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

[Poopdeck Pappy]

A friend of mine was mowing pasture with his open station tractor and got into the bumblebees but unfortunately he cannot run, having some serious leg probems. Had to endure the attack and try to drive the tractor back to the house. He made it to the drive and collapsed as he got off the tractor. His wife was off shoppping but decided she needed to get home. She found him propped up against the tractor tire but he was amost unconscious and unable to tell her what was wrong. She got on the phone to 911 and a neighbor heard it on the scanner and got down there to help. He was able to call in and let the emergency personnel on the way know what had happened. They got him to the emergency room in time and he came out of it OK. He has a cab tractor and now uses it exclusively when working in the field. Enough of those buggers can kill you. Be careful out there.

I used to run a windrower for my grandfather windrowing alfalfa. Bumblebees just LOVE alfalfa. Those little b@astards used to chase me all over the field. They will almost knock you down when they sting you.

 

[nova3930]

Last week after mowing my lawn with my ZTR, I was in my house and I felt a sharp pain on my thigh. I quick pulled down my pants and there was a wasp that somehow had crawled up my pants leg while I was mowing. Oow! Fortunate that it did not make itself known a few inches over. LOL

I had that happen to me with one of those little guinea wasps about 15 years ago. At the time I was 16 and working summers for my grandfather the fence contractor. We had to replace a gate to an FAA nav beacon in a fence row that hadn't been cleared out since Nixon was in office. We stirred a nest and the little SOB flew up my shorts and nailed me about 2 inches from the jewels. After I recovered sufficiently I laid waste with 20 gallons of fuel and a lighter. I burned everything within 50 yards down to the ground. No wasp issues after that...

 

[two_bit_score]

I had that happen to me with one of those little guinea wasps about 15 years ago. At the time I was 16 and working summers for my grandfather the fence contractor. We had to replace a gate to an FAA nav beacon in a fence row that hadn't been cleared out since Nixon was in office. We stirred a nest and the little SOB flew up my shorts and nailed me about 2 inches from the jewels. After I recovered sufficiently I laid waste with 20 gallons of fuel and a lighter. I burned everything within 50 yards down to the ground. No wasp issues after that...

A prime example of where a 'scorched earth' policy did work!

 

[DarkBlack]

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.

I've read that before, and the descriptions make me laugh every time.:laughing:
On a serious view of it, being a person who has the luck of getting stung multiple times each year, every year, I would surely rank the bald "white" face hornet pain as more severe than the honey bee, or yellow jacket that he has listed as the same or more painful. It's not even a close contest.
For sure yellow jackets are the most aggressive. I get stung by them for just being near their nest holes, but, no-way, no-how, does a single sting from them, or a honey bee hurt more than a mature bald face hornet on you. I'd even take a paper wasp sting before a white face, which has has ranked as more painful.

 

[jrclark]

I've read that before, and the descriptions make me laugh every time.:laughing: On a serious view of it, being a person who has the luck of getting stung multiple times each year, every year, I would surely rank the bald "white" face hornet pain as more severe than the honey bee, or yellow jacket that he has listed as the same or more painful. It's not even a close contest. For sure yellow jackets are the most aggressive. I get stung by them for just being near their nest holes, but, no-way, no-how, does a single sting from them, or a honey bee hurt more than a mature bald face hornet on you. I'd even take a paper wasp sting before a white face, which has has ranked as more painful.

I definitely think the bald hornet sting is worse from a swelling standpoint. That bee sting I took to the temple recently was some of the worse pain I've ever had from a sting, though. I suppose it all comes down to where the insect stings you.

 

[Sysop]

I've been told they are the only ones that consistently draw blood with each sting. I've always figured they're the worst on that tidbit alone. My only experience with them was horrible. 76 stings on my left leg, left arm, and left side of my neck and face. I've been stung other times by other things, but that was by far the most aggressive and painful attack. The sheer volume of stings doesn't allow me to compare it to the others. I fear them enough I'd not be willing to accept a scientific study of any sort. I had no use of the left side of my body for 3 days. It gave me fear of having a stroke as well...

 

[jrclark]

I've been told they are the only ones that consistently draw blood with each sting. I've always figured they're the worst on that tidbit alone. My only experience with them was horrible. 76 stings on my left leg, left arm, and left side of my neck and face. I've been stung other times by other things, but that was by far the most aggressive and painful attack. The sheer volume of stings doesn't allow me to compare it to the others. I fear them enough I'd not be willing to accept a scientific study of any sort. I had no use of the left side of my body for 3 days. It gave me fear of having a stroke as well...

76, holy ****! I took one bald hornet sting to the side of the knee cap and lost most of my mobility from the swelling. Oddly enough it didn't hurt too bad, but was really uncomfortable. I couldn't imagine 75 more stings from him and his friends.

 

[DarkBlack]

Oddly, his humorous description is dead on: " like having your hand smashed in a revolving door":laughing: Maybe the numerical ranking got shuffled by someone after he wrote it.

 

[Sysop]

76, holy ****! I took one bald hornet sting to the side of the knee cap and lost most of my mobility from the swelling. Oddly enough it didn't hurt too bad, but was really uncomfortable. I couldn't imagine 75 more stings from him and his friends.

It was a beautiful 60F fall day in Almost Heaven... I was trimming around some flowers around a huge azalea bush, minding my own business... Paying attention to my task, I missed seeing the beach ball sized nest mounted in the center of the bush amongst all the branches about 7 feet off the ground. They must have been upset my buzzer was making more noise than they could. At once I started feeling excruciating pain so severe I couldn't identify the exact source, I went immediately into a state of panic and began to run. I ran across the back of the property and down the side, jumped a fence, and ran across the road. Stopped for a moment, I had ran nearly 300 feet. Almost instantly as I turned to look behind me, I started feeling the same pain as before and saw a swarm coming for me. This time I had a little more wit about me as I now knew the cause of the pain; I ran back across the road, up the driveway, through the gate, up the sidewalk around back of the house, and into the swimming pool I jumped. Immediately stripped off all my clothes while underwater. One had hung onto the calf of my leg, even under water, even dragging my pants off over him, and was continuing to walk up my leg stinging every step of the way. After spending as long as I could underwater brushing my hands over my entire body to make sure no more were hanging on (at this point I was in so much pain I couldn't feel the individual stings), I came up, exhaled, inhaled, and back under I went. I did this a couple times until I was near losing consciousness, found my underwear at some point during all that and got them back on. Climbed out of the pool and went to the door shivering due to a combination of shock and the cool air (60F is NOT swimming weather) and asked for a towel and some Benadryl. Funny part, the azalea bush was only 15 feet from the back side of the pool. When the initial panic sets in you don't always think properly...

 

[two_bit_score]

It was a beautiful 60F fall day in Almost Heaven... I was trimming around some flowers around a huge azalea bush, minding my own business... Paying attention to my task, I missed seeing the beach ball sized nest mounted in the center of the bush amongst all the branches about 7 feet off the ground. They must have been upset my buzzer was making more noise than they could. At once I started feeling excruciating pain so severe I couldn't identify the exact source, I went immediately into a state of panic and began to run. I ran across the back of the property and down the side, jumped a fence, and ran across the road. Stopped for a moment, I had ran nearly 300 feet. Almost instantly as I turned to look behind me, I started feeling the same pain as before and saw a swarm coming for me. This time I had a little more wit about me as I now knew the cause of the pain; I ran back across the road, up the driveway, through the gate, up the sidewalk around back of the house, and into the swimming pool I jumped. Immediately stripped off all my clothes while underwater. One had hung onto the calf of my leg, even under water, even dragging my pants off over him, and was continuing to walk up my leg stinging every step of the way. After spending as long as I could underwater brushing my hands over my entire body to make sure no more were hanging on (at this point I was in so much pain I couldn't feel the individual stings), I came up, exhaled, inhaled, and back under I went. I did this a couple times until I was near losing consciousness, found my underwear at some point during all that and got them back on. Climbed out of the pool and went to the door shivering due to a combination of shock and the cool air (60F is NOT swimming weather) and asked for a towel and some Benadryl. Funny part, the azalea bush was only 15 feet from the back side of the pool. When the initial panic sets in you don't always think properly...

What a description…..a combination of Mickey Spillane and Hemingway. :thumbsup: