Sunday, March 27, 2005

Much Ado About...

Nothing.  That's what we found inside that nasty hornet's nest we noticed at the cabin a few weeks back.  Well, there weren't any hornets, so it wasn't an active nest anyway.  Yesterday Sam grabbed a long piece of lumber from his stash underneath the cabin and he knocked the hornet's nest off the side of the cabin.  Too bad there wasn't a video camera going at the time.  When that nest hit the ground, my muscle's were ready to move...it was the instinctive fight or flight thing.  Obviously you can tell how brave I was by the distance between me and the cabin in the pic...actually, it was the only way to get Sam and the nest in same frame.  ;)  It was pouring down rain when we did it...which is good.  We need the rain.  The rain is good for everything.  But isn't the nest huge!  It's so fragile, and lightweight, light as a feather.  I've decided to keep it to display inside the cabin.  Now I need to find a shadow box, or Plexiglas cube in which to store it.  The next picture will tell you why.  This is true craftsmanship at it's best.  It's absolutely amazing...to me anyway.

The number of layer's on this nest is unbelievable. It feels like tissue paper, lots of tissue paper.  Kinda weird, but cool, all at the same time. 

Both Rumbeau and Allie were pretty fascinated by the nest.  The second it hit the ground, Rum ran right over to it, very curious about what it was.  Allie reserved her curiousity for the inner hive (seen on the cooler).  It has seven levels and looks like a little hornet condo, except it broke into two pieces when it hit the ground.  From an engineering point of view, this nest is remarkable.  If you think about it, how well would any of our homes survive a fall, or crash, similar to the one the nest survived?  I know, it's a stretch, but still, Mother Nature does have some pretty fantastic stuff up her sleeves. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

interesting, pretty interesting... You might think im a lil slow or stupid because i have no idea what a hornet is. I mean its obvious from the nest that it is a bird but I have no idea what it looks like...Anyway still very cool... lol
                                        Gaye =]

Anonymous said...

These little creatures are indeed masters of engineering.  But I`m so glad for you that the nest wasn`t occupied.  Those hornets are quite scary.  My hubby Jim was stung by one and he said it was very painful, his hand swelled up quite badly.  Recently, one of the parks where we walk Jake had a very large nest in a tree near an outdoor coffee outlet.  The park wardens had put red warning tape around the tree and signs telling people to stay well away.   They were very big hornets too.... very scary! :-0  

Sandra xxx

Anonymous said...

Wow, these pics are fantastic!  
I don't blame you for wanting to keep it, things like this are actually quite beautiful when you look up close, and consider the work that went into them :o)
Sara   x

Anonymous said...

I can't believe Sam had wood that long! I am looking forward to getting an up close look at the hive in June...just make sure there is NO BUZZING comin from inside it. Great pics!

Anonymous said...

Awesome!!! That is insane. I have never seen one up close like that. I am too scared hehe. I love your journal.. thank you so much for stopping by mine. I am going to make sure to add you to my favorites. : )

Brandi
http://journals.aol.com/brandilynneliz/SomethingNew

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this!
 *** Coy ***


Anonymous said...

Whoa...can you say "the willies"? Glad it was empty, for sure!


Jimmy