- at Yellow Jackets - I think they are Yellow Jackets… they are some kind of wasp anyway and they are yellow and black and attracted to sweet stuff as in my glass of wine, tea, my hair (spray or shampoo??).  I am pretty good at not swatting at bee type things and letting them figure out that I am not a flower (food) and they then go away.  But these guys - actually I guess it is the girls that go out for food - not giving up!  First sting on the back of my arm just walking and I assume she got caught between arm and the edge of my blouse - oww! but then not too bad until next day when swollen, hard, hot and red to nearly my elbow!  So looked around and found a nest - a ha! - next morning I sprayed it well and knocked it down. Mission accomplished I thought…

But then, standing in the yard - stung twice more on the leg!  Oh - maybe the first nest I saw was not the only nest so did a really good look around and found 7 more! 

Most are small like the first, but 2 fairly large (photo left) and naturally in the peak of the roof.. requiring the extension ladder.  It is not a seriously high peak on my little cabin-house but still I don’t want to fall and it has required some serious psyching up - dealing with the anxiety of possibly missing a few of them and having to remember to take my time on the ladder.  I so BADLY want them gone!

And it is not just me - before tackling the 7 nests, I needed more spray.  I stopped at the home and ranch supply place - none… the cashier said they had a run on it.  Funny, I thought - I’ll stop at the hardware - none - same story… I go to a grocery and then thinking I’m being sneaky to a nursery and 2 convenience stores - None.  And there are other people looking also - we are kind of following each other around chasing after Wasp Killer spray. 

Apparently it is the summer of the wasps and no one can enjoy their decks or porches and lots of stinging.  Yesterday, I even received an email from the fire department warning about them and reminding everyone where the Epi-pens were located in the medical kits - Yikes! - not quite Hitchcock but…

The hardware told me that a truck would be delivering about 1:00 yesterday - I phoned at 1:05 and was told that 95 cans were being unloaded.  I wasted no time - hopped in the Jeep and went - grabbed up 4 cans and came home where they made me so anxious sitting on the counter that I had to hide them in a closet.

This morning, I donned my “outfit” - jeans tucked into boots, long sleeve denim shirt buttoned to the chin and wrists, raingear over with the hood cinched tight - ski goggles, gloves - no, I am not getting out the tripod to get a photo!  I was nearly poached by the time I got to the ladder armed with 2 cans of spray which I had tested briefly.  A little anti-climatic - it went well. I saturated the nests and didn’t fall off the ladder.  I knocked down all but the 2 nests in the peak - those I will give another dose of spray tomorrow morning before I knock them down. 

I’m sitting here dripping wet - it was 65 when I went out but still too warm for the amount of stuff I had on and it was closed down so tight nothing got in - not even air. 

Now - whether getting rid of these nests will allow me back on the front porch - that I don’t know … Killer frost, that’s what we need!  And believe me, I am not the only one saying that - the grumbling, whining and general misery with the heat wave is getting to everyone - I feel better not being the only grump!   From inside the house until further notice…

I know, riveting topic… but if you read “The Start” and “About” - I did disclose that RV “stuff” - including maintenance and repairs would be part of this blog - great thing is you can skip a post that is of no interest!

And if you decide to read on, don’t be afraid - it really is about the drinking facuet - this has nothing to do with the toilet part of RV plumbing…

The old faucet fell off and sprung it’s insides when I was cleaning it after the last trip.  So, I ordered a replacement from Winnebago Parts .  The replacement is a much nicer faucet, but it is different which will make a bit of a difference noted later.  The parts person said that his notes said to include a fitting kit - so I bought that.  He did note that he rarely sent the fitting kit and people did not call to get it.  I said send it as I can’t turn the water on without the faucet hooked up and I didn’t want to wait for a 2nd shipment if I needed it.

The best thing about the fitting kit was the instructions which showed everything and how it goes together…  My favorite part, though is the first line about “Installation …..  being straight forward” - well, that itimidated me a bit.  I mean, if I had trouble it would mean I was somehow incompetent..  and then the diagram with what looked like many pieces and steps.  Well, nothing to do but proceed.

The only things I used from the fitting kit were a plastic ferrule and a tube sleeve.  The compression fitting that I needed from the kit was too small for the pipe on the faucet.  This I discovered after the faucet was in place and bolted on and that required my neighbor, Nancy, holding at the top while I did a contortion act under the sink.  Under a house sink is not that much fun - under an RV sink - less so!

The 1/2 way point…

However, a trip to the hardware with the slightly small compression fitting (1/4) and I found a 5/16  and a 3/8 so brought both home.  The 5/16 was the winner and things went together - a bit of teflon tape per instructions was also used.  Water on - success! - a working filtered water drinking faucet - much nicer than the original.  Not so bad after all.

I was born and grew up in Northwest Ohio - Toledo and then Perrysburg.  At 24, I took a job that moved me to San Francisco area and then several years later I moved to Los Angeles where I lived for 13 years before my move to Montana in early ‘94. 

Karl will do a bit of a perimeter check on his own first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening, but he is a homebody dog - staying in the “yard” unless I walk out and then he happily goes with.  We are in the habit of a walk down the driveway as soon as there is a bit of light for me.  Karl will venture into the woods on the way back, but the trip out is along the driveway.  I have a cup of coffee with me and I amble along as he stops to sniff and explore a bit.

 A few days ago I was standing where I took the photos above, absently watching Karl sniff around and looking at the moss covered stump.  When I lived in Los Angeles there was always a neighborhood bagel place that I could walk to from my apartment.  Standing in the early morning - something about the stump and the trees - it brought a vivid picture to mind of the contrast between the surroundings of my current home and how I once lived in the city.  In California and particularly Los Angeles, I lived in apartments that were mostly next to other apartment buildings and I had maybe one window that looked at a bit of a tree.  I was fortunate to find smaller buildings where I was one of 2 apartments on the floor so had windows on 3 sides usually, but still - it was Los Angeles - the city… sidewalks, cars, buses, small yards immaculately landscaped, office buildings…

In Montana, even my first house on a 90 x 100 lot in a subdivision - was a treed lot and there were 2 lots next to me with no homes as well as a woods behind that was a buffer between my subdivision and the one next - a huge leap from L.A.  The next move took me to a transitional rental on Flathead Lake - on the lake with my own little beach and also woods and orchard around and between the house and the road.  Swan River Road was next - a little craftsman house on 6 acres with about 2/3 in yard/pasture and 1/3 in woods - the river across the road and Swan Range rising to the east.  The house was surrounded with old growth birch and pines

Now, here I am in the 8 acre woods and cabin - turned into small ranch house - 175 yards off the road,  on top of  the first foothill before the Swan range,  40 acres of meadow beyond my woods opening onto vistas of the mountains, 40 acres of state land on the north boundary, and a nice neighbor who enjoys quiet and privacy as I do - to my west.  The woods is newly thinned and healthy with grasses and wildflowers growing up in between the trees.  The sun shines through the trees in a beautifully filtered pattern which changes from first light to last.

It is difficult to explain the thoughts and feelings that flitted through my mind in a manner of seconds - the contrast between the city and this woods.  I have lived in the lush midwest, near enough to the ocean to walk to the beach, in a neighborhood, on a lake and now in the woods by the mountains.   It is the woods by the mountains that I love best.  I bought a poster when I was 16 - it was about 2 feet wide and 4 feet high - it was simply sun shining through the trees of a woods - I could nearly duplicate the poster with any photo of my woods…. from the front porch, Saturday, July 21, 2007.

News and some photos today - no one got a photo of the tornado - the photos were of the damage.  And it wasn’t a tornado of the Kansas - Iowa sort, but apparently the several strong cells that whooshed through did have signifigant rotation and one bit of rotation touched ground south of Polson and several other bits over Flathead Lake - one which picked up a 26 foot sailboat and spun it 360 flinging the occupants over the side - they were rescued unhurt.  In fact, no people were hurt.  The roof came off an arena where a barrel racing event was going on - terrifying to horses and people and one horse was killed, another hurt but looks like he will recover.  From “The Daily Interlake” (Kalispell newspaper)  - the following article   http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2007/07/20/news/news01.txt

 And when I stopped at the dump this morning - evidence of a recent storm…

The day after the “Big” storm - 80 instead of nearly 100 - what a change!  Warm enough to feel like summer but not so hot as to make it miserable to be outside.  By early evening, it was extremely pleasant so we had some outdoor fun…

a little “Karl’s Rules Soccer”…

Done with soccer.

After soccer a little garden time - not a lot of raspberries but what a nice little snack with an evening cup of tea!

Bob had his own special way of enjoying the nice night…