Tuesday, June 17, 2008

current season's score

Whilst working on some boat projects over the weekend, I opened the forward hatch to get some air circulating in the cabin. I apparently disturbed a wasp (a mud dauber?) and that little sucker stung me! Yowch! I hadn't been stung by something in years, and the pain of the sting was almost as disturbing as the knowledge that...

...a bug had touched me.

From the relatively safe confines of the cockpit, I reached into the cabin and found my trusty can of Garden Fresh Scent RAID and my boat hook, and I prepared to do battle. I hate chemicals, but I hate bugs even more. It seemed like the wasp -- or one of his buddies -- was still lingering around the hatch. I stepped onto the dock and crept up to the bow of the boat. I used the boat hook in my left hand, with leverage from the lifeline, to pry up the hatch. I screamed like a little girl, of course, when a wasp came flying out, but I held my ground and sprayed him with the RAID and finished him off with the boat hook. HA!!

I lifted the hatch again and saw with great horror that a little nest with a couple more wasps in it was nestled on the cabin top under the edge of the hatch. I sprayed the nest (again with the simultaneous scream) and quickly dispatched both of the remaining wasps and their former home.

Naturally, the newly-exterminated hatch rim provided an excellent opportunity to thoroughly clean the area with Method's Pink Grapefruit Non-Toxic, Not-Animal-Tested Spray Cleaner, the official all-purpose cleaner of Central Air. Mmmm... Very nice! A clean boat is a happy (and faster?) boat.

I wouldn't consider this bug problem to be on the same horrifying level as my friend Edward's uninvited guest from last season, but it was fairly traumatic. I was pretty pleased with myself for not calling in male assistance (although I guess I did call my favorite boy to whine about it afterward.)

Anyway, this is what it looks like after you sting Christy:


The current season's score is:
Wasps: 1
Christy 3

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