Hornets, Bees and Other Stingers in My Laundry Room

I am allergic to hornets.

I learned this fact on my drive home from my last day of working at Maceys... Which was about two weeks before I moved to AZ to go to culinary school. Thankfully, it's not a severe allergy. A little Benedryl, a lot of ice and A LOT of sleep and I got over things just fine. Or fine-ish if you consider that my arm was still a little swollen for a day or so.

I haven't been stung since, which I can only see as a good thing. I read somewhere that if you have an allergy to one stinging insect then you will have a sensitivity to the others. I've been careful to avoid any unnecessary contact with bees, yellow jackets and the like just to be on the safe side. However, this spring/summer the "wingers with stingers" seem to abound, particularly around my house.

Back at the beginning of May, a bee got into my laundry room through a hole between the window and a board that is normally taped shut. This hole never got sealed up again. I suppose that there have probably been more bees, hornets, etc., in there than I've known about. As it is, at least once a week since the beginning of May there has been a stinging bug in my laundry room. Often, I quickly close the door when I discover them and they find their way back out again. Sometimes they don't and I find a dead one on the floor. Recently, we've been getting two or three a day in there. I've gotten to the point that I'll go out the front door, walk around the house, open the back door and wait for them to leave. This doesn't always work- like the hornet that's in there now who seems to have no desire to leave- but when it does I am able to get back to laundry or, in this case, packing.

For now, I will just finish packing the spare room I suppose. I've totally emptied that closet and I hope to have to whole room empty by the end of today... Well, empty except for packer boxes stacked neatly in the corner and a couple of bags waiting to be filled with clothing for the trip.