While I am not familiar with the origin of 'angry as a hornet,' it strikes me as a southern proverb. It finds itself shelved alongside 'frog strangler' and other sayings that tie in creatures we find in nature that somehow describe our situations and innermost thoughts and feelings. These colorful expressions are of our doing, the creatures were not at all involved in the negotiations when we were so brilliantly forming these sayings. It doesn't seem entirely fair, but I suppose that is a burden that birds, amphibians, insects, etc. must bear. Then again, perhaps the joke is on us; we depend upon them to communicate our emotional language to one another.

My mind wanders back to hornets. Are they always angry, or is it simply that their exhibition of anger seemingly goes to the extremes of poisoning its target of discontentment? I found myself questioning this as I was sitting at my back door, reading... then quickly became distracted by two hornets (while I am not sure exactly what they are, this is what I am calling them) that appeared to be arguing.



When they become angry with one another, do they sting their hornet victim? It would seem odd that one could poison the other. Logic would dictate that a hornet would not be affected by the sting of another hornet. But then, nature is not logical. Maybe hornets do not hold natural antidotes to hornet stings. It then came to my mind that I did not really know how hornets reproduced. I have some reading to do.

Considering the anger and competitiveness of insects begs the question of how mosquitoes interact. Andrew and I spent a good part of yesterday morning discussing mosquitoes, and we soon came to realize that I would need to do further research before forming an opinion on their place and my perceived lack of their contributions in this world.

I once read that the strongest athletes help out his/her greatest rival, thus making the rival that much better and increasing the standard at which both hold themselves... ultimately motivating the first athlete to become ever stronger. This came to mind when we were on the topic of mosquitoes. Would a mosquito act in this way? Or would one competitive mosquito decide to bite another one to gain more blood? Can a mosquito bite another mosquito and effectively drink its recently attained blood supply?

Thankfully, I was soon distracted by a couple of plants I'd adopted from a local nursery. As I was repotting them, I dug my hands into the warm potting soil and realized that it was life. Simply life. I felt as a surgeon of sorts, digging my hands into the blood that plants required for being and thriving... then my mind was back to mosquitoes and their lust and reproductive need for blood.