Wasps

 No.

I'm not talking about white anglo saxon protestants.   

I'm not talking about the women airforce service pilots either.

I'm talking about the buzzing stinging insects.

Nature's wasps.  I encountered them during repair on another gutter corner.

I was up the ladder, leaning over the cat yard, busy scrubbing down the pulled apart ends of that gutter corner yesterday.  The corner connector piece was toast--bent, pop rivets had popped off long time ago, at some point.   At the corner with the house---bare wood.  The metal ends of the two gutter pieces, that join at the corner, via the connector, at the back were about two inches from the corner of the house.  Beyond those  metal ends, on each side, to the corner--the bare wood of the fascia.  Which was by now rotting from the moisure exposure.

I'd bought a box miter to repair that corner via Amazon.  It fit over the joining pieces so easily and slid up the back to cover the fascia.  

Number one, according to youtube gutter repair how to video's:  clean and dry all surfaces thoroughly.  I used rubbing alcohol to soften old sealant before razor scraping it off.

I applied the sealant to the metal box miter itself, making sure to, or trying to remember, where all surfaces joined, so I had sealant on each, then hooked the top over one side of the gutter, then the other, and slid it into place up the back.   

Out came my hex head metal screws that I got but they're 1/2 inch not the 3/8's I wanted but could not find.  That's life.

It was hot and maybe it was not a great idea to be up on a ladder when its mid to upper 80's.   I wanted to get it done.   I've been a little out of sorts.  Neighbors gone--moved to Montana.  Not looking forward to the noise and activity of new people moving in either.  Nobody to do anything with or even chat with.  Not that easy to be constantly alone.  

The sealant was thick but not thick enough for heat and started drooling down the seams to pool.  I carefully wetted my finger and eased it back into the seams.  I may have to add some more.

I screwed it into place and was trying to reach way over and do the same on the outside of the corner piece that faced the cat yard--a dumb stunt from a ladder but I got away with it.   Until I leaned back, straightening up and that's when nature's air force decided this was their air space not mine.

Wasps, mud dobber types.  They came out of a small hole in the soffit that I'd not seen.   And buzzed my head.  I don't like wasps.  I swatted wildly at them.  Hex head screws went flying and almost 70 year old me, ran down that ladder like I wasn't a day over 50.  Left the job almost but not quite done.  No shame.  You want to go back up there with the wasps?

I did some no no's, like screwing from the inside to outside, leaving exposed screw tips on the outside of the gutter.  I figured so what, I know about them.  I won't get punctured or scratched by those pointed protruding bits.   The reason I did from inside to the outside was because the inside of the old gutter pieces were kind of wrecked and bulging and bent along edges, big holes on the edge from the darn rivets that had come out, bulging at the back, from pulled out long gone gutter hangers.  You get the picture.  And now you get another picture of my pretty new white corner.   Maybe it still will leak, but it will be looking good when it does!