Yellow Jackets almost nailed me..... [Archive]

Navy Chief

June 14th, 2009, 11:00

I am trying to pick up some things around my property, and almost got nailed by a nest of yellow jackets. I really think sometimes I have a guardian angel (always figured it was my dad....). Anyway, I had just moved a board, and saw movement off to the side. I glanced, and saw a swarm of the little ba.....ds. Thankfully, I had a can of flying insect killer nearby, and used it. That was close. I am not allergic to such stings (or didn't used to be), but anything that stings, I don't want to test.

Just a few days ago, I was standing at our kitchen sink, and just about had a heart attack when a black widow spider crawled up on the edge of the sink, just inches from my left hand. I yelled something profane, and smashed it with a cup!

Bugs....if they are in my house, they die. Our cats like to play with them though. Occasionally a scorpion shows up. THOSE hurt like h.... when they sting. Fortunately, the ones here in the southeast can't kill you like the ones out west....

NC

N2056

June 14th, 2009, 12:02

Where I live we have Black Widows and Brown Widows. I had read about them in the paper, and killed my first one in the yard about a month ago. Oh...and killer bees! I had a hive removed from under an old gazebo a while back. The guy that did it was pretty certain they were 'africanized'. I watched from my office...and was impressed at how many pissed off bees were after him!

On the lighter side...it's ant season again :icon_lol:

OBIO

June 14th, 2009, 12:16

I was doing some weed eating and brush trimming for our landlord yesterday...old fella just turned 81 and can't get around like he used to. I was clearing weeds and brush in the corner where the meadow sloped up to the drive way, and I saw a LOT of Yellow Jackets flying around. I stopped, walked away from that area and decided that the Yellow Jackets can keep that weedy area...at least until after the first good freeze. I told Glenn, the landlord, and he agreed.

Glenn has all the drive and spirit of a 21 year old Caribbean Sea Pirate, and is in good health for the most part...but his old knees just won't let him do some of the things that need done around this 25 acre property. I keep telling him that I am willing and able to do the harder work. Even though this place belongs to Glenn and his wife, Mary, it is our HOME...Deb and I love this place, don't really feel like moving anywhere, and anything we can do to help keep the property looking good, we are willing to do.

OBIO

Navy Chief

June 14th, 2009, 13:15

If I get the chance to move from Southeast Tennessee to a location with year-round cooler temperatures - I am going to do it. My sister wants me to move back to Indianapolis, but I don't really want to. I'd much rather live where the summers aren't so hot. I can deal with cold a lot more than heat, any day. I'll do my homework before I make any decisions about it. But I just can't see myself living in the south for the rest of my life. It is miserable here in the summer.

NC

safn1949

June 14th, 2009, 13:39

I would recommend West Virginia,I spent 10 years there and the summers are warm but tolerable.Hard to make a living there,however,if you don't have some specialized skills or a retirement check.All around beautiful place full of friendly people.

Navy Chief

June 14th, 2009, 13:44

Daveroo

June 14th, 2009, 15:03

we have black widow and brown recluse spiders here...i hate them with a passion..working as a plumber,we did a home that had been started several years before and had just sat in the framed/roofed condition..no plumbing/no electrical ect..so we had to crawl the house...we used the wooden 6 foot inside read rules..the black widow webs were so thick n heavy they supported my ruler..then i got good light under there and the entire length and width of the house was solid web from floor joist to ground..they dont usually build to the ground...you could see litteraly thousands of black spots all through this web works..all of them spiders...i backed out and refused to go under until they sprayed and clean it..my dad went down and got bite 5 times in less than 10 minutes and spent a week in the hospital...they accually burned the house down it was so infested........ACK

BurningBeard

June 14th, 2009, 15:50

I know what you mean Dave, I found a Black Widow at the shop the other day that should be registered in Boone & Crockett. Got bit by one about 30 or so years ago but was also suffering from poison oak and thought it was that that caused the swelling in my arm. The nurse had to show me the spider bite.

Beard

Navy Chief

June 14th, 2009, 16:04

I hope I never get bit by a black widow or a brown recluse. Not a good thing to happen; not at all.

NC

Willy

June 14th, 2009, 17:43

I had a brown recluse bite me on the foot as a teenager. Rotted out a couple of spots about the size of a dime on top of my foot. Don't care to repeat the experience.

I moved up here to NW Tennessee several years ago and the summers here sure beat the ones on the Texas/Arkansas stateline where I grew up. I can deal with the high 90s better than I can with 110 or so. But I've already told Mrs Willy that if I move again, it'll be to Alaska (if I can bring my horse).

cheezyflier

June 14th, 2009, 17:50

yellow jackets are my nitemare! ugh!!!!!!! i will face alot of scary things but i will run from a bee/wasp like the biggest sissy on the block.

spiders ain't no joke. especially the necrosis that comes with the brown recluse bite. i was in p/t with a guy who had to have a large part of his hand rebuilt from a bite. i was bitten in the leg by some unidentified spider once and it stiffened my leg for almost 3 months. the bite was soooo tiny you wouldn't believe it.

EMatheson

June 14th, 2009, 18:29

I stepped on a nest of hornets one time... I was about 7 years old, at a friends house - it was instant pain all over my tiny 7 year old body... never will forget that.
Perhaps more unpleasantly though, was the time one flew up my sleeve while driving around town with my arm out the window - I got about 12 stings in the area of a dollar bill - and a solid string of stings continuing around my shoulder and up my neck where the hornet crawled and stung its way out of my shirt...
Fortunately almost my entire experience with spiders is the ordinary wolf-spider kind. Very lucky, that, actually. In my area we have Black Widows, Hobos, and Arizona Brown spiders - Black Widows are familiar to you all, Hobos and Arizona Browns not so much - they both have necrotizing bites like that of a Brown Recluse, but the spiders are different. The Hobo looks like an exceptionally fat-bodied wolf-spider and the Arizona brown is hairless, light tan, and small - kinda like the common yellow spiders we have, but not quite...

Daveroo

June 14th, 2009, 19:00

to add to this..back in 1980 when i was racing cars..i was mowing dads backyard which at the time was more of a field than a yard..dried star thistles n stuff....hit a hornets nest or something that was under ground ( i honestly do not know what they were)..but i was comando that day and had on loose fitting jeans...needless to tell yall where those animals ( yes i know theyre "insects")went .........i decided to go to the races that night anyway as i was in a heated points race..(was top 6 in points)made it through hotlaps,qualifying,the trophy dash and presentation,the heat race,but it was at this point i couldnt stand it anymore..the swelling had become to great.i went to the ambulance that was stationed in the pits and dropped trow ( much to the emts dismay) but the look on his face was priceless (to others)...they transported me code 3 to the local hospital and then life flighted me to sacramento for critcal care.....spent about 4 days there and they accually put needles THERE....was not fun...i came home..found the nest poured a gallon of gas down the hole and lit it off.....BOOM........got rid of em..singed my hair (on my head,the other area was bald now) imma stop now :stop:

TomSteber

June 14th, 2009, 20:13

[QUOTE=cheezyflier;192747]yellow jackets are my nitemare! ugh!!!!!!! i will face alot of scary things but i will run from a bee/wasp like the biggest sissy on the block.

LOL My wife and I are exactly like that! It was one more reason we were made for each other.

Cazzie

June 15th, 2009, 03:27

Bugs, that's what I call them all, no species, no difference in 6 legs or 8 legs, they're all BUGS. I have lived in the humid south all of my life and for nearly 63 years I have want some way to disperse Summer, just get rid of the entire season. The heat where I live is not as killing as the humidity. Whether it is 60 or 90 degrees, you still pop beads as soon as you walk out the door. And there to greet you is a :censored: BUG, either biting or stinging variety.

Those underground hornet are Japanese hornets, look like yellow jackets that have been given a radiation dosing. I catch the nest on a cold morning when they are inactive, pour carbide rock in the hole, add water, and a torch, WHOOF. I love the mass extermination of bugs!

Been bit by a black widow and a brown recluse. Black widow burns worse, but the brown recluse bite will rot your skin. More complications from the brown recluse bite that the widow. Been bitten on the foot by a copperhead snake too, hurt less than either spider bite.

There are two things in life I absolutely hate: prejudice and BUGS!

Caz

jmig

June 15th, 2009, 03:38

If it lives it grows in Louisiana. I haven't seen too many of the above BUGS mentioned above and, I think there are two reasons.

One they spray for mosquitoes around here. I think the spray kills off a lot of other insects. I know I don't see fireflies like I use to. Nor, the birds that ate the insects.

Secondly, geckos moved into our attic about ten years ago. Nice thing is that you don't see them, unless you go outside at night and all the spiders have disappeared.

Now, if could just train them to poop in the yard and not on the concrete slabs.

FlameOut

June 15th, 2009, 05:15

navychief, I know just what you mean !

I'm not an entomologist ( ...had to look that up...) or anything, but we had some very rough weather here in Dixie... Alabama.... for the last 2-3 days.
I was out cutting off fallen tree limbs, picking up small branches, etc; when my daughter yelled at me to come over to the front porch to see this spider !

Well here it is ... oh, I did not kill it or anything, I just let it live in peace.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k7/Big_Don_2006/100_0744.png

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k7/Big_Don_2006/100_0766.png

....be careful out there boys :wavey:

Quixoticish

June 15th, 2009, 05:18

There are two things in life I absolutely hate: prejudice and BUGS!

Caz

Surely that would make you prejudiced against bugs? :bump:

brad kaste

June 15th, 2009, 06:22

...A friend of mine's son use to work as a private bug/animal exterminator. He stated the one 'bug' that would display TOTAL aggressiveness towards anyone going towards it's nest is the bald faced hornet. When Mike had to remove a nest of theirs,....he had to be sure his thinking cap was on and also running shoes,...just in case.
Here's a Wikipedia info poop on the bald faced hornet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald-faced_hornet

crashaz

June 15th, 2009, 09:04

I hate things that sneak up and bite you... ie bugs,snakes, scorpions etc. I get angry when I see then crawling near me and terminate them with extreme prejudice.

Living out in the Arizona desert as a kid I ran into all of the above.

Snakes... found baby rattlers underneath my bed... after I made it.
Can't count the number of time I would stop in mid walk from putting my foot down... and then step back and see a snake. Freaky I always knew unconciously to do that. Those rattlers were about 3 garden hoses thick... and about 3-5 foot long. Always ran back to grab the air rifle or shotgun... depending on the snake size.

Me and my brother when we were kids had a hive of bees in the wall of the ol hangar. If you made them mad... they would swarm out... usually we got inside and they would blacken the air outside. Once they caught us outside... ran away from the hangar... I was faster and was outrunning my brother...he got swarmed.... so I ran back to him and attacked the swarm... they started chasing me then for another quarter mile. I figured... better a bee sting then a sting from Dad's belt. I was fast in those days... outran the bees!!:icon_lol:

Cloud9Gal

June 15th, 2009, 11:14

Cloud9Gal

June 15th, 2009, 11:21

I hate things that sneak up and bite you... ie bugs,snakes, scorpions etc. I get angry when I see then crawling near me and terminate them with extreme prejudice. <---
I'm right there with you when it comes to creepy crawlies of any type. I hate them things! I know they have their own use and contribute to the equilibrium of the ecosystem...but jeez oh man...http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/surprised/scared.gif

Snakes... found baby rattlers underneath my bed... after I made it. <---Ok so I laughed out loud when I read that....too funny!

I was fast in those days... outran the bees!!:icon_lol:

Well you seem to still be just as fast today Crash....except this time, you're trying to outrun women http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/happy/whistling.gif (http://www.thesmilies.com)

crashaz

June 15th, 2009, 11:30

ROFL!

Hmm snake bites or bad marriage.... I go with snake bites....one could die... but the pain would be sooo much shorter.

It's a jungle out there.:icon_lol:

6297J

June 15th, 2009, 11:33

Here is a Hornet Queen I photographed in the Spring. What's not to like about them?

brad kaste

June 15th, 2009, 11:45

The meanest, creepiest, and scariest hornets of all time,....in my estimation are the Asian giant hornet. They're orange in color and have a body length of around two inches. Wingspan,....around three inches. I've seen videos where a bunch of these rascals will totally wipe up a hive of honey bees. It's like David and Goliath death match,...except almost all the Goliaths win. Very disturbing to view.
Here's a Wikipedia link to these 'super hornets'....and I don't mean F-18's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet
As far as I know,...none have settled into the US,...but I could be wrong......

TARPSBird

June 15th, 2009, 13:07

Everybody knows about yellow jackets and their bad attitudes, but also watch out for digger wasps. My wife had an unpleasant encounter with those guys while trimming grass around an old tire she used for a planter. The diggers live in soil and they don't like folks poking shears around their neighborhood. They're dark brown or black so it's hard to spot 'em before they roll in on ya. :icon_lol:
I'd never live someplace where I had to deal with scorpions. Ugliest creatures that God ever placed on this earth.

Cazzie

June 15th, 2009, 13:28

Surely that would make you prejudiced against bugs? :bump:

At least someone caught the jest! :icon_lol:

Caz

Chief, I found one of those about the same size in my bathroom sink, it was the dickens to get inside a tall cup to transfer to the exterior, but i did. they are relatively harmless house spiders, but will often build huge funnel webs and as seen can grow to very long lengths.

http://greennature.com/gallery/spider-pictures/callobius_spider.html

cheezyflier

June 15th, 2009, 20:04

i once ran over a yellow jacket nest with the lawn mower at the same time my (at the time) girlfriend was pulling up in the car with the groceries. she sees me jumpin around the yard like a maniac, thinking i am playing with her and her 3 yr old daughter. i am trying to tell them to stay in the car. they were laughing so hard she had tears streaming down her face when she met up with me down the road a piece. it seems a lot funnier now than it did then. :icon_lol:

OBIO

June 15th, 2009, 20:16

A friend of mine got bitten several times by brown recluse spiders. He was in the Army, and doing some Ranger training at Fort Benning (I think) and developed these dark places on his legs. Went to the base hospital and they treated him with antibiotics. Of course, that did nothing to stop the necrotic action of the recluse bites. Went back, and they gave him strong antibiotics. Again, no improvement. Went back, this time with holes opening up on his legs...lots of holes. Luckily, there happened to be an entomologist passing through from one base to another. He took one look at my friend's legs and knew what was up.

Treatment to stop the necrotic action involved the use of liquid nitrogen to freeze the bitten areas and scooping out the frozen flesh. Took many months for all those holes to heal up. Today, his legs are fine...but he really shouldn't wear shorts...those scars are big and ugly.

OBIO

An-225

June 15th, 2009, 20:53

Oh, those yellow jackets. I thought you were told off by a yellow jacket for disrupting the flow of traffic on a CVN. :kilroy:

Lionus

June 16th, 2009, 14:25

if it has more than 4 limbs and/or 2 eyes, it must die by my 9 volt electrocution device. this method usually ends up with some bad smell, smoke, and occasionally a small explosion when the freak of nature blows up. I have to admit, it's almost gives me sadistic pleasure to watch those things die in agony after they've entered my apartment without permission. and for those black ants that oh-so love sugar? I have some nice ant traps for them. I haven't seen a single one after getting those lovely little anti-ant pillboxes. :ernae: