Mowing Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time

   / Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time #31  
Was mowing at dusk night before last when I reached out to push over an old dead dogwood tree with a big hole in it. Bad move on my part....the hornets within didn't appreciate my destructive act on their humble abode.
 
   / Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time #32  
Two days ago I went down back to cut some red ceder it was in a place where I had cut last year and was over grown with briars and bittersweet. I pushed a path to the trees I wanted to cut turned the tractor around to hook up with the wench. I got out and went around to get the saw from the other side
of the cab and noticed these guys flying around well now I moved back fast to see just what was going on and soon found I had parked over the nest which I had just brushed over,let them settle down and made it back into the cab. I then squished that paper nest real good but too many out so didn't get all so moved away and cut my trees. I didn't get stung this time but it sure makes one sweat
I tell ya
 
   / Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time #33  
A couple of days ago I used the tractor to pull a small stump for a neighbor. Because of a fence, I had to hook two chains together and slide them under the fence. So the tractor and I were about 30' from the stump. As the stump pulled out, a long root started ripping out of the ground.
I kept going, waiting for the root to break or pull out. There was a nest of yellow jackets that the root passed thru or by, and out they came. Unfortunately my friend, who was standing to that side, got several stings. They never came after me, they only chased and stung my friend.

Its always good to have a 'wing man'. :D
 
   / Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time #34  
When I was a teenager, I had to get some conduit up off the ground for my father. I walked down the conduit and when I stepped off the end I got stung. There had to have been at least ten on my ankles and lower legs. It was over 100 degrees outside, but I got cold chills it hurt so bad. I still fear them.

My father was stung by ground hornets, that look like little honey bees, but they had a huge nest in the ground close to a pine tree. He got stung all over.

Yellow jackets, like any in the wasp family, can sting you multiple times, unlike a bee that only can pop you once. That is not to say a wasp stinger will never lodge in your skin and get pulled out, too. They are closely related to hornets and it feels like it! If you can get some Benadryl in you fast, it will stop the histamine release, or slow it, so you don't get such a bad reaction. But, if you have any trouble breathing, after multiple stings, and don't have an Epi-Pen, best to drop the valor thing and get to an emergency room as your airway may swell to the point of killing you.

I have tried ammonia + powdered meat tenderizer to make a paste, ice, Home Depot sells a BiteMD pen (with benzocaine, camphor and phenol) by Cutter that is an analgesic +antiseptic for bites and stings (works for mosquito bites really well, but never used it on a sting).

I hate that happened to you, as well as the others, now I am looking everywhere while mowing! :shocked:
 
   / Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time #35  
Many, many years ago when I was a kid, I was helping my dad pick grapes up in Ohio. There was an old coffee can upside down on a pole and when I reached for a bunch of grapes under it, my hand turned black. I thought it was a giant spider or something until I realized it was a bunch of wasps that had dropped down on it from their nest in the can. I shook most of them off and ran even faster than they could fly I guess, because I only had a few stings. Never have forgotten it tho.

I declared war on them after that. My brother and I used to put fine gravel in our slingshots and shoot their nests, then run like ****! Also a small amount of gasoline in a can thrown on the nest drops them right now, if you could get it in the right place. We still ran.

Here in SW Florida, the wasps are smaller and don't seem so aggressive. I don't even bother their nests unless they are very close to somewhere I need to be.
 
   / Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time #36  
When I get stung, it's one time that my "nasty" habit of chewing tobacco comes in handy. Just take some of the moist tobacco and put it on the sting. It will quit hurting in a few minutes. Some of the "old timers' " remedies still work. :D
The unfortunate downside to such a remedy could be a painful and potentially fatal bout with oral cancer. I had stirred up a bees nest (yes, they were BEES for all of those who didn't believe me in the other thread) and took a beating to the legs and torso, along with one to the face that really felt wonderful. The event also brought an unfortunate stoppage of work for the day. Little bastards can seriously get their point across when they want to.

For anyone who is interested in the hierarchy of painful stings, click The 10 most painful stings on the planet, by the self-sacrificing man who tried 150 different varieties in the name of science | Mail Online. Pretty comical descriptions, too.
 
   / Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time #37  
I've been forced off my tractor by those evil creatures as well. It isn't often in today's world that humans experience the flight or fight panic mode. I can say my brain didn't consider or care about pulling the throttle as I screamed like a girl choosing the flight option.
 
   / Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time #38  
I somehow ran over the edge of this with my zero turn yesterday, and didn't get stung. This was near our pond, and we luckily don't walk near this side often! I was making my next pass when I noted all the activity...yellow jackets everywhere. Last night I flooded the nest with spray, and it seemed to do the job pretty well. I poked at it today with the rebar, and a couple flew out, so I gave it another shot of spray. I'll dig it up tonight to be certain.

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   / Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time #39  
When I get stung, it's one time that my "nasty" habit of chewing tobacco comes in handy. Just take some of the moist tobacco and put it on the sting. It will quit hurting in a few minutes.

Some of the "old timers' " remedies still work. :D

I agree. This works!
 
   / Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time #40  
I am so glad I read this thread. I had some bush hogging to do today and chose the L4060 with the cab in place of the open station BX. I found a nest of yellow jackets. I backed up to help ventilate their nest. They were not happy at all. Thank God for the glass on that cab😃
 
 
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