Traditional Wasp Stomping
We started off the day with a traditional wasp stomping when the lab-border collie mix laid down on top of the entrance to a wasp nest below the floorboards of our porch. She leapt up with two wasps stinging her, so after I got them off her and she ran into the house I grabbed a can of insecticide and sprayed the nest as best as I could through the floorboard cracks. The wife and I then used brooms to swat and impale the survivors as they flew out.
Traditional wasp stomping is seasonal between June and October and is often accompanied by traditional wasp stomping music, usually music played in 3/4 time on a fiddle and/or banjo with dancers stomping their feet in time to the music. There are regional variations with some insisting that wasp stomping should only be done by men and boys of at least 12 years of age due to the danger of stings, although others insist that it is an activity to be enjoyed by members of both sexes since the majority of wasp nests are found around the home – where women held sway. Some old timers also advocate the activity be done with bare feet and using smoke in place of pesticide. Others called “Sweepers” use brooms to swat down escapees from the nest and impale the survivors. Of course as with anything traditional, there are conservatives who frown upon the Sweepers and insist on the usage of hands to knock down the wasps so that they can be stomped. After all wasps have been dispatched members then dance the “Wasp Stomp Jig” which some claim was inspired by the founders of the dance who weren’t all that good at avoiding being stung.
In keeping with tradition the Wife did wear flip-flops although we did use some insecticide instead of smoke. And try as we might we could not find a single Wasp Stomping tune on iTunes. Bummer.
Chad:
I miss the good old days. My dad worked for the phone company and often ran into wasp nests on phones or in equipment. So they were issued cans of freon spray. You could make waspsicles from about 10 yards away. That stuff would freeze a nest solid in about 10 seconds.
7 September 2009, 11:14 amScott Kirwin:
Freon was good stuff. It had a multitude of uses. Too bad it burned a hole in the ozone layer. But a few fried New Zealanders would be worth it IMO.
7 September 2009, 11:18 am