The guys with the new windows arrived just when they said they would. By eight AM two burly fellows were lifting the new front and side windows and the new back door and frame from their truck and laying them against the back fence. The men coming to do the installation were booked for noon and we were ready for them. All the furniture had been moved into the center of the rooms and all the window treatments had been removed.
Roland and I were so excited, this was a long anticipated day. Our house is 2o years old and the original windows are in bad need of replacement. Both the large side and front windows have broken seals and almost always carry condensation between the panes. Plus, with winter coming, we are looking forward to a less drafty home.
After checking out the new windows and door, I sauntered around trying to envision how the new windows would look once in place.
What I saw once I got to the front of the house had me stop in my tracks.
Were those little flying things seemingly bobbing about at the top of the window…were they wasps?? And what were they doing, coming and going from the top of the siding?? Could it be… oh no… I think it was!
“ROOOOOOLAND!”
As my hubby rounded the corner to where I stood the first thing he saw was me standing there frozen with my finger pointed upward, “Look!”
“What?” he said, probably wondering why I was acting so daffy.
“Look at those wasps, I think they might have a nest in the siding.”
Both of us just stood there in silence….. looking upward, not wanting to see what we were seeing.
Long story short…. yes there is a nest. And no, the windows did not get installed.
*sigh*
This morning Roland is off to the “Bug Store” to buy some special tracking powder that he will squirt into the siding cracks. We have been told by the bug experts that this should do the job in 2-3 days.
Later today the window guys will install the dining room window and the back door. The front window will be rescheduled sometime after the wasp threat is over.
Roland and I were feeling pretty stressed about all of this yesterday. Today we’re seeing it in a better light. What can you do except go with the flow.. or at least try to. :-)
And as my sister, Dia reminded me,
“if you wanna hear God laugh, just tell Him your plans.”
Yes we know what happens to the best laid plans. At least you discovered your intruders before they grew their colony more.
Nature wins again!
It works that way so often… the five-minute job turns into half a day, the half-day job takes a week.
Pat discovered a nest of bald-faced hornets at the back of the property, but since they’re beneficial insects and the nest isn’t in an area where humans usually go, we’re leaving it intact until winter takes care of the hornets naturally. Same goes for the paper wasps under the eave of the shed in back. (And we wouldn’t dream of bothering the rabbits who live under the shed.)
Yesterday I finally wrote a check for my brother and his final payment on his building project… a new sunroom, deck, patio. We still have the stained glass coming but that was all ours and not a problem of the contractor. It started the first of May and has been very nerve wrecking indeed. Good luck… I have pictures on Flickr but haven’t had either time or energy to post them yet on the site.
Better finding the nest now than when the installers had the old windows out and THEN refused to work. Hope the rest of the installation goes smoothly.
Yes.. it really is, in a way, a good thing. If not for the pending installation.. we may not have noticed the nest at all.. or at least until we had a much larger problem YIKES!!
The dining room window and back door are now in… two thirds of the job done. :-)
Not a good find, but at least the wasps were discovered. The last thing needed is a large nest that can survive the winter.
I shudder to think!
Darn wasps decided to build their nest just in the wrong spot at the wrong time.
I hope you get them experminated ASAP so the new window can go in.
exterminated too lol
Or maybe “experminated” is a “permanent riddance.”
too funny Chancy! :-) Tried to do the deed ourselves.. but ended up calling the professionals. They are coming on Monday. Fingers crossed for a permanent expermination. :-)
Arrrrr! Matey, it be International Talk Like A Pirate Day, so you just make those scurvy wasps walk the plank!
nothing ever goes as planned ….
oy, so close to done. Dia took the words out of my mouth. It’s just a delay tho. It’ll get done.