Alabama Makes the News

It's rare that my adopted home state of Alabama makes the news. When it does, you can bet that there's a bizarre Harper Lee or Faulkner vibe, or at least some kind of wierdness, to the story. So it is with this piece out of the local fishwrap that National Review Online picked up:

MOBILE -- To the bafflement of insect experts, gigantic yellow jacket nests have started turning up in old barns, unoccupied houses, cars and underground cavities across the southern two-thirds of Alabama.

Specialists say it could be the result of a mild winter and drought conditions, or multiple queens forcing worker yellow jackets to enlarge their quarters so the queens will be in separate areas. But experts haven't determined exactly what's behind the surprisingly large nests.

Auburn University entomologists, who say they've never seen the nests so large, have been fielding calls about the huge nests from property owners from Dothan up to Sylacauga and over into west-central Alabama's Black Belt.

The picture looks like something out of Alien. The caption reads:

A yellow jacket nest engulfs the inside of a 1955 Chevrolet on Harry Coker's Tallassee property on Thursday. Gigantic yellow jacket nests have been found in old barns, unoccupied houses, cars and underground cavities across the southern two-thirds of Alabama.

Tallassee?! That's just down the road! The thought of such hives is truly frightening and makes me more than a little nervous. I guess I'll have to alay my nervousness in a time-honored Alabama way: by scarfing down a mess a' Waffle House hash browns. Susanna, I accept your challenge! Scattered all the way for me, please!(I just hope there are no yellow jackets at the WH...)

Monk