Thursday, June 9, 2011

The Right To Bear Arms

A couple of years ago, I put up a hummingbird feeder by my front porch. I don't really know why these little birds fascinate me so, but they do. I moved the feeder closer to my porch last year so that I could really get a good look at these amazing creatures.

We've had the occasional wasp showing up too which is annoying to say the least. My son Micah mentioned to me the other day that he'd been watching and that if there was a wasp on the feeder when the hummingbirds flew up, they would not stop to feed, they would just fly off. I put the feeder up to watch hummingbirds, not wasps. So you can understand my annoyance at having to watch these little red intruders keep the birds away.

Yesterday I was sitting on my porch and there were several of these bandits flying around and taking turns eating their breakfast. I have a can of wasp spray, but you know I don't want to spray them while they are close to the feeder, for fear that then the hummingbirds will die too. Then the thought hit me, why don't you shoot them with that air soft pistol?

I went into the room and dug through a box of toys until I found it; took out the clip, loaded it, then went and sat in my chair and waited for the wasps to show up. As one arrived and landed on the feeder, I carefully took aim and shot one of the plastic b-b's at the offender. High, and to the left. I re-aimed the pistol and shot again. Low and to the right. Cocking the pistol and slowing my breathing I pointed the gun at the wasp and slowly squeezed the trigger, bam! A small splat and my enemy went down for the count.

Realizing how well the pistol worked, I sat patiently and waited for more of the little buggers. In all I shot five of them yesterday with only one of them getting close to stinging me. Who would have thought that an air soft gun, a toy for children (and dads) to play, would become a lethal weapon for wasps on my front porch? Uh, oh gotta go, I hear a buzzing on my porch. Lock and load!

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