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Word of warning-cleaning outdoor light fixtures

4 years ago

As Julie Chen would say, But first! Is there another cleaner stronger than windex for bug goop on glass?


I completely forgot about cleaning the two carriage style lamps on the front porch until I noticed they were filthy inside. My fear has always been spiders up in the fixtures and I was prepared to get one out if necessary. The bottom of the lamp doesn't have glass so it's open for idiots to stick their head up at the opening where the eye is exposed to the inside. What did I see? A huge wasps nest and a baby nest right behind it. That's the area I like to work at! There were only a couple of wasps inside and I didn't want to wait until tonight to spray (Raid wasp and hornet spray, the best), so DH did it for me and saturated the nest so the rest of them wouldn't come back to sleep for the night.


It never occured to me a nest could be in there. I'm usually on guard about that stuff. The past few years we acquired Carpenter Bees only on the patio, and now DS has them buzzing around his front porch. They like unpainted wood. They swarm around the unpainted picnic table and benches. It's the males flying around and they won't bother you.


DS has a lot of unpainted trim on his house and porches. Yesterday he told me while sitting on the porch in a chair with metal arms, he saw a bee come out of the hollow area at the end of an arm. After spraying with Raid Wasp and Hornet, a dozen came out and died.


I had Terminix spray under the table and it didn't bother them at all, now I need to find where they sleep. They dig holes and I think bury the eggs and queen inside, cover the hole, so I can see how they'd be hard to kill.


Bee careful! :)

Comments (13)

  • 4 years ago

    You need a carpenter bee trap. They look weird and sometimes it takes a few days or upmto a week, but they do work. Around here you can buy them at Tractor Supply, sometimes at Lowes or HD, and you might be able to order online. Very easy just hang and watch them get trapped, then empty in the trash when several are dead.

  • 4 years ago

    oh my! thank goodness you discovered it and took care of it


    A week or so ago, I was doing work on my laptop at my desk. I reached over for my Pellegrino and took a sip. Then I screamed. I was bit on my lip by a wasp that was hanging out on the soda can (it is the Clementine Peach flavor that has a soupcon of sugar, which probably attracted him/her).


    The odd thing is, I saw it but i took a sip before it really registered. Weird. Ouchy.


    Did I post about this already? can't believe I'd skip over something so noteworthy, and fail to post something (anything) that happened here.

  • 4 years ago

    Outside, that is definitely on my to do list tonight. I hate those things.

    Mtn, I haven't heard the story before but I can relate. A few years ago I reached inside the box of milkbones to give to the dogs and I also screamed but I thought I got bit by a fiddleback/brown recluse. It was a wasp!


    You made me thirsty. I just ordered a variety pack of Pellegrino. :)

  • 4 years ago

    Outside, which one do you recommend? Carpenter Bee traps

  • 4 years ago

    It's illegal but I'd love to trap a male Cardinal who's been pecking on the bedroom window right above my head for five days now, 12 hours a day. I've put stuff up there but I can't reach the top of the outside window to cut the glare. He's not even afraid of my cat who sits on the sill and watches. They're nesting right now and he's protecting his territory...from himself. lol

  • 4 years ago

    Wow, wasps and hornets scare me. I developed an allergy to their stings after being stung a few times while mowing. Please be careful.

    mtn- That must have been excruciatingly painful.

  • 4 years ago

    Hcbm, I've heard the more you're stung the worse it gets. DH would get stung every summer and it got to where he was really swelling up. I think that was when he was push mowing around trees.

  • 4 years ago

    Oakley, each time I was stung I was riding my mower and got too close to different trees that had a nest hanging off of a branch. I no longer mow near the trees. Someone else can do that. I carry an Epi-pen and keep the porch clear of any insect debris. I developed life threatening allergies to nuts and now wasps etc. as an adult. So frustrating.

  • 4 years ago

    Except for allergies to wasps, I grew up with severe allergies to certain raw foods, like pecans and walnuts. Watermelon, Cantelope, uncooked peas, Avocados, Bananas, on and on. Very severe allergy to fresh coconut milk, thought I'd die when I was around 14. I outgrew all of it but I refuse to eat fresh coconut, and I fix guacomole every day with one avocado. lol


    Oh, at 50 I became allergie to penicillin. Go figure. Be careful! We have a lot of big trees so it scares me too.

  • 4 years ago

    My mom had a problem with a bird attacking the glass on her outside door, so she hung a printed cloth on the inside to break up the reflection and the bird went away.

  • 4 years ago

    DD had carpenter bees at her old house (rough sawn wooden lintels over the windows). They discovered that carpenter bees won’t attack painted wood and only bore from underneath. They had paint mixed to match the stain on their lintels and painted only the underside surface. My sister and DBIL have done the same. Both were successful at thwarting the carpenter bees.


    This is a stock photo. The area outlined in red is where they painted.



  • 4 years ago

    Annie, I'm going to try that. I put a lot of masking tape on the inside of the window and it didn't make a difference. I have a lot of cloth, so I'll see what I can do.


    DH won't paint the picnic table and benches. He built them and did a great job. I even had Terminix spray the underside knowing that's where they bore the holes, and nothing.

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Bless you Annie, I think he's gone. I found some medium green material with pattern, and I was able to cut it in half and it fit the top of each window perfectly. What's nice is the bottom windows right behind the bed can stay clear since they have screens, and I can still open them. The poor Hummers can go back to their feeders & drink in peace. They'd sneak in there and take a sip and zoom back when the bird came. lol