spent the day with our respective mothers. Mom and I went out to several stores, and got some flowers and mulch. I helped mom plant a couple geraniums, daisies, and a lily. We also put down the red mulch around the house.

Mom bought me some mulch (I chose cypress, but it took a really long time for me to decide), an orange lily, a day lily, and a pot of white geraniums. I put the pot out front and planted the lilies. I did have to rip up some of the landscape lining to get to the soil out front. I put the mulch down in the front planter outside the window, and it blended very nicely. I started to put it down in front of the porch, and it realized it was much lighter than what was already down. I put down the 3 bags, and when I stepped back, I couldn't believe how much it brightened the front of the house. Take a look at some pictures: The first shows the planter with the lily, the second is in front of the porch. Notice the Day Lily planted in the left-hand corner.

A blog entry wouldn't be complete without a Neville story. Neville was by himself for the first time this weekend. When we returned, he had thrown up in the living room and ate very little all weekend. He didn't leave my side the whole night. When we went to bed, he came up, but around 1:30 he decided to meow and wanted playtime. Well, in the past we would just kick him out when he gets playful at night, so last night wasn't any different. Usually, he comes downstairs and we don't see him until morning...but not last night. After we kicked him out, he stood outside our door, howled, and pawed on the door. Because I didn't want to give in, I let him cry, but after an hour of it I knew neither of us would get any sleep if we let him continue. So at 2:30AM, I crawled into my old twin bed in the guest bedroom, played with Neville, and let him cuddle with me. He did eventually fall back asleep, and left on his own at 5:00AM. I usually get up at 6:00, so I had an hour to sleep. He was back outside the door at 6:00 looking for food.

So the bottom line of the Neville story: He still has separation anxiety. He acted like he was attached to me when we first brought him home, but then he got over it and started to become more independent. I guess when we left for the weekend, he thought we (when I say "we" I really mean "I" because he doesn't really care whether Chance is here or not) were never coming home. Not sure if in the future we will be able to leave him or have someone come in on Saturday to feed him and give him some attention. I hope this separation anxiety doesn't last too long!

Mulch

Yesterday I went to go get mulch from Walmart and paid for regular brown mulch. Who knew there were so many different kinds of mulch to choose from? When I went to pick it up outside, they were actually sold out of brown and all they had left was black and red. I went ahead and got the red because I didn't really think it made much of a difference.

Now I'm having second thoughts...

I'm afraid the red mulch will really stand out. The house is tan and brown in color, so the brown mulch the previous owner had out front blended in well. I know ma uses red mulch because I've helped her mulch the front and side before, but my parents have part brick on their house so the red matches a bit better.

The picture below shows the front of the house (before we moved in obviously, notice the Packer sign in the front yard). You can hardly see the brown mulch because it blended in so well. I'm talking about the part behind the birdbath in the photo, right in front of the porch (I know its hard to see, but that's my point exactly).



I'll probably stew about this for a couple of more days and then eventually decide just to go for the red mulch or return it to walmart and find brown mulch at Menards. Suggestions anyone??

Finally...a nice weekend!

Both Saturday and Sunday were sunny with highs in the upper 60s...so it was beautiful weather - for starting yardwork!

Saturday I sat out on the deck for a few minutes, but found that the hangy-leg wasps also enjoy the deck wood. I would kill one, and another one would fly in. That made me uncomfortable knowing they were around, so my outside sun time was short-lived. I know we need to wash and seal the deck, but I doubt that will stop the wasps. I thought maybe we could seal with wasp-spray too.

The rest of Saturday was spent catching up on grading. I am now caught up so I can cross that part off of the list...for now! Zach was visiting us from DeKalb so we went to the Kernals vs. Peoria Chiefs baseball game Saturday night. I actually enjoyed myself. It was nice to be outside and eat ballpark food.

Sunday we took down the swingset that the seller's left us. Now it will be much easier to mow the backyard. We also had the tire-sandbox, so I cleaned all of the sand out from inside the tire and we moved the tire into the shed. Now we just have a pile of sand in the middle of the backyard. What do we do with that?

I also start raking out the leaves and pulling weeds from the front yard area. I really should have taken more before-pictures. This is the area in front of the front porch. There was some old mulch down, but mostly it was all covered in leaves and sticks. I raked out the whole front and the side. I filled 5 bags full of leaves and sticks. Next, I'll need to get some new mulch to put down. Then I'll move to the rest of the front and side yard, which has more weeds than grass.

Neville was naughty tonight and tried to jump up the dining room table as soon as I put dinner down. I was standing right next to the table- and he knows he isn't supposed to go up there. I picked him and put him down, yelled, and used the water sprayer. He ran into the living room and sat on the floor facing the opposite direction from us for the next half hour. He would not respond to his name. He's been on my lap for the past 3 hours so I think he's over it. I thought it was funny he responded to punishment like a child.

We are heading back to IL next weekend for Mother's Day. We will need to leave Neville here by himself (though I'm not opposed to bringing him back and living in my room with me for the weekend). I'm a bit nervous about leaving him by himself since this is all still new for him and he is so hungry for attention. I don't really want to ask anyone to come look in on him because anyone who I would trust to give a key to the house would have to make a 10 mile + trip out here.

This week will be spent finishing up end of semester activities, and more prep for summer. House projects for the week include mulching and hopefully getting some hanging baskets for the front porch.