FLYING INSECTS

Bees, hornets, yellow jackets, etc.  I'm not good at telling the difference. 

I know honey bees are good and the earth would soon be in total famine without them. We've got to do all we can to save them. 

Hornets are the ones who build these sweetpotato-shaped homes in trees.  Not sure if they aid in pollination of plants or not.  My son climbed up a tree to investigate a large one when he was quite young and fell from the limb with a stinger to-boot. It was a tough lesson. 

Yellow jackets, I think, live in the ground.  Don't know what good they do for anyone except the queen.  They dig deep into the ground, build quite a large structure and have their queen near the bottom.  Disturb their home and they will swarm and sting you repeatedly.  I can attest to this - I outran a swarm I dug into but heard the yelps of my dog following me.  Quite an experience.

What's all this about?  Some flying creatures, yellow jackets I presume, have made a home just outside mine in amongst some bushes near the front door.  I've noticed it in the last month and the activity is tremendous.  I've learned that the only thing to do is kill them.  Sorry folks.  Most, except the queen and her best buddies, will die with the cold weather, anyway.  

The timing and the methods are important.  Like all flying insects, they pretty much give up what they are doing when it gets cold.  We had 30 degree temps last Friday but I wasn't sure if that was cold enough.  I'm chicken!  I plan on waiting until we have freezing temps.  When that day comes, I'm going to pour dawn dish soap down their hole.  I've been told by YouTube (from which all knowledge now comes) that it works.  

I'll make a full report when the day comes.