This afternoon I was enjoying my day off by sweeping/cleaning/reorganizing my gazebo.
I made a mistake against nature though.
 A group of wasps moved into my rubbermaid garden table a few weeks back.

So far I had just gone on with my life-One day I sprayed one of them with my non-working insect repellent and realized that wasps don't even notice that stuff.

Well, today I decided to sweep out and organize my gazebo. I raked some little piles of leaves. Cleaned out some water bottles and moved some things around. One of the last things that I decided to move was the rubbermaid garden table. I noticed that the wasps started flying around. But then I wanted to read a magazine and drink tea and listen to the radio in my newly clean space. So I did. I had always heard "If you don't bother them, they won't bother you." Probably true. I wasn't bothering the wasps at that second. I had already bothered them by disturbing their home.

So, while I was reading the free July 28 issue of Entertainment Weekly I got at the library...one of the wasps lands on my thumb...literally does a jig on it...I practically heard it laugh wickedly at me it was on there so long...then it stung me.

I always thought that if I were ever stung by a wasp or hornet (they are cousins) I would destroy everthing within a 100-yard area. Actually, I focused my mind on not feeling the pain and I walked (didn't run) really fast into the kitchen and ran cold water on the sting. It really helped. Then I found some blue star ointment. That didn't help so much. Later, I found out about a water mixed with baking soda salve and took a benedryl. A few hours later and the swelling is gone and it isn't red or sore.

At dusk I went back out and covered the hole on my garden table. The wasps (5 or 6 of them) had congregated on the string of christmas lights I have around the top of the inside of my gazebo. I lit some deep woods off insense, which only made them angry (I was trying to get rid of them) and I took some pics (which was kinda hard because I didn't want to get anywhere near them).

All the info I found says they only hang out until early November, but hopefully they will get out before then. I don't want to call them evil, but you didn't hear the one that stung me laughing.