Category: personal

this afternoon i learned of another natural symbiotic relationship that yellow jackets have (for the first symbiotic relationship see the entry from [url=http://www.parkviewyouth.org/blog/?postid=5] August 23rd[/url]). today noah’s tiger cub den had a field trip to the bluebonnet swamp reserve to observe nature and to do a service project. the service project was picking up trash around the reserve. the observing of nature was watching the mass of yellow jackets swarm out of the area in which we were picking up trash.

we were walking around the pavement picking up small pieces of trash and trying to make the reserve look better. what we didn’t know is that yellow jackets have apparently not only made a bargain with bushes to protect them but they have also cut some type of deal with random pieces of trash. i’m not sure if the deal works for every piece or trash or not but i am sure that is works for tootsie roll wrappers. one of the kids there saw the wrapper and bent down to pick it up. at first i didn’t see what she was picking up, because if i had i would have screamed for her to stop. i have vast personal experience with yellow jackets and i am familiar with all the symbiotic relationships they have. therefore, i knew about the little known yellow jacket / tootsie roll wrapper deal. unfortunately she didn’t so she picked up the wrapper.

yellow jackets apparently really believe in keeping their promises because the second she picked up the wrapper they began to attack every breathing thing within 100 feet of the disturbed tootsie roll wrapper. if you think the thought of a 35 year old man running from yellow jackets is funny, just imagine six tiger cubs running away from the little beasts. it was chaos.

of course, the midst of all the action only two people were stung – 1) the girl who disturbed the tootsie roll wrapper, 2) me – the knower of all things yellow jacket. oh, i hate the little pests. i think i will begin killing all the yellow jackets i see. they can have a symbiotic relationship with my fly swatter.

i got to pet a tiger today! seriously. for some reason a guy brought a 12 week old female bengal tiger by the church building today. he is sometype of educator or something (honestly i didn’t really listen to him very much, i was too busy looking at the tiger). and takes this bengal around to schools to show the kids and teach them about tigers. apparently he was trying to see about bringing the tiger to the school at the church. anyhow, he sat there talking about the tiger and i finally asked “can i pet her?” nobody else had asked but after he said “yes” everybody jumped in and stole my idea (i always hate that – it’s kind of like ordering the same thing at a resturant that the person in front of you ordered – don’t steal people’s ideas, pick your own meal and make sure it is different from the person who ordered in front of you). it was pretty cool to be able to pet a tiger.

of course, after i was through petting the tiger i thought it would be cool to tell some other people so they could have the experience also. i tried telling a few of the students and teachers as they went by. i shouted out “hey, there’s a tiger in the white building.” for some reason they wouldn’t believe me. why would someone think i was lying about a tiger in the white building? have they had someone lie to them about tigers in the past? have they had a “boy called tiger too often” experience before and therefore they made a vow to never believe anyone again when they said “hey there’s a tiger”? just doesn’t make any sense to me. who would lie about a tiger? an elephant or an ardvarck i could see lying about but not a tiger. the moral of the story is you should always trust a guy when he says “hey there’s a tiger in the white building. if you do then you may get the chance to pet a tiger. if not, then you’ll probably miss out.

okay just a few minutes ago i was trimming the bushes in front of our house (yes when you get to be an adult you too will get to do such exciting things). apparently the bush i was trimming did not like me cutting on it and decided to release a yet unknown weapon against me. it would appear that bushes have a symbiotic relationship with yellow jackets. i don’t know the specifics but apparently the relationship works something like this – i’ll give you a place to live if you will insanely attack anyone who comes near me with clippers. i’m not sure how long these particular yellow jackets hav lived at these bushes because it has been around a year since i have approached this bush with clippers (though i have walked all around it without a cutting device in my hand and never been attacked – that’s the key – you must have clippers in your hand for the yellow jackets to live up to their part of the bargain). today though i had clippers in my hands and the yellow jackets decided to honor their arrangement and they actually seemed to enjoy keeping the bargain. they attacked me viciously. by the time i realized what was going on i had been stung 5 times around the ankles.

yet this was not the end of the battle because being a former boys-scout i was prepared. i had in my possession a can of wasp and hornet killer and i quickly ran for it (maybe hobbled toward it would be a better description). i came back with my own weapon and attacked both the bush and the yellow jackets. vengeance is mine saith the homeowner! as the yellow jackets squirmed i laughed over the bodies. i of course, ran away like a little girl when one of the remaining yellow jackets flew towards me, but still i laughed.

i’ll update you later on the battles of the bushes if there are any new skirmishes.