New pole barn smashed to pieces....

[mx842]

A couple weeks ago we had an earthquake that shook the heck out of the house. At first I thought it was an ATF chopper landing on my house to remove my guns from my cold dead hands but then I realized what was happening and calmed down and said no problem it's just a 5.9 earthquake. Only problems discovered was some shoe boxes all piled in the middle of a closet floor and a few broken dishes that fell on to the floor.

A week later we get this hurricane that everybody was saying was going to be no big deal where I am and where as I am usually pretty good about getting prepared for these things I sure dropped the ball on this one. I did get 10 gals of gas for the genny just in case but never bothered to bring it up to the house from the barn where I was using it at. Long story short.... never underestimate mother nature.

By noon the day of the storm we were already getting steady 40 mph winds and the storm was still 150 miles away. About then I was thinking about all the nasty things I would like to do to the channel 12 weather man who all week had been saying we were not going to see any really bad stuff here where we are at. By 2 pm the winds had picked up and were gusting to 55mph and the rain was really coming down and the yard looked like a small lake. I couldn't tell where the edge of my Koi pond was because it was all just one big mass of water and I was afraid the fish would just swim off into the woods.

By 4pm my little weather station lost the wind monitor in a gust that measured 69 mph and after that the whole outside unit was ripped off the porch and took off as if it was attached to an Apollo rocket headed to space. By now trees that I thought would be safe because they had survived the last hurricane that had over 80 mph winds here started to fall around us and the sounds of trees crunching as they crashed to the ground was nerve racking. At least this time it was light outside and we could see what was happening. However some things I just didn't want to see and as I was standing on my porch this giant oak that was just 20 feet from the house started to whip around and I could see the root ball being ripped from the ground and at first it looked like it was headed right for the house but my mind went blank as I saw another huge oak crash through my pole barn that I had been building. My wife screaming brought me out of the cussing rampage I was engaged in because of what I had just seen and the great oak that had been headed for me and my porch was redirected by another huge oak that was on the other end of the house. At first I thought the first tree was going to win the battle and take out the porch with me on it and bring the second big tree with it to finish me off but the force of this tree and the 80 mph or more wind gust that was ripping through the woods gently knocked the first tree from it's original path to one that was a little more suitable for the position I was in. Both trees landed sideways to the house and only one big branch landed on the roof and I don't even think it came off either of these two trees.

This branch was laying in a way that it was putting great stress on the roof and I was afraid it was going to crush through one of the sky lights so I went to the garage and got my saw and had to cut a path to my ladder and then I went up on the roof and cut the branch up in smaller parts so that it was not pushing so hard on the roof system. That has to be one good skylight I still don't know how it kept from breaking.

About this time I'm hearing my wife screaming again but this time she was screaming because the phone was out and she couldn't report the crazy 64 year old man that had completely lost his mind and was running around the neighborhood with a chainsaw and climbing on to roofs in the middle of a hurricane. Luckily for me the power and phones were out because they probably would have carried me off to the Looney bin if she had gotten through to someone with authority. :laughing:

I was thinking just a week ago how nice it was that I had finally finished burning the last of the stumps and debris from the last big storm on 03'. Now I have to start all over and this time I believe I have more blow downs than we had then. A rough count puts the number somewhere at 40 in the 31/2 ac part right around the house. The rest of the woods are so mangled with torn and twisted trees that I can't really tell what I have to deal with. There is one 5 ac hillside to the left of my house and from what I can see every tree in there is either blown over or the tops have been ripped off. It will take me a month to cut my way in there to really see what痴 going on.

For now I'm just worried about what is in the yard and trying to get things back to where I can at least walk in the yard without having to climb through brush. A limb landed in my Koi pond and knocked a hole in the liner and so far I have lost two of my most beautiful fish. Hopefully I won稚 lose any more and now I have made temp repairs that I hope will do until I can get around to removing the giant tree that uprooted right in the middle of the pond area. Next is dealing with the insurance company and that will
probably be more stressful that going through the storm. They have already told me they don't pay for trees that blow over unless they fall on your house and they may not even pay for the barn because it was under construction. Right now I'm just taking it one day at a time.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Quite a story!
Glad you're okay. It looks like you've got your work cut out for you. Where are you located?

 

[JerryK]

Sorry for your loss. Old Mother Nature can really put a hurt on a guy, almost as much as a P.O.'d wife that is real handy with a cast iron frying pan when you are sound asleep.... On the bright side, now that old crazy guy has LOT's of projects lined up to keep him busy... What state are you in..???

 

[Ken]

Gives you a whole new outlook on life when the trees are piled around the house and protects the place from blowing away. We also 3 years ago in a tornado lost 30 acres of trees and all buildings and trees around our house.
And no FEMA to hold our hands since were in the country and there is more needs in the city.
Agree it is nerve racking to know everything planned is getting blown away.
Trust there is some insurance and a neighbor with a good dozer willing to spend a couple of weeks pushing the trees in to a burn pile.
ken

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Never, never underestimate mother nature. Reminds me of my buddy's story. 2003 Hurricane Claudette waited until the last day to intensify and make landfall at Port Lavaca, Texas packing 100mph winds and higher gusts. He lives inland about 30 miles where the land is very flat and no trees. The tallest thing (besides a building) is a red ant bed. Anyway, he needed to go out to his large barn and shore up the doors. He said walking with 100mph winds blowing you sideways was the hardest thing he's ever done in his life. Said he was leaning into the wind and clutching grass or anything with his hands trying to get to the barn. While he was parking his Clark forklift up against a big rollup door, the other rollup door blew out of it's tracks. He said it was flailing around in the wind whilst still hanging on 1 of it's cables. He decided it was better to hide behind the forklift until it snapped off. Luckily, the rest of the barn held up.

Insurers won't pay for trees. It is sad when a grand old oak or such gets pulled out.

On a lighter note, and not trying to take the thread political, I heard the earthquake was centered over a recently discovered fault line named Bush's fault line. They said what triggered the earthquake was our founding fathers rolling over in their graves.:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[mx842]

We are in Va, (Richmond area) where we were only supposed two get 25 MPH winds and light rain. They were saying that the Hampton Rhodes area was going to be the hardest hit but we got more damage here. We were without power for almost a week because the power lines in a lot of places were totally destroyed from downed trees. Then also Va power sent everything they had to the Norfolk area because they were looking at more damage from the storm. After about two days we started seeing trucks from other states come in to help with the construction of new lines and poles. I saw trucks from as far away Indiana, Georgia, and Kentucky working on the lines. Of-course I live out in the sticks so we get our power last.

I finally got my genny uncovered from the big tree that crashed through my barn and patched up to where it would run so we did have power to run some of the normal things like the fridg and well pump. Although I had to fix both the electric wire and water pipe that were ripped in half as one of these big trees uprooted and smashed it into the ground.

I'll probably have to deal with this the same way I have had to deal with everything else for the past several years.....by myself. Me and my old Bronco do have their work cut out for us but I guess that is good in some respects, it will keep me busy and out of trouble. :laughing: I am wondering though just how long it will be for the president to find a way to blame this on Bush cause it seems he don't miss a chance of doing just that.

 

[creekbend]

Here's hoping your recovery and rebuilding efforts are successful. It makes me realize just how lucky we were. We live in the piedmont of NC. We only received 30-40 mile gusts and barely enough rainfall to amount to much. Happy Tractoring.:tractor:

 

[charliepff]

Sorry to hear all the damage you all sustained. That hurricane really seemed to prove the weathermen wrong in every aspect of where it was going to hit and what it was going to do. I live right over the mountain from Loudoun VA and we spent three days getting the stuff at the firehouse ready. We did not even end up getting the rain we were supposed to. We did have cracks in our basement floor from the earthquake. On a side note. My wife and I set ourselves up as much as possible as to not have to depend on anyone helping us out. We have food, water, and multiple contigency plans in case of a disaster. Most of the neighbors around me are the same way. Most of us have generators, multiple saws, atv's and fuel supplies. I wish we lived closer to give you a hand.

 

[Bdavis]

We are in Va, (Richmond area) where we were only supposed two get 25 MPH winds and light rain. They were saying that the Hampton Rhodes area was going to be the hardest hit but we got more damage here. We were without power for almost a week because the power lines in a lot of places were totally destroyed from downed trees. Then also Va power sent everything they had to the Norfolk area because they were looking at more damage from the storm. After about two days we started seeing trucks from other states come in to help with the construction of new lines and poles. I saw trucks from as far away Indiana, Georgia, and Kentucky working on the lines. Of-course I live out in the sticks so we get our power last.

I finally got my genny uncovered from the big tree that crashed through my barn and patched up to where it would run so we did have power to run some of the normal things like the fridg and well pump. Although I had to fix both the electric wire and water pipe that were ripped in half as one of these big trees uprooted and smashed it into the ground.

I'll probably have to deal with this the same way I have had to deal with everything else for the past several years.....by myself. Me and my old Bronco do have their work cut out for us but I guess that is good in some respects, it will keep me busy and out of trouble. :laughing: I am wondering though just how long it will be for the president to find a way to blame this on Bush cause it seems he don't miss a chance of doing just that.

Really sorry to hear you had all those troubles, been through a few hurricanes but have never had the devastation you encountered. During Gustav all the trees fell around my house. Many of my neighbors were not so lucky. However, that hurricane had a profound effect on my attidude and restored my faith in how many good people there are in this country.

It wasn't the federal or local goverment that came to save the day. It was "Southern Baptist Convention chain saw crews" and other volunteers like them. They cleared roads, cleared houses and helped people out and did they not ask anything in return.

Glad you and your family are safe - best wishes
Your families health and safety can not be replaced everything else is just stuff !

 

[mx842]

Sorry to hear all the damage you all sustained. That hurricane really seemed to prove the weathermen wrong in every aspect of where it was going to hit and what it was going to do. I live right over the mountain from Loudoun VA and we spent three days getting the stuff at the firehouse ready. We did not even end up getting the rain we were supposed to. We did have cracks in our basement floor from the earthquake. On a side note. My wife and I set ourselves up as much as possible as to not have to depend on anyone helping us out. We have food, water, and multiple contigency plans in case of a disaster. Most of the neighbors around me are the same way. Most of us have generators, multiple saws, atv's and fuel supplies. I wish we lived closer to give you a hand.

Thanks! Yeah this storm was a sleeper and goes to show why you should always expect the worst and hope for the best. I am set up also to be able to make it for a few weeks without help if I have to and most always keep enough stuff laying around to keep me going if things go bad. I did drop the ball this time a little though and my wife has not missed a chance to remind me of that either.:laughing: This reminds me,..... this might be a good time to mention that it might be the right time to replace our 20 year old genny with something a little bigger.

Thanks for the offer but once the insurance adjuster gets here ( now they say it will be the 20th before they show up) to let me know how bad I'm going to take it in the shorts I'll just take my time and work on it until it's cleaned up just like I did with the last storm like this. I've already cut up all the tops and branches of the ones laying in the yard and piled a lot of that mess around the stumps so it can dry out where I can burn them when the weather is right. I'll leave the logs whole until I get the trash cleaned up then cut them up and split it up for firewood for the next 7 years or so. I'm still burning wood that was knocked down in 03'.

What is really sad is the wood out in the woods that will just lay there and rot before it can be put to use. I can't get to a lot of it because it is so mangled up. Logging companies won't even cut hardwood right now because the log yards are not paying hardly anything for it and after this it will be even worst. I even thought about maybe buying one of those mini sawmills you see advertized and cut it in boards to finish my barn and a few other things around the place. Between me and my friend who backs up to my property in the back of my place we probably have 2 or 3 hundred thousand board feet maybe more of really nice hardwood timber on the ground and it's a shame to let it go to waste. You can't burn but so much in these wood heaters they make now days.

 

[mx842]

Really sorry to hear you had all those troubles, been through a few hurricanes but have never had the devastation you encountered. During Gustav all the trees fell around my house. Many of my neighbors were not so lucky. However, that hurricane had a profound effect on my attidude and restored my faith in how many good people there are in this country.

It wasn't the federal or local goverment that came to save the day. It was "Southern Baptist Convention chain saw crews" and other volunteers like them. They cleared roads, cleared houses and helped people out and did they not ask anything in return.

Glad you and your family are safe - best wishes
Your families health and safety can not be replaced everything else is just stuff !

Amen brother, I know what you mean. When I was younger whenever bad stuff happened me and my buddies used to go out and pull people out of ditches or cut trees that had fallen across the road and just about anything else we could find to do when the snow, wind and rains came. We would see a guy cutting on a giant tree that had been toppled by the winds with this tiny little saw that he had gotten from from some box store and all he was doing was making smoke. Not smoke from the little 2 stroke motor it had on the thing, the smoke was coming off the chain and bar because it was so dull it wouldn't cut hot butter and he didn't even know what bar lube was. I remember one time we came across a guy just like this and his wife was sitting on the porch watching this poor guy looking up into the sky as if to say, Please Lord help this fool out before he burns the house down from the sparks that were coming off the saw blade he is using. We pulled up and me and my boys jumped out of the truck with our big Stihl chain saws a blazing, never said anything to anyone and went to work. A few minutes later both the wife and him were sitting on the porch and both were looking upward as if to say, Thank you Lord! When we finished we tipped our hats and turned to get back in our truck and they both ran to the truck to offer payment and we all laughed and said it's on us this time but next time you gotta pay.

They were stunned and could not believe what they had just heard because one of the large tree companies had just been there earlier that day and told them it would cost $3,000.00 to get the tree cut off the house and they couldn't afford to get it done so he was going to do it himself then we showed up. The estimate they got was for just cutting the tree away from the house and chipping the smaller limbs, anything larger than 4" would stay attached to the log and they would cut the log in half and off at the stump.

We had the tree cut up in firewood lengths and all the brush cut up in small pieces and piled in back of the stump along with the big knotted pieces that were too rough to burn in their little stove and the whole tree cut up in 18" lengths in less that 2 hours and that allowed for a couple of rest breaks for a glass of the best sweet tea I had tasted in quite awhile.

It was a big tree, a white oak that my 044 stihl with a 20" bar would not reach all the way to the middle of but $3,000.00 seemed a little steep for what they were going to do. What's more the tree guy talked like he was doing them a favor at that. This made me wonder if I was in the wrong business.:laughing:

 

[MotorSeven]

MX, it will just be cutting it all up one stick at a time. Sounds like you had more than just high winds, a small tornado more than likely. Most folks don't realize that hurricanes spawn lot's of small tornado's that due way more damage than the sustained winds.

 

[mx842]

MX, it will just be cutting it all up one stick at a time. Sounds like you had more than just high winds, a small tornado more than likely. Most folks don't realize that hurricanes spawn lot's of small tornado's that due way more damage than the sustained winds.

Yeah that's what my friend thinks happened. It was a crazy storm, I have trees that blew over in all different directions. In one place it looks like someone with a large crane stacked trees in a pile with a few aimed to the east, a few to the south, a few to the west and then some to the north. Really weird the way it played out.

I have bigger problems this morning. Yesterday I was cutting the underbrush around the downed trees so I could get to them to cut them up and hopefully not have to do so while being eaten alive by ticks and ciggers. I was cutting around this big white oak and it was a tangled mess and my little Wheelhorse 520 was having a hard time with some of the thicker bushes and the only way to get into one area was to back in between two trees. Then I could open up a little area to work around in until I got it cleaned up where I could take my chain saw to the larger stuff. I backed in and started cutting and several times I went back and forth over this same spot that just happened to be where a bunch of yellow jackets had decided to build a new home. I guess after running over them several times they were tired of my efforts to clean up the area and the sky blew up with what seemed like a bazillion at the very least of these angry man eating flying machines. They really played it smart too, normally when I get in a nest of these things one will get on me and blow their cover and I can escape before the rest of his buddies catch on to what is going on. This time it was like they all landed safely and waited for the signal and all started chewing at the same time.

By the time I realized what was happening they had chewed half a leg off and were working their way up the food chain. I was flapping my arms kicking biting and spitting.....a little crying too but the more I would flap my arms the more of them I attracted. I had an 11/4 open end wrench laying by the seat that I was trying to scrape them off with and drive at the same time when one hit me in the left eye and I almost knocked myself out with the wrench when I tried to knock him off. I finally got the tractor straightened out and headed for the only way out and I wasn't worried about the mowing deck getting knocked off I flew through small opening at warp speed and only lost one deck wheel in the process.

The sad part is that just getting away from the nest don't necessarily mean getting away from the bees because when they lock on to a target their intent is to destroy and leave no survivors. After I made it about twenty yards or so I decided that would be far enough away from the nest as to not be damaged too badly by the huge fire that was likely to develop if I could manage to survive long enough to get back to the shed to where that fresh can of 100 octane racing fuel was that I had stashed there.

You would think they would have given up by now but no, those little buggers had plans to make an example out of me to any would be nest robbers in the neighborhood. I finally jumped, cussed, screamed bloody murder, flapped, beat, rolled on the ground as if on fire enough to get them off me so I could head back to the house to get patched up. By now my left eye had swollen shut and my legs felt like someone had a blow torch trained on them and my back and arms were numb form the pain. As I made it to the house I thought about that race fuel and going back to give them a small taste of payback but I hurt so bad I decided to let good enough alone and live to fight again another day.

I went into the house and the wife looked at me and said, who you been fighting with? I just blasted on by and headed for the shower with hopes of washing away some of the pain I was feeling. I ripped off my clothes and as I struggled to find the strength to pull off my last sock there was one that I must have raked off my leg and he had got caught up in the fabric and held down by the elastic and once he was freed to move around freely he latched on to an ankle and stung me several times more before It registered in my brain just what was happening. At first I found a moment of relief from the pain of the other 3 or 4 dozen or so places on my body where his buddies had left their mark but My survival instincts kicked in and I realized what was going on and I crushed him between my fingers to the point you could no longer tell what this butt muncher looked like in it's original form or any other form for that matter.

Now a day later my eye is still closed shut and my whole body is in pain. I am having much trouble seeing just what I am writing so hopefully you can understand some of what I am trying to say. Needless to say those trees will stay right where they are at until we get a good hard freeze with hopes that kills off some of the critters that live in these here woods. I often wondered which was worst on ya, ciggers or yellow jackets and after this I can't rightly say.

 

[brin]

Did it hurt ? What did you learn from this ?

Hope you recover soon...just trying to make you laugh...

 

[firedog]

Insurers won't pay for trees. It is sad when a grand old oak or such gets pulled out

Actually they will. After IKE, I submitted pics for the house roof, shed, fence and every tree that was down. They had two differant prices for tree clean up based on diameter. Had a total of ~30K worth of damages.

Mx, I feel for you. It took me a about two years to finally get everything back to normal.
One thing I did was convert my generators over to LP and get a second tank. That way I can spend more time getting things squared away rather than driving all over the countryside looking for gas. Next is a storm bunker.

Good luck on the recovery.

 

[BotaBigot]

Have had just about everything you described happen...just not all at once! As for not being prepared...sounds like you were as prepared as possible, and handled the destruction as well as anyone...:thumbsup:

With trees in all directions, may have been a tornado...Irene spawned a few just below DC w/similar results. I'm slightly north of DC and it was more like a prolonged thunderstorm here...only lost a 70' oak in our woods and elec for 36 hours, but otherwise...

Had opposite w/TV stations here...3 days 24/7...dire predictions.

Luckier than you with yellow jackets...I ran past horse and they locked onto him. Went back after dark and "fed" them gasoline. Had heard they don't fly at night...not true...

Storm-damaged limbs/trees can have stored energy...be careful w/cleanup...

 

[SPIKER]

MX842:

I feel for ya on those yellow jackets. worst than hornets I think as they are camouflaged enough and small enough to not notice them from far away.

Last year I did about similar issues. I was walking the dog (actually he took ME for a drag 70 lb husky puppy 4yrs old now) and we crossed my bridge over the creek. well he took a turn & walked (aka yanked me) over to the creek edge. He has a real good nose and stuck his face down into the weeds a foot or so off the creek edge. I'm standing there looking around and it happens to be in an area that deer-flys are bad in due to the creek & open spot. Next thing I know somethings flying about my head & I'm waving my arm & swatting at what I'm pretty sure is a deer fly out for some blood from me. I'm still not watching the dog as I was figuring he was hiking his leg in the weeds but he ended up sticking his nose right into the nest hole.! I heard a commotion as he was getting nailed in the nose/face. He yelped & howled a bit and took off hit the end of his leash & pulled me nearly off my feet down onto one knee which happened to be right where the first nest was... I hollered at him for yanking me down not knowing what was up. By this point there was probably 20 or 30 already out of the nest and coming right after the two of us. he yelped more and I got nailed right in the eyebrow & yelped myself pretty good. I swatted at the one on my eye knocking my glasses off my face as the dog is jumping about & bees really were starting to get worked up. I took off after him about as fast as my old now blind body will take me him yipping & dragging me along. While still in the grass there wasn't much to trip over till I hit the edge of the creek & woods stumbling & arms flailing about.
I'm swatting as best as I can with one hand while he's yanking & hopping all over as there was 4 or 5 latched onto his face & nose. I've got em all over my legs & arms still cant see em well as I'm still blind without my glasses... (luckly wearing jeans) and had some on my arms short sleeves. I ended batting some off of the pour dogs face as we were running away everyone I knocked off flew up and came after me. we were still running up the creek (no paddles) and finally got maybe 50 yards away from the first nest & stopped. Well I HAD to stop & drag the dog BEAR back to me and batted off the rest of them buggers that were on his head & ears. there were 4 or 5 still hanging onto his back & sides as well I was Knocking off and squashing best I could usually squishing them as they landed on me biting & stinging me. Hes yelping & hollering like hes being scalded. He's thinking I'm causing a lot of his pain as I'm trying to get them off him he thinks I'm beating him for running away or something as he's struggling against the leash. seems to me he's hopping & spinning around as more bees are flying around I'm thinking they were following us or something so I head up the creek tripping over slick rocks & nearly falling down as the dogs still bouncing around like the ground is electrified. I managed 15 or so more feet & the dog still spinning around & yelping (he had a bunch on him yet & I figured they were from the first nest stil) here we were into a 2nd nest. so off I go dragging a dog who thinks I'm beating him he's fighting me and I cant get him to cooperate & run WITH me in the only free from bees direction I can see up the creek farther (ya I was sure up the creek!) finally both of us are going same way for 50 or 60 more yards and I stopped to stat swatting & smashing all the ones stuck to me & him. all in all I think he was stung & bit 10 plus times and I was hit about as many. I think I got maybe nearly as many stings & bites as well. they ALWAYS go for the eyes, elbows & knees (joints of any type it seems) I managed to get my glasses back and wouldnt ya know it the next night a skunk beat me to the bee's nests as I was looking forward to getting even with them viscous critters! The poor dog had a swelled up lip & nose and one ear was huge. he walked about looking like he has a Elvis Lip & one eye swelled mostly closed. I was about as bad for 4 or 5 days my left arm was swollen & burning/itching & my eye was also swelled up pretty good but the ones on the back of my arm & elbow were some of the worst burning itching stings & bites... I clearly remember the one meanest nastiest bug had bit a hold of me & was stinging me repeatably in the same spot as I was trying to get him smashed the dog kept yanking my arm away & missing him with each swat.. I think I counted 2 or 3 bite marks and 5 or 6 stings in that one little spot from that one )(^$(*@$ bee.

One of those things ya cant help but laugh about later but I'm sure the dog and I both learned our lesson... I know he dont catch flys like he used to

Mark

 

[mx842]

Did it hurt ? What did you learn from this ?

Hope you recover soon...just trying to make you laugh...

You dat gumed right it hurt! (Thanks for the laugh by the way!)LOL in fact it still hurts and my eye is still almost closed shut. I was looking this morning and saw 4 places where they got me around my eye. At least my knee feels like they are letting a little off a few clicks on the vice they have had it in and now most of the pain of the other stings I got have turned into one giant itch and the urge to scratch is unbearable.

What did I learn from this? Hummmmmm let me see. Actually I have been thinking about this because by now you would think I would know better than cut brush in the late summer around here especially on a small open tractor like the one I was on. I ran heavy equipment for years and it was an every day thing to have a run in with bees, snakes, and other critters that want to eat you if you disturb their lives but I guess some people are just a glutton for punishment.

Actually I had not planned on messing with most of this brush until later on in the fall or at least until we had a frost but I started up around the house and was having such a good time and after having so much good luck by not finding but one nest. and I found that one running the chain saw but didn't get the first sting because I spotted them before they saw me.

I'll admit I was thinking to myself while I made the rounds around the piles of brush that my number could be up at any given moment and under the very next leaf could be a nest of angry bees with nothing to do but see just how fast they can make some old fart like me run out of the woods like some nut that just got some of his private parts too close to an electric fence or something. Then it was the laughing I did at the story of my friend through the woods who told the story about his bush hog incident, a pile of brush, a stump, a bush hog that was jammed up in just the right spot, couldn't go forward, couldn't back up, couldn't raise up the cutter, only thing to do was get out of that nice air conditioned cab and cut the log that held his bush hog captive with his little chain saw he had in the cab to cut limbs off his fence line. Everything was going just fine until he stuck that little Poulan pro up under that mowing deck to cut away the log that was causing the problem. About 2 revolutions of the chain was all it took for the ten thousand or so yellow jackets that were living under the stump he was about to cut into to be able to zone in on him and send this would be home wrecker on his way. He said after a couple stings he dropped the saw, forgot about the John Deere and hauled freight off that hill and to the house. The tractor was still sitting there patiently waiting with motor running after dark when we went over to try and free it from it's captors. I tied a winch line around the log and we pulled it out with his big 4 wheeler and the whole time he was sitting up in his nice air conditioned cab supervising the event. I know, I know, I thought about trying to catch a couple bees and throw them in the cab with him but knowing what I thought I knew about bees I decided against it.

Anyway when it was all over and while I was cutting brush without incident I was thinking about how funny it was to see him cower in that cab afraid of a few little bees. Yeah I was laughing and at the same time I had both eyes open looking for signs that I too might fall victim to the savage beast that live in the ground around these parts. The more I cut the more confidant I became but still I remember I could not shake the feeling that at any moment my luck could run out. Call it dumb, call it gutsy, maybe it was just the fear that drove me to keep on pushing on. All I know is that those little tiny bees have big teeth and they can bite and sting all at the same time. And when they are doing that they mean to kill at the very least what ever it is that they are chewing on. For a long time I thought that chiggers were the meanest critters on earth for their size but now I am confident that two of God's creachers hold this title and neither one would like to give up this position. That is what I learned....now, I don't know if this knowledge will ever do me any good because I'm already plotting a way to sneak up on this nest and do what ever it takes to at the very least make their life as miserable as mine has been for the past couple days. So to answer your question about what I have learned......probably not much.

 

[mx842]

Actually they will. After IKE, I submitted pics for the house roof, shed, fence and every tree that was down. They had two differant prices for tree clean up based on diameter. Had a total of ~30K worth of damages.

Mx, I feel for you. It took me a about two years to finally get everything back to normal.
One thing I did was convert my generators over to LP and get a second tank. That way I can spend more time getting things squared away rather than driving all over the countryside looking for gas. Next is a storm bunker.

Good luck on the recovery.

I have talked to my agent and she has already pretty much told me they will only pay for clean up to the ones that fell on your house, fence or other personal property. The sad part is that they only pay $500.00 a tree then and there is some kind of a limit on that per incident. My friend had a rider on his fence lines and is why they paid for all his clean up and fence damage. Now that I think about it State Farm only paid $500.00 total for the trees that were on the power lines and blocking the driveway in the last storm and that didn't cover the removal of even one of the trees that were across the lane. They were nice though, (cough,cough,cough) they did apply the rest to my deductible which helped out a little I guess.

I was thinking about propane but it seems like really expensive electricity. My buddy has two gennys at his place, one for the house and one for the kennel and it cost him around $150.00 a day to run those things. I do realize the convenience though because I did spend quite a bit of time running the roads looking for gas.

 

[mx842]

MX842:

I feel for ya on those yellow jackets. worst than hornets I think as they are camouflaged enough and small enough to not notice them from far away.

Last year I did about similar issues. I was walking the dog (actually he took ME for a drag 70 lb husky puppy 4yrs old now) and we crossed my bridge over the creek. well he took a turn & walked (aka yanked me) over to the creek edge. He has a real good nose and stuck his face down into the weeds a foot or so off the creek edge. I'm standing there looking around and it happens to be in an area that deer-flys are bad in due to the creek & open spot. Next thing I know somethings flying about my head & I'm waving my arm & swatting at what I'm pretty sure is a deer fly out for some blood from me. I'm still not watching the dog as I was figuring he was hiking his leg in the weeds but he ended up sticking his nose right into the nest hole.! I heard a commotion as he was getting nailed in the nose/face. He yelped & howled a bit and took off hit the end of his leash & pulled me nearly off my feet down onto one knee which happened to be right where the first nest was... I hollered at him for yanking me down not knowing what was up. By this point there was probably 20 or 30 already out of the nest and coming right after the two of us. he yelped more and I got nailed right in the eyebrow & yelped myself pretty good. I swatted at the one on my eye knocking my glasses off my face as the dog is jumping about & bees really were starting to get worked up. I took off after him about as fast as my old now blind body will take me him yipping & dragging me along. While still in the grass there wasn't much to trip over till I hit the edge of the creek & woods stumbling & arms flailing about.
I'm swatting as best as I can with one hand while he's yanking & hopping all over as there was 4 or 5 latched onto his face & nose. I've got em all over my legs & arms still cant see em well as I'm still blind without my glasses... (luckly wearing jeans) and had some on my arms short sleeves. I ended batting some off of the pour dogs face as we were running away everyone I knocked off flew up and came after me. we were still running up the creek (no paddles) and finally got maybe 50 yards away from the first nest & stopped. Well I HAD to stop & drag the dog BEAR back to me and batted off the rest of them buggers that were on his head & ears. there were 4 or 5 still hanging onto his back & sides as well I was Knocking off and squashing best I could usually squishing them as they landed on me biting & stinging me. Hes yelping & hollering like hes being scalded. He's thinking I'm causing a lot of his pain as I'm trying to get them off him he thinks I'm beating him for running away or something as he's struggling against the leash. seems to me he's hopping & spinning around as more bees are flying around I'm thinking they were following us or something so I head up the creek tripping over slick rocks & nearly falling down as the dogs still bouncing around like the ground is electrified. I managed 15 or so more feet & the dog still spinning around & yelping (he had a bunch on him yet & I figured they were from the first nest stil) here we were into a 2nd nest. so off I go dragging a dog who thinks I'm beating him he's fighting me and I cant get him to cooperate & run WITH me in the only free from bees direction I can see up the creek farther (ya I was sure up the creek!) finally both of us are going same way for 50 or 60 more yards and I stopped to stat swatting & smashing all the ones stuck to me & him. all in all I think he was stung & bit 10 plus times and I was hit about as many. I think I got maybe nearly as many stings & bites as well. they ALWAYS go for the eyes, elbows & knees (joints of any type it seems) I managed to get my glasses back and wouldnt ya know it the next night a skunk beat me to the bee's nests as I was looking forward to getting even with them viscous critters! The poor dog had a swelled up lip & nose and one ear was huge. he walked about looking like he has a Elvis Lip & one eye swelled mostly closed. I was about as bad for 4 or 5 days my left arm was swollen & burning/itching & my eye was also swelled up pretty good but the ones on the back of my arm & elbow were some of the worst burning itching stings & bites... I clearly remember the one meanest nastiest bug had bit a hold of me & was stinging me repeatably in the same spot as I was trying to get him smashed the dog kept yanking my arm away & missing him with each swat.. I think I counted 2 or 3 bite marks and 5 or 6 stings in that one little spot from that one )(^$(*@$ bee.

One of those things ya cant help but laugh about later but I'm sure the dog and I both learned our lesson... I know he dont catch flys like he used to

Mark

Spiker, all I can saw is I now feel your pain. :laughing: Not laughing at ya just laughing with you my friend. I mean, what are the chances of getting two bee nest stirred up at the same time??? Although that did happen to me one time too but that is another story for another day.:laughing: