I got a very disturbing call out of the blue two days ago.
An old friend, who volunteers to mow the lot near my walking path down the wooded lane, alerted me that there is “a huge hornet’s nest” in a bush near where I always park my car. “It’s the biggest nest I’ve seen,” he helpfully said. “So be very careful.”
Ack!
There may be no insect I detest more than hornets. They are mean and vicious. Sometimes, they even lurk underground, so they can really give you a nasty surprise.
I learned some time ago, when I first moved to “the country,” that the time to eradicate a hornet’s nest is in the evening, after they’ve all headed home for the night. I’d be out there in a lovely nightgown (the rescue squad may come), clutching my phone in one hand (may have to call the rescue squad), and a big can of hornet spray in the other.
I’d steel myself, and commence to spray. I’d completely cover the nasty nest. It would sort of collapse – a sight I found quite comforting.
I once had a housekeeper who was afraid of absolutely nothing. I showed her a hornet nest. I stood inside, with phone in hand, while she insisted on poking the nest with a stick (!!), spraying and then somehow setting the whole thing on fire? At least, that’s what I think I remember. I was stupefied. It seemed to work, which was a good thing, since I don’t know if I could have mustered the resolve to punch the numbers 911.
This same friend/housekeeper once cleared a family of bats – cute, but bats nonetheless – out from between a window and a screen. They fluttered down, and then flew off. They did not come back.
But, back to that huge hornet’s nest beside where I park my car. Using the excuse that I have “a lot of work to do,” I haven’t been walking down that road since. But I miss it. And I am determined that I will go today.
How I have managed to escape a horde of angry hornets so far is something that puzzles me. But, I’ve come up with what I think is a good explanation.
Every day, what I do on my walk is pray. I pick a group of people I know need prayers – starting with the people of Ukraine – and say prayers for them throughout the walk. Unless I’m gazing at and counting (I’m an obsessive counter – just one of my many quirks) the horses in the field. If I don’t count to 12, I am disappointed. There should be 12. They don’t stray far from each other. So, where are the other two? I eventually find them, and feel verified.
So, every day lately on my walk, two people I’ve been praying for happen to be the mother and father of the wife of my friend who alerted me to the hornet nest. And oddly, at the very time I’m praying for them, I’ve been walking past the nest. Completely oblivious to danger.
It’s odd, but I think that’s the reason I’ve been so far unmolested by painful stings. It’s the only reason I can come up with, anyway.
There’s an old saying: When in doubt, pray. It is a truism I embrace, because … I gotta love it!
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