Just need to vent...

Condolences!

BTDT

 

Now I don't feel so bad, having been stung only once today.

It had been years for me too. But while walking the margins of a hay field, to check just where it was safe to cut without sinking the heavy machinery into a marshy patch, one of those paper hornet nests suddenly appeared on the ground amidst the vegetation, less than two steps ahead. It must have been built on a sturdy plant stalk that later collapsed. At the same moment the realization of imminent danger struck, so did the first bite. I moved fast enough to escape any more. And resisted the temptation to run it over with the machine, which could have been nearly as bad as weed-whacking them.

 

Covid here, too, in ventland? Global deaths have been about 7 million. Could be over reported by way of 'by' vs 'with' definitions. Could be under reported from many reasons. Global medical infrastructure is imperfect, and I'd say more interested in saving than counting not saved.

Are global vehicular death numbers more accurate? Maybe. In any case they are reported as 1.3 millions annually. Draw your own conclusions.

But maybe, not here? Here we air personal grievances. Away from nest site, one would need to make a real effort to acquire paper-wasp venom. Yeah it hurts, but it is 'for' (as we say) behavioral modification of you, not in any way an effort to make you into wasp food. I'd rather take the sting than step on a lego block in nocturnal wandering. It makes a better story...

 

Further examination suggests yellowjackets, possibly V. Germanica. Doesn't especially matter, but I like figuring out bugs to a basic level anyway.

One of the hazards of working on the road: sometimes I'm away just long enough for new tenants to set up shop around here.

Hoping the only stings today are the kittens' claws. We've got four at the 6 week mark, and two are struggling with their litter training, which requires a whole different sort of vent.

 

If you grow stuff, you need cats.

We only have a pooch for now, a boxer - or a toddler on a 10 year plan.
I like cats better owing to MY personality deficiencies BUT there's a 100-percent chance that Maggie will let us know if something goes bump in the night.

-----

Wasps and hornets are a telco employees natural enemy.
We have required training on them and I have access to an unlimited quantity of industrial grade chemical warfare agents.
A grizzled telco employee told me once upon a time that wasp spray is much more effective on aggressive canines than the pepper spray that they were issued at the time.
I am not normally a customer facing employee so I only use wasp spray on wasps and hornets.
I'm allergic enough to insect venom to the point that I really should be carrying an eppy pen, so I kill them on sight.
I have no problem with honey bees or their larger bumbling cousins so I tend to leave them alone but I am very much on alert for their homes which I will leave undisturbed if at all possible.
Sadly, I had to eliminate one of these on my beautiful 5 acres of paradise owing to their refusal to share the space.
They were atypically aggressive and after the second sting I took the Curtis LeMay approach.

 

You do know that removal of a honey bee nest is a free service in the US. Honey bees are protected by law and a certified bee keeper will come and move the nest off your property (he/she gets to keep the bees).

JeffD

 

That sounds a little sketch, besides the statute of limitations has run it's course on my crimes against nature.

I do not normally use the Googles for legal advice but they say:
"The U.S Senate created the Pollinator Protection Act in 2008 as a way to limit the sale and use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Similar situations exist in the United Kingdom and Canada. There is no law preventing the extermination of honey bees, but pest control chemicals are restricted..."

There does seem to be an obscure variety of bumble bee that's federally protected, but if and when it's possible to do so I leave bees of all types...bee.

 

I feel like I should "be" meaner to the carpenter bees cutting little vents in my garage siding, but I like bees so I just putty over the holes in the fall. Gonna replace that siding with something else in a couple years anyway.

 

There is a chemical that you can use alone or with fence paint for carpenter bees (boring bees) and I have roughly 500' of rail fence that looks like it was repurposed from Chicago but I've mostly let those bees bee.
I'll probably be supporting the local wildlife more directly before the boring bees degrade my fencing to the point that it will have to be replaced, so in the meantime I will patch and replace the individual boards.

 

As it should be. Oh! Ya see what i just accidentally did there? LOL
anyway ~
Not too long ago - it seems some of our overseas Asian friends either purposefully or accidentally imported some natural honey bee nest removers.
Having now compleated an east-ward march into northwestern Montana - they were apparently 1st imported into the costal Pacific Northwest. A few dozen of these will decapitate the heads off of an entire bee colony then steal all the larvae & honey. Doesn't matter if it's a natural hive or ones that beekeepers set up.



And that's the story of beekeepers' pet peeve - iirc.
.

 

That's the 'stealth' replacement for the spy balloons.....

 

Not everything that lives in a colony and stings is a honey bee.
That said, their might be services willing to collect the others. Maybe even for free, as the hive residents and their venom are wanted for research.

Didn't get stung, but I had a nest of giant hornets under a tree last year. Those originally came from Europe. So did the tree, now that I think about it.

 

(A repeat)

How little bees take on enormous hornets - The Oatmeal

 

Just had bees move into a tree in front yard. At first i tried to discourage the move with a rag with some peppermint oil. Naturally, they ignored it and been busy as bees since, but for a month now I go two feet away back and forth mowing every week and we get along fine, and they like the flowers in the yard so everybody happy. BUT, last year at dusk I came upon a mysterious dug up spot on the ground down by the pond. Moving in for a closer look I was zapped by a yellow jacket,...then 10, then 20, then I was on the run and had at least 50 before it was over. Vicious. They followed me 600 hundred feet to the house. It was a heavy dose of venom, and it took over a week to clear it all, and night time was tough as it was painful for a while. More venom in that attack than a snake bite! The yellow jacets got the treatment with wasp spray etc with me wearing bee net etc. ..too risky to have so near the trail. They had to go. I never worried about them before, but the armadillo must have stirred up the nest, and it was in wrong spot. My sympathies to the poster who got stung. Hang in there brother! First two nights it drove me to take 1/4 of an oxycontin pill I had left from root canal 10 years, and those are saved for real emergencies.

 

I have found good deterrent for carpenter bees. No longer trap or bother them. There is a paint additive that smells of citronella, but that would wear off after while so I mixed in some additive designed for slip resistance on steps, and they don't like breaking their beaks on the hard sand so they just go elsewhere now!

 

Yeek! I doubt I had more than 10 on my at any given time, and they only got me where I should have been wearing more gear anyway- left thumb and right forearm. Should have had gloves and long sleeves. We picked 5 or 6 more off my shirt, they weren't able to sting through it.

Still quite the jolt to the thumb, and my arm feels pretty crispy. I didn't need anything stronger than benadryl lotion and a Guinness to get a good nights' sleep though. So uh, you win?

I'll have to look into the citronella stuff. The siding they are eating is 1970s style shaggy stained stuff. Not sure if it would work the same given that no paint was ever involved. Again not a big deal since we'll be replacing it to update the appearance anyway.

 

@ yellow jacket stings.
20 would have sent me to the hospital. More than that might have put me in a pine box if my apple watch did not summon help quickly enough.

I'm told that Dawn Dishwashing detergent is like Napalm to bees and it can probably be delivered with a super soaker.
I might try that on the next yeller jackets I encounter.

I really need to get an eppy pen....

 

You really do.

A work buddy of mine died doing exactly what I did. He was cleaning up back yard on an odd day off back home. Something stung him, and an hour later he was gone.

His daughter was then about the same age mine is now, two-and-a-half.

We keep one in the big FAK. If I had a known sensitivity there would likely be another in the glovebox, daypack or hip pocket, depending on circumstances.

 

The pens cost between $650 to $750.
Yeah.
I know.
But I have shrugged off 3-4 wasp stings at a time with moderate-ish effects (they didn't FEEL moderate!!)
The concern isn't pain but rather swelling.
I might get a script next week during a semi-occasional checkup and blood panel and see.

I'm more interested in getting a NARCAN kit for my daughter's school since some of her kids (4th and 5th grade.) are getting close to that curious age.

 

I was attacked a while ago by yellow jackets while splitting some hardwood for heating. The nest had declared war on me so it soon was wiped out by my array of pesticides.

JeffD