Best Laid Plans

So the backyard is coming right along but we've had a few bumps in the road. First, even though we're in a drought, we have the biggest mosquitoes I have ever seen. At night we put out citronella candles and lanterns but they only seem to help a little. And certain members of my family (me included) will be eaten alive within minutes of being outside if we forget to put on bug repellent. I finally convinced Matthew to put up a bat box. He actually opted to buy one instead of building it himself, but he'll still have the privilege of mounting it. So we've taken some temporary measures until our bat box arrives but are really hoping that we'll get us some bats soon to take care of our little mosquito problem.

Well then after Corinna uprooted all of Rebecca's vegetable plants and then used Matthew's flower bed as a sandbox Matthew decided that he wouldn't wait until the playhouse was finished to build them a real sandbox. Now mind you, Meme has been begging us to take a plastic "boat" sandbox but of course Matthew turned his nose up at that because his kids need a proper sandbox. So last week he selected the perfect spot and started leveling out a spot, except he didn't realize that a bunch of yellow jackets also thought it was a perfect spot. And of course this made our backyard pretty much useless for our 4th of July cook out with his family. So after watching the fireworks we came home to do a little exterminating. Not the most fun thing to do when you're allergic to them.

Anyway it appeared we successfully got rid of the nest under the sandbox and Matthew was able to finish the project. But now the rest of our yard is covered in them and we can't seem to find another nest. He spent hours the past two days trying to find the nest with no luck. So if anyone knows any ideas on how to get rid of the yellow jackets when you don't know where the nest is, we're all open for suggestions.