Battling bug bites and preparing for fall

Things can change fast without any indication of the need for action.

Thursday morning Carl and I walked down to my north dock, using the stairway with a wasp nest under the bottom step. I had sprayed the nest on two cool mornings and I thought that the number of residents had diminished and was just a conversation topic rather than a danger.

Wrong.

As we stood on the dock, the residents buzzed around us, but we did not yet suspect danger.

In about 30 to 40 seconds the whole picture changed and a full flight of critters came at us. I had on a good jacket and only my hands and head got stung.

Each hand has about 15 to 20 bites and maybe 12 bites on my neck and head.

I don’t seem to be raising welts, but the sting is real.

I guess it was warmer than I anticipated, and the nest was organized for full attack.

They have made their point. No trespassing until a real frost puts them out of action until 2017.

It seems hard to think that our good weather is over.

Luckily, each bad day seems to be followed by a day or two of nifty fall weather. Good temperatures, clear skies, and gentle breezes.

Who needs to go south? I personally like real winter, but late fall to early winter when it turns cold and wet doesn’t really thrill me, especially when it includes long distance driving for yearend holiday visits to family.

I still have some work to do with my personal navy.

Sue and I had a nice cruise north to the village, then down the east side to Five Mile Point and back home again.

The sun was warm and the lake sparkled, but we didn’t see a soul out in a beach chair.

I guess the football games and golf tournaments have taken over.

I like to wait for a day or two more of these good conditions before taking the boats out of the water.

However, I sometimes I end up rushing the boats out of the water just before the snow arrives.

I find that I’m really missing Nathan, especially when I come home.

He also kept me company at the office late in the day when it was just the two of us tending the tiller of the good ship Upstate Temperature Control.

If he came back he would not be happy, as our recliner which he claimed as his own, has been sent down the road by the next generation around here.

The little cast-iron stove that used to heat the place before we decided the computers needed to be warm on a cold night is also gone.

I do miss the wood heat from time to time, but I don’t think we have used it in a number of years. We’re getting a new carpet and the tile hearth which I created for the iron stove is going soon. I cannot imagine working on a floor project today with my decrepit old bones.

My main office person, who learned accounting under Mr. Wikstrom, has been with me since the days when the office was in our dining room.

This combination worked well for quite a few years. Eventually, my son William and then Pete joined the parade and I assume I will follow the wood stove and the recliner one of these days.

In the meantime, I enjoy coming over every day and I’m usually here until 5:30.

Wow. Those bites are really making themselves known and I guess I have pushed the pen as much as I need to for this week.