They shoulda been nicer...

I started this blog last week, but when it came time to write my first post, I hit a brick wall. Yesterday on my mom forum, a couple of my way-cooler-than-I'll-ever-be friends insisted that this story (as well as the next) would make good blog fodder. So I'll start here.

We live in the country. Ten minutes from downtown, yes, but you wouldn't know it by driving down our road. We've been here 3 years and only recently has the local cable company offered service to our area. So we signed up in June, and I canceled our satellite service.

Last week, we started getting nasty calls from the company about returning our (their) equipment. We didn't purchase it outright, so it needs to be returned. I'm cool with that. You can't read the remotes anymore, so I don't know why they'd even want them back, but hey, it's their stuff, whatever.

Anyhow, we requested that they send a technician out to uninstall the actual satellite dish. They declined, and quite rudely. "You'll have to pay someone out of your own pocket to come uninstall it." That's fine, we'll get it apart. We'll probably screw it up, but we'll do it. We're agreeable like that, and I've got superfast internet now, so I'm happy.

Dear Hubs (who needs an incognito identity, suggestions welcome) goes out to take off the parts they want back. I hear, from my perch on the rocking chair with my sweet baby girl, some thumping, a lot of strong language, and I look out the window in time to see my not-so-fit husband being chased across our yard by a giant swarm of somethings. I didn't know he could run so fast!

He comes inside to show me the multiple wasp stings on his chest. Ouch. Sorry, dude.

Now, my patience goes a long, long way. But while we are waiting on the multiple doses of wasp killer to work over the course of a few days, the satellite company calls several more times, growing more and more rude with each call. We told them we'd be a lot more comfortable if they'd send one of their own technicians out to disassemble the thing, but nope.

Hubs finally got it taken apart on Monday. I hadn't looked before, but this is what he left laying on my porch when he got done:


What, you can't see anything? Alright, a close up.



Inside the thing. Hubs says there are larvae still inside, but I'm not getting close enough to look:


The nest was flipping HUGE--these broke off:



He wants to send it back just like this. Had they been nicer, we would probably go to the effort of cleaning it and making sure it's pretty much insect free. Instead they'll probably end up getting a package of remotes with worn-off buttons and dish pieces full of wasp carcasses and nest parts. At least they'll get their stuff back, right?