Wasp Encounter

I stepped out onto the back porch just a few minutes ago... I just happened to have the camera around my neck (because I am planning on taking some pics today as Angela and I go Thanksgiving shopping).. We've been renovating our house so we still have piles of lumber lying around in certain places. I noticed this wasp on one of the old boards.. It looked confused and seemed to be scraping wood with its jaws. I guess it was just doing its job at the wrong time. Just this past Friday it was around 25 degrees out and here two days later its about 55.
To be perfectly honest I hate wasps with a passion! I believe it all started with this one incident when I was a child visiting my cousins in Redwood, Mississippi. I remember they had this old bus next to their house. We were playing hide n seek and I thought I would climb up on top of the bus and get inside or something. Anyway, I stuck my fingers underneath a part of the grill and *ZAP! I got stuck by a wasp on my tender fingers.. Since then wasps have always been after me! And I'M the one who got stuck! So I hate the site of them and they hate the site of me.
However........ today I felt sorry for this little guy or girl. Maybe it's global warming.... maybe it's just a stray that for some reason lost its bearing or got kicked out of the hive. (It happens). I believe the poor thing was just confused because of the weather and got left out in the cold. Or he/she thinks it's spring already. Either way what ever happenes I wish her/him well... but if he/she shows up early spring in my tool shed then that's his/her abdomen!


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UPDATE!! I just found out on the net that it was probably a female looking for a place to hibernate for the winter...

Excerpt from Wikipedia:

At a certain time of the year (often around autumn), the bulk of the wasp colony dies away, leaving only the young mated queens alive. During this time they leave the nest and find a suitable area to hibernate for the winter.

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EXTRA!!

THE BEST FLYING INSECT KILLER: (costs about 50 cents)

1 get a spray bottle or garden pump sprayer (preferred)

2 Mix warm water with a generous amount of Dawn dish liquid, mix it up and drench the wasp nest and wasps.... God help you if you miss!

Keep your face covered!