A Plague of Wasps

So the threat of environmental mayhem is real and disturbing, from Nicholas Kristof’s article in the NY Times about genital mutations to both animals and humans caused by chemicals in our drinking water to reports that M.I.T.’s climatologists have bumped up their prediction of global warming by the end of the century from 4 to 9 degrees. Here in Custer County we have a plague of wasps. Yellow jackets, I believe. There must be millions of them: It seems every house in the county is under siege by these pesky wasps buzzing around our houses, doors, windows, trying to get in, stinging when they aren’t dispatched quickly enough. I’m killing a dozen a day and not even trying. It’s kind of freaky. The seriously dopey The Happening opens with a class of highschool kids (seriously dopey doubletime) discussing the disappearance of Bees. Well I don’t know about the bees (actually, we have a lot of them, too), but the wasps are here. I’ve lived here now for my eighth summer, and this is the first time I remember any wasps. It’s like The Birds, only much smaller, with no Tippi Hedren to go all hysterical on us.