Yellow Jackets..

[CenTex Chris]

A small nest, up on the ceiling of the pole shed.

 

[rmully]

Those are not yellow jackets they are a paper wasp... and they hurt so squirt them with hornet/wasp spray... spectracide works well

 

[LostInTheWoods]

I've gotten hit by them in the past while bush hogging... the most painful was 2 stings right on the top of my ear... hurt like #&!! for 2 days and nothing would take the pain away. I am not allergic, but hear that many have not had a reaction and then all of a sudden they will. Since I am often working alone in remote areas, I was thinking about asking my Dr. for a epi pen prescription... just to have one available in case I did have a bad reaction. Has anyone done this before, and what is the shelf life on an epi pen?

Epi-pens typically cost in the neighborhood of $60-75 around here. I'm not certain what the shelf-life is, but as with most liquid solutions containing medicine, I'd doubt its much more than 2 years - maybe less. When I was in Iraq, the ones we were issued to carry around typically had about a year until hitting their expiration date.

Since you've never had an allergic reaction, I wouldn't go so far as to say I'd recommend carrying one around. But it is true that people may have received multiple stings in the past without reaction, then one day they do. I'd recommend talking with your healthcare provider and discuss very seriously what a true allergic reaction involves and how to properly use an Epi-pen, should you both decide it would even be a good idea to have one...Epi-pens aren't exactly benign medications and the risks/benefit ratio is different for each person (medical conditions, age, other current medications, etc.).