Wednesday Snap Shot & Frugal Homemade Wasp Trap

Good morning! I hope you are having a great week so far. With the hot days we're currently having my hubby is already out doing a little mowing in the cool of the morning. As I write this I'm enjoying my morning cup of coffee and listening to the sounds of the mower and my little kitty, Pila, scampering about the house playing with her toys.

My week has been busy doing the things of daily life :). We had several nice cool days which were a great relief and I was able to get a few more things done around the house. I also was able to get a little cooking in and put a few meals for us in the freezer too. I hope to blog about that soon.

Today two of my daughters and my grandchildren will be here for a visit and probably have a little swim time to cool off as well.

I'm doing some last minute clean up in preparation for a visit from my friend Laurie. I've talked about her in the past. She has a blog, Successful Homemakers, and her and I have been friends now for many years online. About two years ago she was able to come out here for a visit and we met in person for the first time. I'm very excited to see her again. And give her lots of hugs and love. Laurie lost her daughter to a terrible car accident over a year ago and the grieving process has been so difficult for her. I'm praying our time together will give her much needed refreshment.

Goals

My goals for today are simple..

~vacuum

~pick up clutter

~make dinner (chicken gyros)

Enjoy my visit with my daughters and grandchildren

Frugal Living

We are in the middle of a very bad wasp season. The yellow jackets are everywhere and they're mean. We've bought a lot of wasp traps and they are effective at keeping the wasps occupied and away from us when we are outside, but they are expensive to keep replacing. The best ones we've used are the little bag type. As you can see it has a lot of wasps in there. It's been hanging out for a few days now..

But, as I said, they are expensive. The bags seem to be effective for 5 to 7 days or so and then the wasps loose interest and the bags need to be replaced at a cost of about $5 to $7 a bag.

I have now made my own trap that is very effective and costs pennies! I wanted to share this with you in case you were dealing with a wasp problem this year.

You will need a large baking dish (I used a 9x13 dish), a little dish soap, 2 pieces of wood that can sit over the top of the dish (I found some old pieces of 1x2 that hubby had in a bucket saving for fire burning season as starter wood), and a can of cat food.  

Here is what you do: Fill the baking dish with water, squirt in a few drops of dish soap and mix it around. Next take the boards and spread some of the cat food on the boards. It does not have to be spread real thick, but thick enough to still stick and be irresistible to the wasps :). Now set the boards on top of the baking dish with the cat food facing the water. Set the trap outside...

This works because the wasps are attracted to the cat food and fly under the boards to get it. The dish soap breaks the surface tension of the water and when the wasp touches the water he falls in and drowns.

Here's what I caught after leaving it out for only a couple hours...

I have found that you need to add more cat food if the cat food on the board starts to dry out. But if you'd like a little peace when you are sitting outside or trying to enjoy a bbq this works extremely well and costs very little. The biggest expense is a can of cat food which will last quite some time.

The other thing I made was a homemade wasp spray. This spray is not as effective as a chemical spray. However if you would like something to kill them with that does not end up spraying chemicals all over the place this will do the job.

You will need: a spray bottle, dish soap, peppermint essential oil or peppermint extract (either will work).

Fill the spray bottle with some water, add a few drops of dish soap and a few drops of the peppermint oil.

The wasps don't like the smell of peppermint and the oil and soapy water will get on their wings and they can't fly and will die.

I found it takes a few sprays and direct contact to do the job, but it does work and again costs next to nothing and is safe to use around your bbq or pets or children.

Fitness and Health

I was able to get out and walk on the cooler days. I need to do better at getting up early and heading out. I'm not a big fan of walking in 90 degree weather! :)

View from my Deck

Our skies are hazy this morning again. We're getting the smoky haze drifting up here from the wild fires burning in southern Oregon and northern California. What a horrible fire season it has been. 

 

Today's weather:   High: 97   Low: 65

That is all for this weeks Wednesday Snap Shot.