Indoor Wasp

Every day for about the last week, this little wasp would start buzzing around behind my monitor. It would spend a bit of time near the window and then would gradually drift into the kitchen and I would invariably lose track of it. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure if it was the same wasp... I sort of assumed it was, simply because of the size (it was quite tiny, to the point where I wondered if it might be one of those other insects that just look a bit like wasps) and the fact that it was almost regular as clockwork, showing up in the same spot every day. I rather suspect it came in through an open window or door at some point (I did check around to make sure we didn't have any coming in through the walls, since I've had that happen to friends in the past).

The first few days I tried to catch it... tossing a dish towel over it then going outside to shake it out, only to discover the wasp was nowhere in the towel and, of course, it would show up in the same spot behind my monitor the next day. Finally, I tried swatting it with a dishtowel and even managed to hit it once, but not badly enough to seriously injure it (I managed to catch a glimpse of it stumbling around on the floor, but by the time I got to where I could try to grab it, it had flown off again).

Then today, I spotted it again... on the Ikea Billy bookcase next to my computer, basically to the left and slightly behind my monitor (where it kept appearing every day). It was nosing into one of the unused pre-drilled holes in the side, then it turned around and backed into it, very obviously settling down for a long summer's nap. Yep. I'm pretty sure I really HAVE been seeing the same little wasp and that it was making itself a nice new home in the "cave" it found in the bookcase. rackham grabbed a piece of duct tape and covered over the hole (since we didn't have an easy way of getting the wasp out without one of us being in danger of getting stung) and we figure we'll give it a few days then hopefully clean out the remains of our dear, departed indoor wasp friend.

I do sort of wonder if we hadn't figured this out, would we have ended up with baby wasps popping out of the bookcase someday? And it had never occurred to me that a wasp might take up residence *inside* a house without ever having a way to get outside.

Crossposted from my Livejournal.

Experiments in chicken soup

So, I don't post for months and now I get all chatty. :-p

We picked up a rotisserie chicken from Costco the other day, which meant we had the makings for several meals: drumsticks or drumsticks and thighs the first night along with Costco's quinoa salad, curried chicken salad the next night (sometimes I do a gorgonzola chicken salad instead) with leftovers for lunch the next day and possibly the day after and then I strip the carcass (saving any remaining meat for soup later) and toss it in the crockpot with onions, carrots, celery, garlic, peppercorns and a bay leaf... cover it with water and let it simmer all day (or all night, depending on when it gets started). Usually there's enough to make soup that night and have leftover stock to go in the freezer for later. Costco rotisserie chicken is the BEST.

Tonight's soup turned out so well, I decided I'd better write it down before I forgot what I'd put in it... because I definitely want to try that one again! Still not sure what to call it, but for now it shall be known as:

( Spicy Chicken Corn Soup )

This particular combination came about because we had cobs of corn from our produce delivery that needed to be used... and, of course, I also needed to use up the garlic scapes, so they were added in place of garlic. It was VERY zesty and if I was making it to share with other people, I'd probably add less of the Southwest Seasoning next time. It might also have been good with a bit of cilantro at the end, but we didn't have any on hand.

Crossposted from my Livejournal.