Scratching? No. Interesting? Yes. Wasp update.

Temperatures continue to fall in Wisconsin as winter approaches, and only a few wasps are present. I climbed a ladder to take this photo. The wasps were so still that at first I thought they might be dead so I nudged the nest near them with a stick. This motivated an immediate, aggressive reaction. It seemed that they were positioning themselves to fly at me.

It's been many days since I saw any actually flying or even sitting on the ground-facing, open-cell surface of the nest. I can't imagine what they are doing for food and water. 'Course I'm only able to glance at them now and then.

Their season is over even though it's all but certain they don't know it. Soon they too will be gone, like all of their nest mates, and life will go on--paraphrasing George Harrison--without them...