The battle of the Bees - part two

So, for the last six weeks or so, there's been an internecine war going on.

A few years back it was the battle of me against the ants. We had ants somehow (which I'm sure we still do) but, after much work and a herculean effort I managed to turn the tide of the battle in my favor.

Seems the ants had taken up residence in the hollow recesses of an Ikea veneer table (a word to the wise for all of you Ikea owners out there). The dark cavernous space in the center of the table was determined to be the prime real estate by the ants.

Leaving the table top out by the curb removed the problem and allowed me to be the ultimate victor - someone made off with the table before the garbagemen but, you take your chances when you go furniture shopping among the refuse.

Back to the bees...

So, in relatively the same place the ant battle began, another species found the ants handiwork and tried claiming it for their own (whether this meant there was a huge but unseen battle between the two colonies of insects or not, I have no clue).

Several weeks ago, while sitting up in what I would refer to as "the dining area," I became aware of a squadron of bees having invaded. Needless to say I was both surprised and alarmed - thinking at first they had somehow found their way into the attic, I made my way up there to see if I could find their base of operations but was unsuccessful.

Short work was made of the squadron with weapons of mass destruction in the form of insect spray but, ever since that day a scout or two would appear several times each day.

A survey of the outside of the building disclosed an egress point from which numerous little critters could be seen making their way out into the world doing the business of the hive.

This resulted in more weapons of mass destruction being used on the exterior of the house. Unfortunately, it was to no avail.

Fearing the intervention of the insect world's equivalent of a major super power invading my home and deposing me, I had to find a stopgap measure until the winter effectively stymied my foes.

The answer came in the form of something I saw on "This Old House." Insulation in a can - an expanding foam which is injected from a can much the way the compressed air is delivered to clear office equipment. The foam is injected into the crevice, expands, cures and hardens. Future generations will be able to find the handiwork of my bee genocide as my victims will be frozen in the foam. A grisly fate to be sure but, decisions had to be made, steps had to be taken.

Personally, there's a lot to do around here to fix things up but my hands are tied by the EYOC who is terrified of relinquishing any kind of control so, the house crumbles around us in the meantime..