The Hornet's Nest

Look what we discovered in our front yard yesterday - a hornet's nest! (Click on it to enlarge it.)

David first had a crazy thought that he would tackle this himself. I told him to google how to get rid of a hornet's nests first. Then he came to his senses.

This prompted me to read up on hornets' nests. Wow. It is a huge nest. I learned that hornet nests are made of a paper-like material made by the insects from chewed up plant material and their own saliva. The honey comb shape is a very efficient way to pack a strong structure with lots of cavities into a small space, each comb cell in a wasp or hornet nest serves as the hatching and growth chamber for one egg and larva (since I am the most UN-scientific person on earth, you will know that I cut and pasted this from a site that I googled).

We called the city to ask for a recommendation on who to call to get rid of this. The city asked how close it was to the sidewalk. "Very close" David replied. And to our great joy, the city agreed to come and get rid of it. And it's gone today.

I kind of miss it! I read that a lot of people save the nest as "a decoration or conversation piece." So this picture will be our only reminder that it existed.