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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:10 PM
Original message
So I'm driving along on my mower... minding my own bidness...
and I pass over a hole in the ground..... and out they came. My neck feels like somebody worked it over with a baseball bat. Damn.



Yellowjackets are another dangerous wasp encountered around homes and buildings. Nests are often located underground in an old rodent burrow, beneath a landscape timber, or in a rock wall or wall of a building.If the nest can be located, it can usually be eliminated by carefully applying a wasp spray insecticide into the nest opening.
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SpiralHawk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:12 PM
Response to Original message
1. "She thinks my tractor's sexy"
Yet another C & W song.
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Wetzelbill Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:12 PM
Response to Original message
2. good lord
so are you feeling ok now?
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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:17 PM
Response to Reply #2
5. Yupper.... but really, I cannot believe this was just one sting.... if
I had been hit several times... I think I would have gone to the emergency room. Some people here in La have lost their lives to hornets and so forth while clearing land, I know this for a certainty... as this story was told to me by a person who remembers it happening to an operator.
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Wetzelbill Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:20 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. yeah a lady in AZ did a few years ago
Not too far from where I live really. Maybe half an hour. She got caught in a big swarm of them outside her house and couldn't make it back inside. I think she was elderly too, which it was probably just too much for her body to handle at her age.
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Whoa_Nelly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 02:02 PM
Response to Reply #5
31. When I was 5, had mutiple stings from YJs
Edited on Sun Jul-17-05 02:04 PM by Whoa_Nelly
Was at a friend's farm, walked under an arbor adjacent to the kitchen door of the farmhouse, and WHAM! Was totally attacked! Had bites/stings on face, neck, arms...total pain! After I had been calmed down and had calamine all over the welts (this was 1959...no one knew to use MSG back then...hell, don't even know if it was part of anyone's usual spice rack collection back then), there was an attempt to placate/distract me from my pain by offering me a bowl of Rice Krispies! Being five, and of course, loving the sound of the widely advertised Snap! Crackle! Pop!, I said "Yes" to having a bowl. When it was served to me with the milk poured on, I took a bite and about threw up; Goat milk was used in place of cow milk. At the time, I thought it was pretty cruel joke to play on a kid who had already suffered so much pain, but am sure the farmer's wife thought she was being nice to me in giving me some Rice Krispies.

Anyway...the REAL point of this post is to say that after that day I've been allergic to wasp stings...Yellow Jackets scare the bejesus out of me.

Hope you're doing much better right now!! :hug:
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evlbstrd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:12 PM
Response to Original message
3. Those little suckers are terrible.
Edited on Sat Jul-16-05 05:13 PM by evlbstrd
I used to step on their nests all the time when I was kid. My dad covered the stings with mud, and it seemed to help for a while.
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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:14 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. Mean doesn't even come close. After they went back in... and I
got some gas from the station... (didn't even look at the price) we had another encounter. I successfully finished mowing the lawn without another sting... .but damn my neck is THROBBING.
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Whoa_Nelly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 03:10 PM
Response to Reply #4
32. MSG can reduce the swelling or a baking soda pack or ice pack
or an over the counter antihistimine can help as well. Watch out for infection and wash bite/sting area 2-3X/day w/soap and water.

Sites that may help you find relief:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/firstaid_safe/emergencies/insect_bite.html

A VERY helpful site:
http://www.ihc.com/xp/ihc/instacare/bites/bee/care.xml
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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 03:12 PM
Response to Reply #32
34. I loaded up on my sterols, stanols (FDA approved) manapol,
antioxidant blend, ascorbic acid, and Wild Yam Extract. I feel pretty good, and have been feeling better since figuring out this protocol..... there truly are some remarkable supplements out there... but one does need to do one's homework.
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Whoa_Nelly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 03:15 PM
Response to Reply #34
35. Glad to hear you're doing better!
I completely understand the pain you've been going through :hi:
been there...
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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 03:19 PM
Response to Reply #35
36. Why thank you very much.... I probably would have shaken this
off much easier if I was still 18 or so.... no matter, things are fine now... I wonder if I am "immune" to them now.... lol....
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BikeWriter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:17 PM
Response to Original message
6. I've run over those with bush hogs and just let it sit there whacking them
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usedtobesick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:19 PM
Response to Original message
7. Wait until it gets dark
and the yellowjackets go to sleep. Pour the extra gas in the hole and give it a light. Or just pour the gas in and leave it. Unless of course you're not trying to kill them to make your yard safe.
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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:25 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. They are done. I take attacks such as this one personally. I drove
straight to the gas station, got the chemical agent (petrol) brought it back, and waited for a break in the coming and goings of the sentinels. Put some oil, pesticide and gasoline in an open 5 gallon bucket and let them have it... followed up by a can of raid wasp and hornet spray. This experience was not quite as bad as finding a three foot cottonmouth under some visqueen in my neighbor's storage trailer when I was cleaning it out last year... now THAT made my heart race.
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usedtobesick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:31 PM
Response to Reply #9
13. that should have got all of them
when they come after you more then once they make it personal. I had a water moccasin sneak up on me while I was fishing one night. Still have nightmares of that one. "It had to be snakes" is still a movie line I can live by. :scared:

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caty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:29 PM
Response to Reply #7
11. You don't have to light it--
the gasoline alone will kill them.
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sleipnir Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:31 PM
Response to Reply #11
14. Oh, but it's so much more fun to light it ablaze.
Nothing says FUN! like a burning hole in the ground.

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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:36 PM
Response to Reply #14
19. A burning hole in the ground...... the bigger the better.....
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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:31 PM
Response to Reply #11
15. Oh.. I didn't light it... too close to the house and all..... intersting
how gasoline will kill them, and oil has been killing people for decades.....
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usedtobesick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:34 PM
Response to Reply #11
16. but you miss the pretty flames...
:dilemma:
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sam sarrha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:27 PM
Response to Original message
10. put Amonia on the stings and it will help a lot.. helps with mosquito
bites .. they have little pencil at the drug store
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Jara sang Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:31 PM
Response to Original message
12. Oh man I used to hate that
Used to happen at least once a summer. All of a sudden a pain out of nowhere, half the time I would think it was a rock that the mower had kicked out at me. Then as I would do another pass away from the nest I'd see the bees swarming. Ugghhhh! You just gave me goose bumps thinking about it.
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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:34 PM
Response to Reply #12
17. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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Wapsie B Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-16-05 05:36 PM
Response to Original message
18. I was doing the same thing a few years ago.
I was stung numerous times. Ended up going to the ER. Glad I did.
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MercutioATC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 03:53 AM
Response to Original message
20. One word: SEVIN (insecticide)
Put it on the entrance to their nest (whether it be in the ground or in a crevice...like the corner of my house) at night.

They track it through the nest all day. Within 24 hours - no hornets.
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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 06:33 AM
Response to Reply #20
23. Thanks for the tip!! Will do next go around... it's morning.. and my
neck STILL is paining away.... unfricking real.
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WCGreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 03:56 AM
Response to Original message
21. That's why I no longer cut the grass.......
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leftofthedial Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 03:58 AM
Response to Original message
22. Yow!
I hate wasps, yellowjackets most of all.

I got a shitload of them on my back when I was a kid.
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Tallison Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 06:35 AM
Response to Original message
24. Any sting to the neck or head
I always heard you should go to the emergency room for; even local inflammation in such an instance can cause your airway to close up. Also heard to chew a Benadryl ASAP afterword. Sounds like you were lucky.
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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 08:30 AM
Response to Reply #24
25. Back of the neck.... hurt like I cannot believe buy po'd me more.
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Mutley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 08:39 AM
Response to Original message
26. We had half a colony of those monsters try and kill us one day.
My old roommate and I decided to spray an entire can of Raid into the colony they'd built on our balcony. Once we finished spraying, we could hear what seemed like thousands of them buzzing like crazy around in the molding. It was so loud! Then a bunch of them flew out and started trying to sting us. We ran inside and shut the sliding glass door and all these yellow-jackets just kept bashing against the door trying to get at us. It was really scary! :scared:
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caty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 09:37 AM
Response to Original message
27. Give us an update.
How are you feeling today? Did the gasoline work?
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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 01:00 PM
Response to Reply #27
28. Oh yes.... gasoline worked just fine.... NONE cameout of the hole..
I finished mowing the yard, (this happened on my first pass), burned the burn pile, took out the trash, fought with the dog for a bit... all is well, but I will be much more careful from now on.... these guys mean business... they take no prisoners... still have quite a welt on the back of my neck, hard to believe. Thanks for asking...

If you didn't see this.... others seemed to like it... refresh the screen to make it cycle again....

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caty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 01:50 PM
Response to Reply #28
29. Glad to hear you are feeling alright.
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neebob Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 01:57 PM
Response to Original message
30. Ouch! Wear white when you mow the lawn.
They can't see you. My dad was an Orkin man.
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HysteryDiagnosis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 03:10 PM
Response to Reply #30
33. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, is that why beekeepers wear white??? Now
that's interesting. I had a black hat on.....
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neebob Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-17-05 06:37 PM
Response to Reply #33
37. I don't know
It's just something my mom told me the other day - that she had found and mindlessly tossed one of those paper nests that hornets make, and the hornets all came swarming out, and she got stung once and ran, but they didn't chase her and she figured it was because she was wearing a white shirt. My dad (who was a veritable fountain of bug information, not unlike the guy in the Orkin commercial) had told her that they can't see white.
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