Yellow Jackets

[Ozarker]

You can hook a line up to your septic tank, draw the methane gas off and cook or heat your house with it.

One of the hottest tricks going right now is huge bio-digestors in Europe using manure to produce methane to run generators to make electricity.

You can do the same thing in your back yard using a 30 gal drum and a 55 gal drum and produce enough gas to cook with.

 

[buppy69]

I don't like cooking with something I already ate once!

Eugene

 

[beenthere]

Do you have a source for this information? Seems to me the manure setups are different than the septic systems. I suspect some confusion here.

 

[Ozarker]

Information for what? If you mean do I have plans for a septic/bio digester, I don't. You can get a book on the subject <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.dabney.com/ecogenics/price.htm>here.</A>

But anyplace you have an adequate supply of methane you could draw that methane off and use it. Methane is methane. Doesn't matter what organic material you make it from.

Could your septic produce enough to make it practical??? That would depend on how many people are using it and the volume of waste it is processing on a regular basis.

 

[looch]

Actually, it was an old cesspool with planks of thick cedar on top, galvanized roof material on top of that, and finally more planks of wood to keep the roofing material down.

Wasps had made their nest somewhere down in between the planks. He poured gas into the wasps' enter/exit door, lit a match and tossed it in. The cover "assembly" lifted about 2 feet off the ground and landed about one foot over to one side. The noise was a very distinct and somewhat cartoon-like WHUMP.

When I said this guy is civil engineer, I meant it. He works for the local municipality and regularly deals with water and sewage issues. He was kicking himself after because he knew he should have known better.

Sorry for not being more clear, I thought it would make the story more humorous by leaving out the details.

 

[BrettW]

getting back to the bees. My 9 yr old son just got stung 9 times today by yellow jackets. His first time ever getting stung and he didn't like it too much. One was even stuck in his hair. A cold bath helped and he was fine 30 minutes later. THOSE BEES ARE GOING DOWN TONIGHT!!!!

 

[beenthere]

That clears up a lot of things. It was likely the gasoline fumes that drifted into the cesspool and went Whuump, not gas produced from the cesspool. I don't think there iss enough gas from a septic to cause an explosion. There would be multitudes of warnings to not light a match in the backyards of MANY homes if this were a risk of even minute proportions. It would change outdoor cooking on the ol grill in a big way. I realize there is a risk of crawling into a septic system, as sometimes the oxygen level is a bit low in there. I am trying to find a source of information as to what the difference is between septic systems and methane gas producing stills that use manure to make methane. There is a difference there somewhere, or somehow, but I haven't found out what it is yet.

 

[Cricket]

Dont forget that if you kill and smash one of these nasty creatures, it will attract a swarm of them all pissed off. I guess its a pharmone or something but its best to lay low for a while if you crush one.

 

[webbmeister]

Does anyone have a picture of one of these holes? I've a few holes in the ground that are about an inch in diameter, and when they were first made (while the ground was wet) there were kind of cones/mounds around the holes from dirt displacement that made them look like little volcanos. These are not ant hills - the holes are too big for that, and there are never any ants around them. Any ideas?

Jim

 

[dgood1]

webbmeister,

What you have described if there are wasps coming out of them could be the cicidia killing wasp. This is a pretty long wasp.

Read an article about them in I belive Nature magazine in the doctor's office.

Don

 

[ScottAR]

They are a very big wasp. 2 inches long or so. Very impressive looking. One of my school friends caught one for a school project years ago. I still remember it. I have no info, just felt like posting.

 

[cstocks]

From your description, it sounds like you have crawfish (crayfish) on your property. Crawfish live in the ground and make mud chimneys where they burrow their holes.

 

[webbmeister]

hmmm ... yellow jackets ------or ------- crawfish.

I'll hope they're crawfish!

Thanks Chris.

Jim

 

[cstocks]

Yellow jackets = nuisance.

Crawfish = lunch! (At least in my neck of the woods!)/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[Scott_in_WVA]

Yellow jackets:lunch for the skunks...the skunks will root the nests out on occasion,I have seen the aftermath,I have also smelled the aftermath./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[rancar]

OK......now let's talk Yellow Jackets. This afternoon I was triming the high weeds against the foundation of my barn when I stumbled upon a nest of Yellow Jackets. These critters went crazy and so did I. I poured bug killer and gasoline on the nest, then dug out the nest. The Yellow Jackets weren't happy. They swarmed, I ran, and I'll fight this battle another day.

Bob

 

[RJohnson]

Webmeister
Go to this site and look at the pictures of the cicada killer's life cycle and see if that isn't what you have <A target="_blank" HREF=http://homepages.culver.edu/faculty/jcoelho/thriller.htm>http://homepages.culver.edu/faculty/jcoelho/thriller.htm</A>. From your description I believe that you do have a cicada killer wasp. Some people have described them as aggresive but I have not found them to be as aggresive as yellow jackets. I have never been stung by one but when I ran into one riding my motorcycle, I thought I had been shot/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif.

Randy

 

[Mrwurm]

Sounds like Crayfish (Crawfish) to me. I get a few here and there on my front lawn.

 

[dmccarty]

Bob,

You ran from the yellow jackets and got away? The last
run in I had with the little buggers I did the ran away as fast
as I could but the $%^&*( FOLLOWED me! I had to run some
more. I ran to the tractor and from there I was ready to make
my stand! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Thank goodness they did not follow me after the second run!

/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Later,
Dan

 

[looch]

Yeah, those nasty devils have a cruising speed of about 30 miles an hour.