Adventures in the house

So I've had a number of adventures in our house worth noting. First, on Tuesday night, there was a strange gushing sound coming from the basement. At first I thought it was coming from the stove (I had just turned on a pot of water to boil when I heard the sound). I stood there, uncertain, staring down at the pot of water listening to what sounded like a geyser shooting off. After establishing that the sound was definatly not coming from anything in the kitchen, I walked around the living room a bit, listening. The sound was, in fact, coming from the basement (as sounds often do in houses). The geyser-like sound was indeed a geyser erupting from the hot water contraption in the basement. I say "contraption" rather than "heater" because it isn't really a water heater like you might have in your homes in the states. It is a small box that heats up water that enters the house from a pipe. It doesnt' actually hold any hot water in, the water heats up as it goes by. Anyway... there was water shooting out of the top of the box and down the wall.
And then, just as mysteriously as it began, it stopped.
I called Benito, our neighbor and person who rents the house we live in, and he came to check it out. Apparently the shooting water is a safety feature of the little box. There was air in the water line and the build up of pressure caused the safety valve to blow, causing water to stream out. Without the safety valve feature, the box would just blow up. Thank goodness for the safety valve!
Later that same night, I walked up to the bedroom, turned on the light, and was surrounded by about 15 HUGE wasps. HUGE. At least an inch long. They were flying all over the place. I ran down the stairs, they proceeded to follow me down into the living room. I called Benito and also my friend Gina for advice. Gina suggested "smoking them out" with a burning log. I was too afraid I would drop the log and set the house on fire, so I passed on that one. Instead I barracaded myself into the spare bedroom with a large wooden spare bed upended to block the door. I huddled in there with a flashlight and somehow fell asleep.
Last night I killed most of the wasps. It was not the most eco-friendly way to do it...I used RAID given to me by Lucky, my neighbor. But at least they seem to be gone now. All that remains is the horried stench of insecticide!