As September came to a close, Sabrina and her mother spent the day in Seattle with Carolyn, Steve & Al to see the Phantom of the Opera at the Paramount Theater. It was the perfect mother – daughter (and baby) afternoon.
Shortly after dinner, the cell phone rings, "Hi Tony! The play was great and now we are at dinner. How has your day been?"
The response, "It's been OK. I just spent the last 4 hours knocking down hornet nets from the roof easement. Some were really hard to get down! I kept blasting them with water and that did the trick. I got all the ones on the outside, but the nest underneath the house in the crawlspace will need immediate attention."
He continued, “Someone that was building a fence at the neighbors went in the crawlspace. He said that there is a net that is about a foot wide that is slightly hidden in the insulation.”
In amazement and disgust, Sabrina suggested that she stop by Home Depot and get a killer spray. “We can go down there and drench the nest and wait for all the hornets to die. Then we can destroy everything.”
After what seemed like hours counting pennies with her mom to pay for the $3.17 Hornet Killer, Sabrina returned home. Tony took her on the grand tour of the destroyed nests outside before preparing to enter the crawlspace. Dressed in jeans, a sweater, working gloves, steal-toe boots, and a scarf around his face, Tony entered the hornet’s lair.
Moments later, Tony emerges. “I couldn’t get close to the nest (let alone see it). There is defiantly more than a couple hundred down there!”
The decision was made: Tony would spray the unwanted guests as close to where he thought the nest was. He would repeat this action until most of the workers were dead and then he would go in for the kill and get the nest.
Once again, Tony enters the lair. The illumination from his flashlight slowly weakens as he moves deeper under the house. Sabrina sat on the stairs with anticipation. Suddenly, Tony quickly jumped out and slammed the trapdoor shut while exclaiming “they’re EVERYWHERE!”
“I got as close as I could, but as soon as I sprayed, they started to swarm! Those who were hit fell to the floor and started to twitch while the other avenged their comrade’s death.”
While discussing tomorrow’s battle plan in the kitchen, the Hornets launched their invasion. From behind the stove the hornets started to appear. At first it was one here and there, but soon … the kitchen was filled! Tony instructed Sabrina to go get the cats and lock them in the room with her. As quickly as an 8 month pregnant woman could go, she got upstairs and did what she was told to. She wasn’t stupid. She knew that if Tony failed as the 1st line of defense against the swarm, they would soon go for her since she was caring the unborn child of the hive destroyer.
After waiting to hear any signs of hope from downstairs, she slowing creped down the stairs. As she came into view of the kitchen, she saw Tony drop to the floor as a hornet kamikazed into his head. Both fighters now were on the floor. Her heart pounded as she waited to see which one survived. “CRAP!” exclaimed Tony, “I don’t know where they are all coming from.”
The feeling in the house was something that neither Tony nor Sabrina had felt before. Who could have imagined that their house would be invaded by killer hornets at 2300 hours (11:00 PM). Tony swept up the 1st round of invaders and buried them in the trash, “We really pissed them off didn’t we?”
Now at the point of no return, Tony knew what he had to do, but he couldn't do it on his own … he would have to resort to military force! He sent Sabrina upstairs again as he raced outside to get Joe’s help (a US Air Marshal). The next 30 minutes were a blur. The two men went on the defense and pulled out all the kitchen appliances looking for the hornet's launching pad; all the while the 2nd round of invaders approached.
With a little bit of luck, the hornet's access route was spotted. It looks like the humans were now in control of the war. As the men scrambled to find something to block the hole next to the gas piping for the cooking stove, more hornets arrived. Tony, filled with adrenaline, went after the invaders in a spectacular dog-fight.
The time was now 0100 hours (1:00 AM) and a retreat was called. The sound of their evacuation could be heard throughout the battleground as Sabrina quickly gathered necessary living items, Tony taped up the hole in the floor, and the cats were loaded into their carriers. The safe was the last item that was grabbed; for fear that the Hornets would break into it and gather enemy intelligence. By 0200 hours, the now refugees were staying in a room located in Covington.
Tony, Sabrina, and their 3 cats returned home after breakfast. There was a sense of confidence in them, knowing that everything would be safe when they returned home; it was a false sense of security. Upon their arrival, one of the Hornet’s scouts spotted them in their car and then buzzed off to inform the hive.
Tony was the first to enter the home. Time passed and there was no word from him. Fearing the worse, Sabrina cracked the door open and called out to him; still no answer. Gathering all her courage, she cautiously went towards the kitchen. “Hun, Get out! There’s too many here!” Tony said as he emerged out of the kitchen.
After a short time, Tony gave her the OK to enter the house. One sight of the battleground made her stomach queasy. There, on the kitchen floor was a pile of dead hornets. “These guys are really mad! They sent their hive protector” Tony explained as he pointed to one hornet that was 3 times larger than the rest. Upon further inspection of the largest body, it was determined that it was the Queen (not a protector). “She must have evacuated the hive over night to protect her bloodline.”
Sitting at the dinning table, they decided that it was time to call upon their allies, Reid National Exterminators. Getting their help wasn’t going to be cheap, but Tony & Sabrina felt that they could no longer handle the situation. The appointment was made and by 1700 hours (5:00 PM) the humans attacked the enemy on their homeland.
After a recon to the mother-hive, intelligence portrayed the harsh reality of war. Hundreds of hornets laid dead, killed while protecting their nest.
What was worse … the war wasn’t over. The hive survived the chemical warfare because of its surroundings. Hidden in the insulation, the basketball size nest continued to thrive. With their numbers drastically low, they tried to protect their nest from the allied inspector who drenched the hive with Hornet Killer.
Casualty Count:
- Hornets: A couple of hundred
- Hive: 1
- Queen Bee: 1
- Cats: 0
- Humans: 0
To this day, Tony continues the argument to get their ally to complete their end of the contract of guaranteeing the destruction of the Hornet colony.
