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Show Wednesday. October 6. 1999 Vernal Express 11 Mafielhi oafi fiw fiCa te filhiaafi stags Boyd Kitchen, USU Extension Agent in Vernal, furnished this information, written by Dr. Jay B. Karren, Extension Entomologist, regarding wasps, yellowjackets and hornets. These insects nest around homes, in commercial buildings, farm structures struc-tures and equipment, in parks and in other areas where people live, work and play. Wasps are considered beneficial ben-eficial because of the number of caterpillars, beetle larvae, flies and other insects that some of these species feed on or use to provision their nests. Others may play a minor role in plant pollination and thus benefit man. Whenever they become too numerous, nest in close proximity proxim-ity to man's activities or become attracted to food being used by man, some control is necessary. Control should be initiated by destroying the nest or by applying insecticides. This should be done during cold weather when the bees are dormant," dor-mant," suggested Kitchen. "Otherwise, it could become dangerous. dan-gerous. Some wasps, yellowjackets and hornets become more aggressive aggres-sive when disturbed and especially when something threatens their nests." Disturb the nest as little as possible possi-ble when applying insecticides and remove nests after dark when the insects are less active or inside their nests. Wear protective clothing including gloves, long-sleeved shirts, and a bee veil, if available. Tie shirtsleeves and pant legs tight at the wrists and ankles. When using a flashlight, cover the lens with red cellophane since these insects cannot can-not see red light. It's important to distinguish between the different types of stinging sting-ing insects that are commonly called bees, wasps, yellowjackets and hornets. hor-nets. Insects properly referred to as wasps have either social or solitary nesting behavior. Digging wasps What can be done to protect our youth? Now is a good time to renew our commitment to strengthen our youth, our families and our communities commu-nities to prevent violence and promote pro-mote the positive development of our youth. Here are five areas that can make a difference: As parents, grandparents, teachers teach-ers and others who care about children, chil-dren, we need to remember to live our lives as if someone is watching us - because someone is. Our youth are constantly watching how we deal with frustration, anger and conflict. The next time you consider consid-er talking or acting violently, think about the lesson you are teaching. Video games, the Internet, movies and popular music all have the potential to influence youth. Take the time to sit down with your children and discuss their entertainment entertain-ment choices. Limit TV, video's games and computer time and encourage other activities such as reading individually and together. In our materialistic society, it may seem that to be a good parent you must give your children everything. every-thing. But the most important things in parenting aren't things, they are time and attention. To a child, these are the most valuable of all. Take the time to be involved in 3S5 l and mud daubers are examples of solitary wasps, since individual females construct and provide for the nest. Their sting and venom is used as an offensive weapon to paralyze par-alyze their prey, which consists of many insects and their relatives. The venom of solitary wasps has anesthetic anes-thetic properties and usually is not a serious problem with man. On the other hand, social wasps such as yellowjackets, paper wasps and hornets use their jaws and legs to attack and subdue prey. Workers of the social wasps use their venom as a defensive weapon and often attack in large numbers any threatening threat-ening animal. The venom is designed to produce intense pain and may cause a dangerous systemic reaction in allergic individuals. Between 0.4 and 0.8 percent of humans are allergic to social wasp and bee venom. Nearly 80 percent of all serious venom-related deaths occur within one hour of the sting. If symptoms are more serious than localized swelling, reddening and pain or mild headache and fever, a doctor should be consulted. Multiple stings are especially dangerous. Some people may develop sensitivity sensitivi-ty to venom after repeated stinging episodes over a short or long period of time. Solitary Wasps Cicada killers are large (I 12 inches long) black and yellow wasps that become a nuisance in landscapes land-scapes when cicadas are present in shade trees. Males cannot sting but buzz around humans and appear dangerous because of their size and wasp appearance. Females will not sting unless forced to do so. Control is rarely necessary for this otherwise beneficial insect. The female may dig galleries in lawns, gardens or flowerbeds, where she lays eggs and provisions the young with paralyzed cicadas. This nesting activity may damage lawns or vegetable gardens. If control is necessary, sprinkle pesticide pes-ticide dust into the burrow and your child's activities and in their education. Peers have a lot of influence with children, but they still look to parents and other adults for guidance guid-ance about important decisions and values. Take time to talk about your values. There are opportunities every day at home, church, school and in the neighborhood for concerned con-cerned adults to teach the values of respect for the rights of others, responsibility for one's actions and non-violence as the best way to solve problems. Children aren't born knowing how to get along with others. They learn through countless experiences at home, school, church and youth groups. Help children learn how to live with kindness and respect for others. Bad things can happen in good communities, but the more we do to make our communities great places for youth, the less likely those bad things are to happen. r tramp the entrance shut Mud daubers are wasps that build small, tube-like nests of mud material mater-ial under eaves, in attics and under roofs of outbuildings. Nests are generally gen-erally provisioned with spiders, which the young larvae feed upon. Adults are about one inch long and blackish or iridescent blue-black in color. They have a longer and more slender waist than most other wasps. Nests can be removed easily by hand with a knife or other object, since the attending female will not try to defend her nest. Even after using pesticides, it's generally a good idea to scrape away the nest and dispose of it to prevent der-mestid der-mestid beetles from feeding on the remains and later infesting other household areas. Social Wasps Paper wasps are slender, narrow-waisted narrow-waisted wasps about one inch long with long legs. They are reddish-orange reddish-orange to dark brown or black in color, often with yellow body markings. mark-ings. They produce small colonics that build tiny umbrellas of a preplike prep-like substance. The nests are usually located in open areas, the small honeycomb hon-eycomb of larval cells oriented downward. They are often found under eaves or in attics and outbuildings out-buildings freely accessible to the adult wasps. Care should be taken in removing the nests and applying pesticides because these wasps are more aggressive than the solitary wasps. The common species of hornet found in Utah is the large bald-faced homet. It is about one inch long, a blackish species with white markings mark-ings especially on the front of the head. These hornets construct large inverted pear-shaped, paper carton nests up to one foot wide and three feet long. The grayish or brownish nest contains two to four horizontally horizontal-ly arranged combs with a round entrance hole at the bottom. Nests may be found hanging under porch Hurry on over to Lapoint for eating and cooking this Fronts apple crop has been Their apples will be scare and than normal, and our crop load is down, so hurry. You can U-pick them for .50 cents a pound. Less than half of what they will cost you in a grocery and Gold Rush, two superb ready for picking in 2 weeks. If you cant make it over, we will be selling them at the Uintah Basin Farmers Market for .75 cents a pound. Open 1 1 until 5, Tuesday through Saturday. Jonagold is being picked now. There is no better eating and cooking apple than Jonagold. It has been touted for its dual purpose by the originators of the apple at the USDA fruit station in Geneva, New York. Jonagold has become the number one favorite variety of western Europe, and The Commonwealth. It has been rated by 20 international apple experts as the number one best tasting apple grown in the world today. Come on over and see why. Call Linda Huher ar 247-2S82 for nirk-ino arranofmenrs -.. . j ' 4 f 1 1 es, in outbuildings, in trees or even attached to the side of a structure. There are hundreds of individuals in a nest that become very aggressive when aroused or disturbed. The sting can be very painful. Control is usually left to the professionals. Yellow jackets are closely related to the bald-faced hornets but usually build their nests underground. They are generally small, about I2-inch long and colored black and yellow. Large colonies of up to 6,000 individuals indi-viduals build soccer-ball-sized paper nests similar to those of the bald faced hornet. The nests are associated associat-ed with old rodent burrows and other cavities in the ground or under objects lying on the ground. Entrance holes may be in lawns, gardens, flowerbeds, creek banks or in vacant fields. It is unfortunate that walking,. mowing and other innocent human activities often disturb these colonies. When disturbed, yellowjackets yellow-jackets are aggressive and can inflict a painful sting repeatedly. Apply pesticides into the entrance of the nests at night, and then plug the hole with insecticide-treated cloth, cotton or other objects. Approach the site with caution since some individuals may be guarding the entrance even after dark. Some yellow jackets and hornets scavenge for meat in addition to preying on live insects. Others are attracted to the sweets and sugars of candy wrappers, soda cans and pastry pas-try deposited in garbage cans. Remove the waste frequently and maintain tight lids on all trash receptacles. recep-tacles. Pesticide strips containing dichlorvos attached to the inside of garbage can lids, will also help reduce both fly and yellow jacket presence. Essentially the same chemicals are registered in Utah for all species of yellow jacket, hornet, wasp and bee control. Wisdom should be used in how the chemicals are applied. Wasp traps with attractants are and pick several boxes of apples fall and winter. The Wasatch estimated at 20 of last year. expensive. Our crop is lighter store if you can find them. Fuji winter storage apples will be II It just hit. Without warning, the winds raged through the cities and towns of northern Utah that morning last spring, toppling trees, tearing off roofs, ripping down power lines. And the 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift had started out so normally for Irene Bovven and Birgit Schulz, two customer service employees at Utah Power's Customer Service Center. They had taken the usual number of calls, answering questions about things like new service, payment arrangements and energy efficiency. There was no call before the storm. , i i -,t l if I ; 1 1 . : ; J ' - .. Jx Jr ' iJ - A group of hornets decided to make their home on an outbuilding at Jerry Kloeppel's residence. This hornets nest measured 3 feet wide and 28.5 inches high. available and attractant baits mixed with pesticides (knock out) are sometimes used as well as spraying the nests, nest sides and nesting areas with pesticide. All pesticides have both benefits and risks. Benefits can be maximized and risks minimized by reading and following labeling. Pay close attention to the directions for use and the precau Juliette Diane Lewis Keaton ! i "A Must-See Rim!" Oh . . II ARomtxtic C ' II - in- , I Can,, - I About LJi .,- . w " k C ! ! jy(MSister Around noon, the storm struck and suddenly the phones lit up like a video game. For the next 12 hours, Irene, Birgit and their fellow customer service professionals logged every customer call so that line crews could be dispatched quickly. They updated callers on the progress, checking the status of work for them. They also gave advice about what to do until the power was hack on. As the power was restored, the crisis subsided. Many of the Customer Service Center's employees had been at their workstations for 17 hours And the day's volume at the Customer Service Center had reached a near-record breaking 12,000 calls, w ith more than 94 percent of them answered within 45 seconds. Irene and Birgit alone had handled an amazing 300 calls each! But they weren't counting "Those aren t just calls, they are people who need help and I'm concerned about them. So I just stayed on the lint" and kept going!" said Birgit. Irene Bowen, Birgit Schulz and the team at the Customer Service Center. Real troupers. In and out of storm. You can reach us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Just call 1 488-22 1 -7070. tionary statements. The information on pesticide labels contains both instructions and limitations. Pesticide labels are legal documents and it is a violation of both federal and stale laws to use a pesticide inconsistent with its labeling. The pesticide applicator is legally responsible for proper use. Always read and follow the label. Tom Giovanni Sierritt Ribisi UTAH POWER A PacifiCorp Company Making it happen. V"V 4 |