YJ Update 2

I just said goodbye to Mike from The Bug Man & Queen Bee, Inc. I was compelled to call in an exterminator after being stung again this afternoon on my way out the back gate. They got me in my right shin this time. Dean ran in the house and got me the ice pack to wrap around my leg and I continued on to the grocery store, where I had been headed. Once in the grocery store, with the ice pack still wrapped over the wound, I flagged down the manager and explained that I needed Benedryl NOW. She walked me over to the Health and Beauty aisle and allowed me to open some medication right there and take a swig. I thanked her and then went on to buy veggies, eggs and milk.

Dean stayed home and called the above mentioned company who in turn showed up a few hours later. Lexie, our schnauzer, ran out to greet the visitor and was immediately stung. She started biting at her paw, shaking her little head and sort of running in circles. I quickly dispatched her to the house for ice treatment.

Mike was genial and willingly posed in his "bee suit" as he shot a high powered spray of Talstar One directly at, around and under the nest site. He followed this with a chaser of Ficam dust, a very fine powder that clings all over the nest area and is taken in by any yellowjackets that try to reenter or even leave the nest, sort of tracking them down and killing those that survive or who return to the nest after the spray.

Mike told me before he drove off that this was one of the most aggressive colonies he had seen this year. This was, of course, after seeing them go after my dog and getting one small sting himself before donning the bee suit. I feel totally exonerated in my numerous attempts to destroy a community of some of God's smallest creatures.