That could be a good business opportunity. Skunk rentals for ground wasps. Like rent-a-sheep for lawn mowing.
When the new business is up and running, Lunch at @John Brunner's! (although I hope he invests in descented skunks.)
The hose got moved out of the yellow jacket hole some time Thursday night. Put it back late last night. Keeping all options open. A sprinkler might be better. In the daytime. Douse them with soap coming and going? Another hot day (95F). I wanted to do the fence before the neighbors came back for fall semester, but they already returned. Classes don't start until August 14th. The looming deadline was starting to get on my nerves. There will be better opportunities at the end of August. Take a deep breath. Last trip out, the AC at the mobile home was blowing air only cool enough to keep the place at 87 degrees inside. Mr. B (formerly "the HVAC man") stopped out there yesterday. This time the main air duct had come detached at the connection to the branches of the system. A simple, but time-consuming fix. I told him I thought a skunk might have been under the mobile home. He said the crawl space is too tight for that. It was freezing under there. Mr. B retired from an HVAC job in Atlanta and moved into a house right down the road, a few year ago. He opened a small business with only his stepson to help. It is easy for him to work things in whenever he is free. I hope he doesn't re-retire.
It may sound odd that the neighbors are a factor in when to work on the fence, but their back door is just 20 feet from the fence (Google maps). This latest group seems to spend most of their time standing in the driveway talking to visitors coming and going. It's like a hub of activity. They must offer free parking spaces for friends. It just seems intrusive to work on their property while they are outside. I bring this up because everyone was gone Friday thru Saturday night. The fence was all ready to go. The chance of rain Sunday and Monday was about as low as it ever gets here in the summer. Why not start in the morning and get this job over with. It should only take one day. It seemed like the stars were lining up perfectly, so I went for it. Started on the neighbor's side Sunday morning. Finished more than half of everything by 2 pm. It only took 3 hours. Just as I was taking a break, they showed up with a trailer moving in furniture. Perfect timing. Then the clouds began forming. At 5 pm we got one of the hardest rains we've had all summer---almost an inch in 20 minutes with strong winds. The sealer was supposed to be on 24 hours before rain. I may have to start all over. The same thing may happen next time. I gambled with Mother Nature and lost
I got tired of playing games with the yellow jackets. One good spray with a long-distance foaming wasp killer late yesterday seemed to do the trick. Gave it one more shot this morning for good measure.
While tropical storm Debby was passing just south of us, the predictions of rain were ridiculously low (7%) here. High only 90F but "feels like" 98. The fence had 2 days to dry off. I couldn't see any damage due to the rain. Probably because it was (Olympic) oil-based clear sealer, instead of water-based stain. Anyway, I touched up a few places and finished it. Better than nothing. They had a little plastic hand-held pump sprayer for $8 at Lowes. It only holds a half gallon. A nuisance to keep filling it up, but light enough to hold in one hand, and carry a brush in the other to remove puddles. It made the job easy. I won't mind doing it more often. Sunlight had faded the wood to almost white in places. This stuff makes it look the color it would be if it were wet. I'm happy with it. The grain shows well. When it gets ugly, you can always stain it.