This morning, as you can see in the image below, the hornets have gotten pretty close to covering half of the lens of this dish. I wonder when the reception is going to start to fail.

So how much of the lens needs to be covered (and is lens the right word?) for the satelite dish’s reception to fail? Any experts?

I mentioned in my post yesterday that this thing is about five feet from the sidewalk. I was being generous. It’s more like 2-3 feet. I hope this image gives the idea of how close it is:

It’s not like I took a tape measure to this, but it seems to be to be a good deal closer to the street than I remembered.

Can’t immediately recall whether I mentioned it in a previous post, but how I noticed the nest was because I heard it. Was listening to my new morning-walk soundtrack, Rufus Wainwright’s Out of the Game, and I just happened to go by during a break between songs. I noticed because I heard it, or them, buzzing.

[Update] I checked on Wikipedia and guess who selected this location? The queen. See 3 Life cycle there. I guess there is no king, but if there were, he would probably have recommended against this particular spot.

(The continuing story of the hornets’ nest.)

Dear Neighbor:

Hope you still have a picture, but if you don’t, I think I know why.

Kind of looks like the face of an alien in one of my son’s video games. Is it winking?

Maybe this picture will help your picture.

Your neighbor,

Steve

P.S. Did I mention that this nest is about five feet (max!) from the sidewalk?

And check this out:

I get the idea that the reception is not going to be very good very soon. And are these guys getting irradiated?

If these little guys are getting irradiated, then will we have a new superhero?

Can’t wait to see where we are tomorrow, though I hope I don’t walk by when my neighbor decides to take action.

In the continuing story of the hornets on the satellite dish, here is a photo from yesterday.

They are making progress. Soon, there isn’t going to be a picture.

These folks are getting close to no the point when reception is going to be really screwed up.

That was yesterday. This was today.

Not sure if you can see it here, but the hornets are getting closer to covering the lens of the receiver.

Tomorrow? Who knows.

Thanks, Kim W. for the solution if my neighbors stumble across this.

I’ve had to give up running because of a truly joyful case of plantar fasciitis, so I’ve been walking instead. Came across this yesterday on my walk. And I thought the poison ivy hedge of one of my neighbors was one of the more prominent dangers in my neighborhood. I was listening to music but it was in between tracks, and I heard the nest before I saw it.

Hornet’s Nest on Satellite Dish

It’s hard to see any good coming from this. Sooner or later, the hapless owner of this dish is probably going to have someone go, Dad, the TV’s not working.

Frankly, I’d call a professional. Or complain to the dish company. Those poor techs. They’ve likely seen worse.

I have to admit a certain admiration for the incredible delicacy of the papery husk of the nest. Seems almost a shame to hose it down with insecticide. Flamethrower?