'Liquid Wasps"

I was over at my brothers property where I cut wood, he is eventually building a house there and lets me cut trees that will be in the way of the house in the future . Part of the deal is that I cut the 'junk softwood out of the way when I go for hardwood. The plan Saturday which was fairly raw and cold was to clear out a bunch of small stuff that I had been leaving standing until we decided where to dump them, When reviewing the area for hazards and figuring out a cutting plan, I noticed a large paper wasp nest hanging up in the trees. I watched it for awhile and there was no activity and figured out it was abandoned. I worked on some other wood for awhile before returning to the area with the nest. I started cutting in that direction of the nest and didn't pay much attention to the nest, but when I did it wasn't active. I finally cut a tree immediately next to the nest which when the tree fell shook the nest. I had the chainsaw helmet on and when I looked up I saw the nest with this black liquid pouring out the side through a hole. It took me a few seconds to figure out that wasn't liquid and the nest was active. I quickly cleared out and avoided getting swarmed. I figure the cold damp weather is what saved me as the wasps were most likely groggy inside. We are going to leave the nest for a few weeks until we get a hard frost.

Wasn't all bad, after the near miss I dropped a nice white birch some distance away, bucked it up and hand split it before loading it in the truck.

I used to work in an old metal sided warehouse, they were attracted to the south wall and would crawl up into the soffits and end up in our office suspended ceiling. We got real good at nailing them when they dropped out of the ceiling