Do they come back for more?

I had a major nest in the wall by my breezeway door.... they were the guys that only use a nest for one season, and are gone, and it was like October or so when it got really crowded there..... I would let my dogs out a different door, so they wouldn't be bothered by the wasps..... but Sophie, my Newfoundland/husky mix, LIKE them. She would sit by that door for HOURS, eating the wasps as they flew past....... She reduced the population to almost nothing in just a few days...... Yep, shes an odd duck.

 

It takes a day or two, I think. Some were there the next day after I cleared them out. It took three days to get rid of all of them. Normally, I don't bother them if they are away from where I'm working. I figure they are part of nature and serve a purpose. On my daily driver and flying around me when I try to get in, nope, not gonna happen.

 

So far as I am concerned, if it flies, and stings, it ain't my friend.... and it's life expectancy in my proximity is measured in seconds...... They may serve some useful purpose, but, they can do that elsewhere. Not here.

 

I was raised to live with Nature. Mother Nature can be a wonderful neighbor, but if you fight her, you'll lose. For instance, I feed the birds year 'round. I have barn swallows in my garages that know me and chirp away unless I get close to their nest. However, if you walk in the garage with me, they will shut up. I use the birds for my nefarious purposes. In the summer, when the mosquitoes get bad, I'll let the feeder run empty. The birds will then eat the dickens out of the skeeters. Once the mosquitoes are gone I'll fill the feeder again.

I had trouble with a ground hog digging under my garage. When a skunk moved in, everything else went away. She was quiet, didn't go off on me and I'd feed her and her babies apple slices from time to time. The only time I ever smelled her was when a mean dog from up the street tried to mess with her. I haven't seen it since.

I have a garden snake named "Gladys" in my rock garden. I rarely get mice in my house.

I had a pet female Cardinal for about 3 years. When I'd fill the feeder, she'd sit right next to me while I filled it. There were several times when I was wearing a black shirt or jacket she'd perch on my shoulder. She came back one spring for a bit but disappeared. I think either something ate her or she died laying her eggs.

Now, while I'm not afraid of spiders and snakes, if they surprise me, they do tend to get flat. I prefer to scoop spiders up and take them outside to eat all those nice juicy bugs like mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes are the one exception to my tolerance for Nature. I will seek and destroy them every chance I geet.

 

I love nature, don't get me wrong, there are just some aspects of it that I disagree with. Strenuously. I live out in the sticks, so, wildlife is abundant. We get all manner of critters here, and they actually have a pretty beaten path down the north side of my property, which the use to get from one section of woods, to the next. Deer, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, etc. Most of 'em I just leave 'em be, or help 'em out when they need it. (or dispose them when its required.... distemper was bad around here for a while....) I allow a certain population of spiders in the house, they eat the insects after all, but, get too many, or in the wrong spot? Yer history. Got three dogs, and three cats as well, so, some of the smaller variety of wildlife have learned to avoid us like the plague. There are coyotes around here as well, I have heard them, sometimes quite close, but, I have never actually seen one. Deer? Yep, seem them almost every day.

Skeeters and ticks? I don't have the crowd of swallows across the street like I did at a previous residence. That was kinda cool, as soon as I started up the tractor, to mow the lawn, they would ALL come out for a visit. Hundreds of them. The mower stirred the insects up very nicely for them, and they appreciated the easy meal. My ex-wife has videos on her phone, of a CLOUD of swallows flyin' about, with an occasional glimpse of me on the tractor in the middle of it. More often than not, ya can't see me, too many birds. It was unnerving the first couple times, but, none of 'em ever collided with me, though they did sometimes come awful close.... and they didn't dive bomb me either, so, it was all good. We never had an issue with skeeters there.

Here though.... Yeah, I sprayed for a couple years for fleas, ticks, and skeeters. Haven't had to for some time though, as it just hasn't been that wet.

 

I did have one squirrel that was a problem. Cayenne pepper powder took care of him for a while but a wet period washed it off so I wired an electric fence charger to the bird feeder. Unfortunately, this was before I got my new eyes and I bought a fence charger. I thought it was for 2 miles of fence. It was actually for 200 miles of fence. Mr. Squirrel got hung up in it and I could hear the snap each time it hit him. I finally caught it with a live trap and took it to my woods. About 20 miles away. Biggest squirrel I've ever seen. I weighed the trap with him in it and after I released him. 21 pounds lighter. That feeder bandit was nearly as big as a raccoon. The birds could get to the feed after that.

 

I would love to have swallows, but they don't even seem to be in the area. They used to follow me around when I mowed the grass at work and I loved seeing them.
The main bug I hate is the ticks. Don't see any good that comes of them. We care for 8 ferals and are always pulling ticks off of them. Up until recently we had 9 ferals, but have had several sightings of coyotes. We are pretty sure his disappearance is related. He was a sweet boy.
Always like to do something about the ticks, but don't want to poison the other bugs as we have blue birds in our boxes and don't want to harm them as well as the lizards that run around.

 

Let's stay on the OP's topic. You can start a new outdoors or living with nature thread in the appropriate forum for this topic.

 

Replaced rear hose with a new one,so all hoses are brand new. Bled all 4 wheels and then took it for a drive. Brakes no longer dragging or smelling hot. Still have a soft pedal, after the initial brake bleeding. Since the system was basically open for about 4 days waiting for the rear hose to come in (Had it off to show the parts slinger at O'Reilly what I needed), Do I need to re bleed all 4 wheels?

 

That would be a yes. Start at the rt. rear, then left rear, then rt. front, and then left front.