Oh EEeeeek! Hornets are nothing to mess around with. I'm glad your friend was a good hornet wrangler. Wasps were my bane as a child. They used to get into the house and I was the first one to know. They would bump around the ceiling seeking exit, and my child wasp-radar was attuned to that "dzzt...dzzt...dzzt" Struck pure fear in my heart. As an adult, we've had friendly species of wasps build their nests in odd places. One little one was especially fond of one particular tube of our brass wind chime. We'd only know she'd returned when the chimes went "Ding..dong..dud." We watched her fly up with a grass blade more than twice her length clutched in her grasp, crawl up the chime tube and pull the grass blade slowly in after her.

H waited till she'd left to clear the tube with a hard puff of breath. The little nest was a coiled and woven marvel. After that first time we didn't evict her again. She was completely non-agressive. Another one, different species, built in the squared tube of aluminum siding that cased our front door frame. It was open at the bottom, and she'd fly up with some building material. It was a high traffic area with the humans coming and going, and she would pause to let us pass, then hustle up her tube. She was never the slightest bit aggressive, either.

Paper wasps, on the other hand. Were *not* welcome. Those are the ones that earned the title "waspish temper."

Laura, such good news! Yeah, if it's the picture of Momoa I'm thinking of, it would definitely raise the...unwell. Continuing good healing thoughts to your SiL.

Sophia, I hope you find her soon. And I'm sorry.

Theo, my sympathies, and hopes for some solution that's manageable for you.

I still have to pay off the car, and owe a whole lot more than that.

The only other time I had serious transmission problems, it was on a car with over 100K. This has just a bit over 40, and while I use it pretty hard (city driving) I'm pretty good at it. But it may just not be a rugged transmission. Le sigh.

It stinks how dependent we are on our cars, and how much it costs to obtain, maintain, and repair them.

Every now and then I think, "We should go back to carts, wagons, drawn by animals! No more car repairs!"

And then I start adding up food, shelter, vet care, and have to return to reality.

Best possible solution, Theo.

A new transmission at 40k seems odd. Maybe you just got stuck with a bad one. I'm sorry, Theo.

There's a lovely series of organ pipe mud dauber nests near my front door. They're non-aggressive, so I don't mind them being there. But hornets? Paper wasps? A world of no.

Right now everyone at work is watching weather sites to see how Hurricane Florence will go. According to the latest models, we're right in the path, albeit over a hundred miles from the coast. We'll probably be without power for several days and there will be some downed trees.

I'm sorry about the kitty, Sophia. I hope you find her soon.

Florence may even reach up to here. The only thing I'm worried about is power outages.

Hurricane Florence is indeed looking fierce. The thing with storms that big is that they just go where they please and don't care much about steering currents. It staying a Cat 1 that far inland in troubling as well. Stay safe all!

I know this is obvious, but it's not under warranty, Connie? That blows.

Good hurricane luck, guys. Just don't be stupid about driving in flooded streets. As in, don't do it.

Be safe with the weather, peoples.

I'm sorry your kitty discovery was not the good kind, meara.

Yikes to stinging things in general.

I am irritated that I am at work on Rosh Hoshana, but I am taking a week off starting on Thursday, and last year when I took off for this particular holiday was when the layoffs happened, so ... yeah. Anyway, round sweet years to y'all

Completely useless trivia: One of my grandmothers was named Florence. She passed away many years ago, so I don't know how she would feel about a major hurricane named for her.

More seriously, prepare now and stay safe, Carolinistas!

What kind of car is it? 40,000 miles may be out of the general warranty, but there might be a longer powertrain warranty.