The crusade of the insect world against me was taken to new and disturbing heights last week.

The yellowjackets have been numerous this year, more so than usual. I didn't think much of it, except for being sort of happy that they keep the populations of craneflies down, even if they don't do much about mosquitos.

So I was out on my back porch watering my plants the other night, when I noticed yellowjackets making a beeline towards me. I ducked, they swerved, and dipped down into the garden next to the porch. Huh. That was odd. I peered over the edge, and abruptly all was made clear.

It was dusk, and yellowjackets by what seemed like the hundreds were swooping back in towards the planter the former residents left behind and which I kept meaning to get rid of. specifically, they were swooping in towards a hole at the bottom of the planter.

Yes, I had a yellowjacket nest right by my back door.

This was obviously not going to do. I wandered upstairs, did some research on yellowjackets, and decided that, yes, they Must Go. I emailed my property management company. They promised to send someone out.

On Monday, I came home later than usual, to find the stink of pesticide in the air and a young man writing me a note to explain about the nest. They had dug up inside the planter, and to get at them he'd had to smash up the planter. (I didn't mind this at all.) I was expecting a grizzled bug wrangler, wise in the ways of stinging insects, but instead I got someone who looks like he's goth in his spare time.

But the nest is gone, and as of today I can stand in my kitchen without getting an instant headache. This is an improvement. So is being able to eat outside.

I am done painting the hallway.

It was an awful, awful pink; now it is a cool green-tinted white with dark green trim. I love it with an abiding passion and still think i made the right choice with paint color.

It was hot, miserable work that took the better part of two days--the first day for the walls, the second for most of the trim--but I'm glad I finally did it. I still have some touchups to do, and I have a few doors in the house that need a couple of coats of white, but for the moment I'm done with painting. That is, until I finallty find exactly the right colors for the office.

My third and final dentist visit for the year was today. Today, the dentist drilled and filled between three of my upper left-hand teeth--and then said, "well, we have an hour left, why don't we do the bad spot on your lower left side?"

She was nice and let me up to pee while my lower jaw was numbing. Novacaine makes me clumsy and spacy, so I got lost on the way to the restroom, and when I found it, i smacked my knee against the toilet. Ow. But soon I was back in the chair again, contending with something that I only vaguely remembered--I have that extra nerve in my jaw that many people have, and it makes numbing my lower left side complicated. She was drilling, and I needed to make her stop and give me another shot because I could feel everything she did--including being tetting temperature-sensitive when the hygenist rinsed out my mouth.

Another shot and it mostly took care of it. It still hurt when she got close to the nerve, but it was a pain I could handle.

when I got out, the left side of my face was numb from my eyebrows to under my chin. Watching myself smile in the mirror was disturbing--only half of my face smiled. The other side jerked upwards like a marionette's arm in a parody of a smile that didn't even touch the eye on that side. I felt ill and woozy, and instead of going to work like I'd planned, I went home and took a nap.

I did go to work, but about four hours after my appointment. still numb, I avoided people and got some work done that really needed to be accomplished today.

Then I came home and ate phad thai, my first solid food since 6:30 that morning.

Having discussions with Chris about what it actually means to be broken up. It's not going well. Entirely too much stress, on both sides of the fence, and I am discovering that my slow burn of anger has become a fast fire.

We'll see how it turns out.

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