Hunting carpenter bees - good fun!

Because of bees?

Thanks. I just bought some at the gun store recently, but haven't tried them out yet.

Well, I normally just walk through my shed with sawdust falling about my head. Only times I take a swat at them is when I get dive-bombed. If it were my home I expect I would be more vigilant. As it is, I am saving for a new shed for I expect to be building a new one shortly due to the damage done by the carpenter bees over the years.

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My How To blog - Happy Homesteading!

What do you do for an encore -- pull the wings off some flies?

It's stuff like this that really makes me not like humans very much.

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

Do not attempt on wasp nests attached to your home or barn.

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Alice
* * *
"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

I built the Barn out of Southern Hemlock lumber

The bees don't seem to eat it

just a thought.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWvD6qAaF_A

I will pray for you and the Bee's

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWvD6qAaF_A

Our barn is made of seasoned oak. The bees don't eat that, either. They like pine.

I'll ask it again. How far do YOU go to KEEP from killing bugs, if they are so precious to you? Do you shower? That kills thousands of organisms that live on your skin. Do you use bug spray while camping, thereby starving innocent mosquitos who just need a tiny drop of your blood to survive?

Your worldview is so self-contradictory, it must take a tremendous amount of energy to keep all the holes patched, so to speak. Seems that way to me, anyhow. But you have every right to it, as I have every right to viciously murder anything that wants to eat my house. Torturing houseflies is optional.

God bless America.

I try not to harm other living things if I can possibly avoid it. You'd be surprised how often a person can avoid it if they try. Yes, it does take some energy/effort. I certainly don't take pleasure in the harm I can't reasonably avoid (i.e., bugs hitting the windshield). If there were a way to avoid it, I would.

Everything else that's alive wants to live just as much as you do.

I acknowledge that people are free to do as they please in this regard and I have no desire to compel other people to be compassionate contrary to their nature. I just try to stay as far away from your kind as I can!

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

I know you were asking Willow, but since my worldview is pretty similar, I'll answer along with her.

I think there's a difference between killing something inadvertently or killing it because it is suffering and dying or because your children need food, and killing something just for the heck of it because it's "fun" and "macho" to kill things. I don't understand people who get off on vivisecting live animals just because they can, or who see nothing wrong with dismembering insects.

I don't wear bug spray. I've learned that merely shuddering my skin periodically (like animals do) will deter them a lot of the time. Movement scares them away sometimes. I never kill spiders in the house, in fact I once left a big one with its web in the window so we could watch it. And if I caught any of my kids tormenting bugs or worms, they would have a lecture and a consquence to remember for a long time! In my mind, all people are aware that they have the power to hurt some other living thing. Some of these people choose not to even when they are in a good position to do so. I cherish and respect those people. I refuse to date men from the other category.

That's nice. Now, would you mind telling me why we SHOULD be nice to all living things? Why is that better than, say, blasting squirrels off the fence just for fun?

This is seriously one of the greatest things about HT. The thing I love the most. There are exactly zero people in my everyday (offline) life that hold opinions so completely contrary to mine. It's very refreshing for me to come here and know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you (and several others) will always be here to disagree with me.

I love you guys. Really.

Because the character trait that I mentioned, being gratuitiously considerate of other life, is also conducive to living peacefully with other people, including small children and babies, and when extended to plants, usually results in a thoughtful, successful gardener, when applied to farm animals, results in calmer, tamer livestock who perform and produce better, and when applied to women like myself, results in having a appreciative mate.

Men who take what they want and who randomly kill what they have a notion not to like at the moment tend to have unbalanced homesteads, wives who are unhappy and therefore recalcitrant, animals that run in fear and are anxious and stressed, the garden lacks beauty because it is so tightly controlled and has been sprayed with chemicals, and the kids tend to grow up lacking boundaries in regard to other life, especially the boys.

When I write this, I think about the neighbor kid whose dad practiced shooting really loud guns almost every day (for way too long, IMHO!), whose dad was always bellowing his name at the top of his lungs:"Michael!!!!! Get your butt over here! MICHAEL!!!!!!!" (Just the tone of the man's voice set my teeth on edge every time I heard it). Before I knew better, my kids played with Michael. I didn't find out until later that he was cutting open live snakes in front of them, ramming sharpened sticks up the snake's cloacas, and doing similar things to the pocket gophers. What I did find out about was that he decided one day to "play house" with my kids, and that involved having my daughter pretending to have sex with the other boys. I should have known better than to ever let my kids play with him....he had run around in the goat pen chasing the goat kids with sticks, trying to hit them....my dam raised kids that I'd spent months taming.... I've seen a lot of boys like this. They kick their own dogs, not for any good reason, only because they can. Now, you tell me if a boy like that will make a good husband and father, when his mentality is that if something annoys him a little, he'll hurt or kill it? (Or maybe he'll do it just for amusement, haha)

Bear with me here - I'm sort of playing devil's advocate. But you talk about these things like they are unequivocally bad. Evil, perhaps. Even if the boy thought it was a good thing to get your daughter to do that...was it wrong?

Coercing other people, harming other life, having anything at all to do with sexual coercion and especially with children much younger than himself (he was 12, my daughter was about 6), yes, it was wrong. Sexual coercion disrespects the rights and dignity of another person; it is wrong.

Okay, so you are saying that some things are JUST WRONG, regardless of anyone's opinion. There, you and I agree.

Now the question is this: WHERE did you come up with your list? Did you make it up? Who is the final arbiter of what's wrong and what's not?

If I say something is wrong and you say it's right, how do we resolve our differences? Obviously it can't be both at the same time. So where do we go for an objective standard?

My particular moral standard is that

a: if something is not truly sustainable, it is wrong.

b: if something unnecessarily violates the personal rights of another person, that is wrong.

Therefore, eating seafood that is being overfished is wrong, as is eating eagles, whales, manatees, elephants or other species that do not regenerate quickly enough for their use as food to be considered sustainable. Eating cats and dogs would be A-OK and even good, because their uncontrolled proliferation is not sustainable, and they breed like rabbits.

Things that negatively affect the world or life for other people are wrong, even if such a thing could be found that had no effect on sustainability. For example, if a rich man bought a plot of land next to a hospital and in a quiet neighborhood, and used to to stage really loud rock concerts every single night, disturbing the sleep of those around him, that is not respectful, therefore, it is wrong. If that rich man buys land in a desert area and drills a very deep well and sucks up all the water so he can have a golf course while everyone else's well goes dry, that's wrong. It disrespects them and is not sustainable.

Interestingly, a lot of the rules in the Old Testament are of this nature. They're about behavior that isn't sustainable. Hacking down all the fruit trees when you conquer a land? Gratuitously violent and not sustainable. Marrying a mother and her daughter? Not very sustainable, something bad will happen! Grabbing up women from conquered lands, using them, and then ditching them? Not sustainable or respectful. Taking a bird on her nest and all of her eggs, too? Not sustainable, you'll wipe out the species. Many of the animals banned for food were types that are susceptible to envirnomental stress or take a long time to build a population (rabbits are a notable exception).

I think that thinking, conscientious people should spend a great deal of time considering *why* they believe what they do, and what the basis is for their beliefs. Saying it's based on the Bible is often used as an out here (and formerly by me as well), but there are lots of things we think are wrong which aren't touched upon in the Bible. Abortion is a prime example of this. It isn't ever mentioned there, but we tend to have very strong feelings about it. Nothing in the Bible says it's wrong for a ninety year old man to marry a twelve year old girl, yet most of us would have a strong gut reaction that this is wrong.

Even among people who have very similar beliefs, they will have very different ideas about what is right and wrong: is smoking a sin? What about pot? Is assisted suicide wrong (it's mentioned in the bible, but not much)? How about drinking coffe, tea, or an occasional beer or glass of wine?

Our culture develops moral standards because a lot of people don't take the time to think about what is right and wrong. They haven't been taught by their parents, or they don't care, or their views might be at odds with other people, and if people are to get along at all, we have to have some sort of foundation to work from, which is what laws are for (ostensibly, anyway).

I know! I know! The Sky Daddy! Right, Chuck?

But wait! Sky Daddy says it's OK to torture animals, so I guess I've been wrong all along. Gee! I think I'll go out and kill something just for the fun of it!

Ahhhh, it's so liberating to be a Christian, and do whatever you please, knowing God smiles down upon you and lurves you and will always, always forgive you because you're just ... so .... special!

Kidding, of course. Let's dispense with that nonsense right out of the gates. Most moral codes encompass the premise we know as the Golden Rule, because it helps societies operate in an orderly fashion, and societies that operate in an orderly fashion tend to be more successful than ones that don't. Some individuals choose to extend that premise to nonhuman life forms as well. I'm one of them. It's my personal choice.

I'm also a pragmatist. I know the vast majority of the population sees things differently, and I'm OK with that. I wouldn't want to impose my will on others even if I could. Very few people in the history of the world have had the ability to impose their beliefs on millions, and strangely enough, when they did, it usually turned out badly. (Think Stalin, Mao, etc.) I will share my beliefs when it seems appropriate to do so, and if I plant a seed that grows in others, so be it. But mostly (being a pragmatist) I try to isolate myself and my loved ones from the sorts of people who cause gratuitous harm and thus are a danger to us.

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

Willow! Sky Daddy did not say it's OK to torture animals! Some of his kids said so, but they didn't read the rules list he posted, or the stories of good and bad behavior.

Baalam and his donkey: Notice that God didn't tell the donkey what to say, didn't put words in her mouth, all he did was to open her mouth, which implies that animals do have the intelligence to speak, just not the ability.

Even the angel of the LORD chastised Baalam for beating his donkey.