A bug's life

So for awhile now we have been seeing sawdust around the gate that Glen built for our front porch when we first moved in. This morning I saw another pile and started to investigate more closely. This is what I found.

And here's a closeup. Notice the saw dust.

So clearly we needed to find out what it was or at least remove it so that it would not take over our house.

Even Cosmo was curious to see what it was.

So Glen decided to take the gate off. Clearly whatever it is is now living in the column on our porch.

Turns out it didn't get into the column. It only got into the board. So we Glen flipped the board over to find that it was hollow in parts and started breaking through the wood. Glen went into the house to get his knife. I guarded the board.

While Glen was inside I decided to blow into the hole to try to get whatever it was to come out. It started making noises at me. I of course jumped and decided to leave it alone. It seemed pretty angry. They certainly were not hey come and play with me type noises.

Glen returned and continued to cut the board and whatever it was continued to make mean noises at him. Honestly, it made me a bit nervous. Glen then proceeded to cut the part of the board that they were hiding in, and they came out. I screamed, ran away, and refused to come back. Glen dug deeper and found these.

They left larva which will inevitably turn into more of them and burrow more holes and take over the house. So Glen immediately threw the board away. I don't want these living with us.

I will be A-okay not to see this face every morning.

Turns out they were carpenter bees.