Tuesday 12 May 2020

Just Be kind, Inane Chatter and Saving Lives


We need to be kind in these crazy Covid-19 fuelled days.  

Be kind to people even if they do come close looking at you as though you are about to murder them with a sneeze.  Be kind to people you don't know and maybe even more importantly be kind to those that you do.

It's hard when you're cooped up with someone day in day out, but being kind to those closest to you should always be a pre-requisite of day to day living.  It's easy to forget and to not give those that you love the most the same telephone voice you  that you give everyone else.

I do my best, but I'm not perfect.  But Alan is still alive so that's saying something ... surely!!


I was kind to a wasp yesterday, after a false start. 

 I was busy washing pots, daydreaming as you do, half looking out of the window at the birds splashing in the birdbath in the old rhubarb bed, half watching as the dried on bits of pasta gradually dissolved as I scrubbed and scrubbed at the baking tray, when I heard the littlest of thuds on the windowsill.  I looked up and there was the body of a wasp, legs upwards.  I'll see if I can revive him when I've finished the pots was my immediate thought.  So I did, I finished the pots and then got a spoonful of sugar added a few drops of water to form a sticky mess and put it near the prone wasp.  It showed no interest, so I gave him the littlest of pokes.  Nothing ... as dead as a dodo and almost as stiff.  Oh well I thought, and put his little body in the compost bucket ... I'm nothing if not environmentally friendly, ashes to ashes, dust to dust and all that.

Then an hour or so later when I was putting something else in the compost bucket I moved it slightly and there behind it was the body of another wasp.  Aha ... thought I this is the one that fell off the window!!  So I repeated my sugar, water, spoon trick and put it right next to the prone, but legs still kicking wasp.  Immediately his little proboscis started twitching and he climbed up, making a pretty remarkable recovery.  I gave him a minute to drink up some of the sugary water and then took him and the spoon outside and placed them near some flowers. 

I don't know how long he lasted or where he is now, but a little life saved for how ever long it lasts is worth feeling pleased about. 

I'm kind like this on a daily basis to all the little insects I find in the sheep's water buckets, fishing them out with pieces of grass or leaves and putting them on the grass to dry out.  A life a day is my current rate of rescue.

Every little helps ... to quote a famous supermarket that cares not a jot for bugs!!


Sue xx


23 comments:

  1. Oh dear - I'm a fail - my being kind never includes wasps or ants in the kitchen or big fat bluebottles.

    One day they'll probably all get their revenge!

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    1. Same here, there are some creatures I just cannot see the purpose of, wasps and bluebottles being two of them. I can only assume they're Mother Nature's way of getting her own back on us!

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    2. Wasps pollinate plants nearly as much as bees and eat up lots of little pests, bluebottles I'm not really sure of the purpose of but I would never harm one. Ants I'm not so keen on as the ones I know bite like bloody-oh.

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  2. I let waspies, etc, out if they are stuck inside but I don't think I've ever revived one.
    xx

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    1. I couldn't bear to see him just die like that after valiantly struggling to find the open window for so long.

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  3. I have had lots of honey bees in this week,they fly in through the patio doors, I have rescued them all and made sure they flew away happy again.

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    1. I get a lot of bees in the polytunnel and it takes me ages to get them out before I shut the doors for the day. I'm just a bloody big softy!!

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  4. I haven’t had a wasp in need, but I’ve helped a few bees with the sugared water thing. I’m always putting various insects back outside, that have been brought Inside one way or the other. My hubby thinks I’m loopy at times, but I couldn’t kill them. The only insect I can’t deal with are daddy long legs, but hubby puts them outside.

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    1. Snap ... exactly the same here. If it's daddy long legs I'm out of the room screaming, leaving Alan to find it, catch it and release it back into the wild 🤣🤣

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  5. I find the glass and card method usually works.

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    1. I use that method for spiders, I'm getting braver ... you don't have any other option when you're on your own do you ☹️

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  6. When I find them indoors, I do let them outside as carefully as possible since I am allergic.

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    1. Always best to be careful, but I find if you're not a threat to them they are usually quite calm.

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  7. You are not alone Sue I always do my best to rescue and release any distressed or trapped creature after resuscitation if necessary/possible.

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    1. It's nice to think you have made a difference to a little life isn't it 🙂

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    2. I've always valued all creatures' lives and imagined the pain of others and it's why I became veggie then later vegan as a child. I just could never understand how people would ooh and aah about cute little lambs and then eat them with mint sauce. :-(

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  8. my daughter brought a dazed bumble bee home on a leaf and revived it with sugar water, it was very rewarding to see it recover and fly away x

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    1. When we were away last year we found half a dozen bumble bees on a cold window ledge in a little stone open sided shed in the grounds of Fountains Abbey. I had Alan help me relocate them to a patch of flowers in the sunshine to warm them up 😊

      It seems we all do our bit when we can 😃

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  9. While I will save spiders, beetles, honey bees and bumbles, I draw the line at wasps. Actually I am terrified of them and run screaming if one comes near.

    God bless.

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    1. I don't draw lines, they are all little lives 💕

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  10. Last year my neighbor told me that all you have to do is ask them to leave your home and they will. Well I tried it and on occasion it worked. Unfortunately we now have a 4 legged flying insect catcher BERTIE...he hasn't been stung yet.

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    1. Our Border Collie used to be like that, but Mavis doesn't bother, and Suky wouldn't hurt a fly ... literally 🤣

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