This is our annual anecdote meant to provide a departure from the ordinary. To learn more about this story, please check out the footnotes we’ve provided at its end.
1. Spring Springs
The sun warmed the bark of a dead tree on east side of the pasture. Under the bark a resting female paper wasp, a Queen in her own right, began to stir. The warmth provided by the spring sun was all she needed to recharge her batteries after a long, cold winter. It wouldn’t take long. A couple more nice days like this one and she would be recharged enough to venture forth. Ahead of her was a long season of hard work, but starting was all she could think about, but she first needed to get warm.
The female paper wasp — who happens to answer to name of Donna — felt refreshed, fully recharged after a few days of warmth. She was starting to feel her instinctual push. She needed to fly. There was work to be done. She crept out from underneath the bark and for the first time that year came face to face with the bright spring sunshine. It felt luxurious so she paused to take it in, lifting her wings, stretching, soaking in the warmth. She began to work her wings faster and soon they were humming. Donna took flight.
Starting on her quest she flew along the pasture’s perimeter stopping at various locations to see if they’d be good for nesting. She was disappointed time and time again. Everything she looked at was either falling apart, already taken, or too exposed. The warmth kept her charged, though, so she pressed on. It wasn’t until she reach the north end of the pasture that she saw something that might accommodate her needs: Big Red.
2. Big Red
Big Red is a tractor that’s located on the north side of the same pasture. It sits abandoned now, a rusting shell of its former self. In its day it pulled and pushed, lifted and tilled, and ran with the best of them. But time started to take its toll, and Big Red began to show its age. The once admiring farmer, Gustav, or Uncle Gus as he’s called, fell in love with one of those new green tractors, the ones with the deer on them. He brought one back to the farm. It wasn’t too bad at first. Big red was still used for really dirty jobs. After a while, though, Mean Green, as Uncle Gus was heard to call the new machine, started taking over. Soon, one day after a really tiny breakdown, Big Red was left to sit. Soon forgotten.
Donna didn’t see a problem with Big Red. She flew in and around, over and under. It was perfect. It had great big fenders that would serve well as a shelter for the nest she needed to start building. And with that thought she began. She selected a spot under the South-facing fender since it’d be the warmest. She felt around with her antennae so as to remember it when she came back, then took off in search of building materials.
3. The Beginning
It didn’t take Donna long to find what she needed: There was a fence around the field supported by old, weathered posts. The wood, Donna noted, was perfect for chewing and making her papier mâché-like building material. Chewing it and mixing it with her saliva would work great. With that she chewed until her cheeks were bulging. Heavy-headed she flew off, back to her fender on Big Red. Once back she wasted no time producing her “paper” and started to build. She started first on making a tough stem to connect the nest to the fender. She then, after another trip for wood fiber, created the first inverted cup-like cell.
Within the cell she laid an egg. She didn’t bother closing the cell figuring it’d be a grubby larva soon enough and would demand food. Instead of focusing on her offspring-to-be for now, she continued to focus on making more cells in which she could deposit more eggs. It was hard word but she was somehow compelled to do it — she was driven by her instinct. It was lonely work, but Donna knew that’d she soon have the company of other wasps. They wouldn’t be good for mating, they’d be sterile, but they would be hard workers. They wouldn’t chat things up too much, though having someone to talk to would be nice, but they would be really helpful to her if she was somehow going to get her colony off the ground before mid-summer. The days were still getting longer, but that wouldn’t be the case forever. Somehow she knew.
Donna continued working. Nobody disturbed her way out there on the derelict tractor. They did last year. Three times her mom tried to get a nest off the ground only to have it torn down by something or someone. Her mom told her she was going to be a Queen and to find a better location than she did when her time came. As it was Donna ended up being born behind a freaking shingle. Talk about embarrassing! It was cramped and smelly. She wanted to do better for her offspring. Big Red was quite a find.
4. Meet Billy
Soon she toiled with the assistance of a friend who shared her vision. One day she was alone, working on her third cell, and when she turned around standing there was a wasp who introduced himself as Billy. He didn’t say much else, but he did rattle off how he wanted to serve Her and would do as she asked. Donna smiled to herself. She was new to this Queen thing and felt a little elated. She looked at Billy and half asked-half told him to go get some pulp. Billy snapped to attention, flicked an antenna as a salute of sorts, then he flew off to do his thing — to do Her bidding.
Things went on that way for awhile. Not a lot of chit chat, even on rainy days and during the sometimes cold nights. At night Donna and Billy just sat on the nest staring at the rusted fender they called home. The nest was getting bigger by the day. It was up to five cells now. When Billy first showed up hanging out on the nest was cramped. Now there was plenty of room. They could really stretch out if they wanted to, but they didn’t. It would all change soon enough, though. Billy got a text from some of his buddies. They’d be flying in tomorrow morning as soon as it got warm enough to get clearance from the tower.
Donna had mixed emotions about this. She was growing fond of Billy and liked the long quiet hours of non-stop work on their spacious home. She continued laying eggs knowing one would be special. Her daughter, the Princess, the one to take her throne. She was anxious about the noise of all those boys in her nursery — and her first was getting reading to hatch. All those busy feet and stingers, oh my, a mother’s fears. She and Billy could probably use the help, though. Billy hinted at it the other day. She was resigned. A Queen she was and now she had to accept her responsibility. To “step up” as her mother once said.
