Wizard of Id by Parker and Hart for January 29, 2024

Well that can’t be good…

At least it’s not hanging over the out house

Looks more like a hornets nest than what we called a wasp nest.

I bought a record at the charity shop the other day, “Sounds That Wasps Make”. I took it home and it sounded nothing like Wasps.

That’s when I realized I was playing the Bee side.

A man walked into a hardware store, picked up a can of fly spray and asked the assistant, “Is this good for wasps?”

“No, it kills them.”

I’m not scared by bees, but I am deathly afraid of fake bees like wasps and yellowjackets.

You might say I have a faux-bee-aahhhh!

So wasps aren’t bees, but they look like bees.

They’re wanna-bees.

Why are wasps nastier than bees?

Because they can’t beehive.

I remember a Christmas strip from about two years ago. The Wizard had been up all night to make a White Christmas for the kids of Id to enjoy. Someone commented, “For a dark wizard, he has a soft side.” Today’s strip shows the Wiz’s darker side.

Finally Wiz getting back to business eh.

So the Wiz is showing his dark side by being mean to the wasps? by compelling them to come out and fly around in cold weather?

They will just freeze.

We’ve had days so above average temp around here (Central PA), that I’ve seen insects flying around outside that would otherwise be dead or dormant in winter!

Next, flying spiders.

They’re all wearing faux fur parkas, earmuffs and six little snow booties.

I saw a wasp this month…in the snow!

wasp the animal…not the old name for White Anglo-Saxon Protestants

The wiz did his homework…..probably “murder” hornets!!!!!!

The only good thing about winter: no mosquito bites. Thanks Wiz, you scumbag.

I didn’t realize that the Wiz was evil nor did I gather that there were more of them throughout the land of Id!

At least they’re not giant Asian hornets.

Looks like a croissant with a hovering fly to me

The wasp whisperer.

Buzz off….before the fink discovers it

I agree with Rodney. (Quite often I forget that Wiz is supposed to be evil.)

These bugs sting! Are you listening? Snow is cold, wind is whistling.

A horrific sight. The nightmare of fright.

Wasping in a winter wonderland

Does his evil know no bounds?

A good reputation is usually easy to get rid of.

Meh, wasps, hornets, whatever. Live and let live and, for the most part, you’ll never be significantly bothered by them. We had a nest in one of the apple trees a few years ago, I mowed under it all summer, oblivious to its presence a few feet over my head. It wasn’t until fall came and the leaves thinned and some fruit fell to the ground and rotted that I noticed them. Even then, they caused me no harm when I mowed in their presence as they feasted on the fallen apples. No need to hate on them as so many people do.

This is pretty mean to the wasps/hornets.

They don’t want to be active in cold weather.

There’s more than one wizard?

There is a parody of the charts that compare bees and wasps:

https://Youcantarguewithcrazy.Files.Wordpress.Com/2014/12/img_5318.jpg

Two things:1) It depends on what part of the English-speaking world you live in. One place calls the big tan to yellow hornets ‘yellow jackets.’ But in many areas a yellow jacket is yellow & black striped, small, and have there nests underground. So it depends on what dialect you speak.

2) “There are two categories of wasps: social and solitary. The wasps that swarm around you at your barbeque are social wasps. Solitary wasps aren’t aggressive and rarely sting. Hornets, yellowjackets, and paper wasps are all social wasps. All three live in large colonies with one queen. They commonly have narrow wings that fold longitudinally, nests made of recycled wood fibers, and, of course, the ability to sting repeatedly. Although these wasps have traits in common, there are a few things that set them apart as well.”

This quote is from a company that I know nothing about, and is not in my area. So don’t take it as advertising this company. But I do like the way they describe this, so I’ll add the link so you can see the differences. Notice that most of these wasps eat lots of insects that you don’t want. That does not mean you want too many of these wasps around you. But if there are lots, their food source is also around.

Read the rest of the page to understand better. But to be honest, late one summer day while mowing, when I bumped a landscape timber and a stream of yelow jackets came boiling out, I was too busy running to check to see if they folded their legs under, or if the legs dangled down. And at my in-laws’ house in Buffalo, the paper wasp nest filled the whole 30-gallon garbage bag, but I didn’t check to see if there were less than 100 wasps in it:

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If you have something that is dangerous/aggressive; what I have done is to wait until just before dark when they are all ’home for the day, or just after daybreak before they go out, and shoot the wasp spray into the door and any other openings if present. Just knocking it down, or sawing it like in the vid, means there are plenty of them around to rebuild.

If they don’t mess with me I leave ’em. Some wasps are good for eating bad bugs in your garden.

lol