Hidden hornets' nest and other dangers

I found a piece of this nest lying in my driveway today. When I looked up, there it was next to the basketball net. Good thing Naomi hasn't practised her shooting lately.Update: Although Naomi wasn't tempted to play bball with this thing around, poor Don'tae was not warned. While waiting for Naomi, he and his brother were shooting around. It didn't take long for the whole swarm to come after him in a thick black line with him running at top speed for a block. A few caught up to him stinging him around the eye. Even though his brother was closer, the swarm ignored him though he ran off in the opposite direction. The swarm is now RIP through the wonders of chemical warfare. Couldn't walk the baby pass this thing every day.

When Josh was in middle school and the leaves finally fell off one of our maples, a football sized hornets' nest was exposed. As there had been several hard freezes, he thought it safe to shimmy up the tree and retrieve it. We used this for a science project. The warmer it is, the thicker the walls are to keep the nest cool. It is amazing that these little creatures can construct such a structure.

One summer, he and his buddies found one of these in a tree in front of his friend's house. They threw rocks at it. Clouds of angry hornets would emerge, eventually calm down, and the the rocks would hit again. The mom walked out of the house during the time that the hornets were searching for their tormentor; the aftermath was not pretty as the mom was allergic to their stings.

Steve found a patch of poison ivy near where I had been weeding last month resulting in 3 weeks of hell even though I only touched it for a second. Growing up in the city, he didn't have this hazard. I was surprised he was able to correctly identify it but he carefully took care of it. At the Girl Scout camp, I took the girls to had campgrounds surrounded by this stuff. The water pump especially had a good sized patch. I spent a lot of time trying to educate my charges. Hopefully they all know now.

And I won't go into the hidden danger of trusting my house guest.

I am taking a day off today. Maya and Naomi are over. One advantage of grandbabies is that they eventually go home but the visits are precious.