Ouch!

[j_cheney]

Got out in the yard this morning to do some long-delayed dead-heading. I started to weave my new Night Owl rose through its trellis only to discover that's evidently where the hornets/wasps have built their nest this year.

Yep, I had both hands in there. I got stung at least 3 times before I realized what it was....

At least this verifies that I'm not deathly allergic to them.

I took an antihistimine, just to be on the safe side and to keep the swelling down. There is some swelling, and one of the fingers is a markedly redder shade than the others...but I feel well enough to drive out to target to purchase some hornet/wasp spray.

I really don't have anything against them, but I don't see any reason to like wasps either. What exactly are the redeeming qualities of wasps that should make me not kill this colony?

Comments

[orogeny.livejournal.com]

Oh, my god. Wasps! Ouch! That's a nightmare!

Kill it, I say. I'm as zen as the next guy, but wasps are like Predator.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Well...no one has given me a reason not to, so I think I'm going to creep out there this evening and nuke 'em

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Baking soda. Put a paste of baking soda and water on the stings. Works wonders to help bring down the swelling.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Cool. Only my index fingers are much swollen, so I'll try that. (Makes typing slow.)

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, put it on as wet as you can, but thick. Leave it until it dries. It will actually pull some of the toxin out, but the sooner you get it on after the initial sting, the better.

[saycestsay.livejournal.com]

Wow, you got away with minimal damage (whew!) Glad you're okay.

So, um, project for later in the afternoon: dead heading the wasps? *S*

[keesa-renee.livejournal.com]

So, um, project for later in the afternoon: dead heading the wasps?

:bursts into laughter: Love that!

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Ew!

Will wait until evening, when it's cool and they get sluggish.

[keesa-renee.livejournal.com]

Oh, my gosh, you are so lucky!! I'm big-time allergic to red wasp stings. One sting on a finger, and my whole arm swells up. :shudders: If I'd gotten stung three times...who knows?!?!

Glad you got off with minor damage!! Spray those beasties...

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I am well aware that I am lucky in that way....and also that those allergies can develop later in life. I was never stung until a couple of years ago, so I knew I react a little bit, but not bad. I puff up for ant-bites, too.

[dfable.livejournal.com]

I think it's only the bees that we have to try and protect now, so get those bad boys!

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Will do!

[displacedtexan.livejournal.com]

Don't hesitate to call your in-laws if you need anything! (They live for that stuff, you know.)

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Ooh, OOh! Pweaze come hewp me! Thew's a wittle buggie in the yawd!

[displacedtexan.livejournal.com]

I read that and hear Sandra Bullock in "Miss Congeniality" during her talent show smack down on Benjamin Bratt. Be nice, now.

[dotar-sojat.livejournal.com]

Have a heart. Now that you know where the wasps are, just don't stick your hands back behind the trellis. Let the flowers do their own weaving.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

You have been so completely outvoted. They die.

[garunya.livejournal.com]

Wasps are scum! I say kill 'em all.

The strange thing is I was actually stung by a bee at a very young age, yet never grew up to hate bees. I wasn't stung by a wasp, on the other hand, until I was 18. I guess they're just naturally repellant.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

You know, I have tons of flowers, so tons of bees. No problem. I don't bother them, yadda, yadda, yadda.

The wasps are a different matter, and I just can't think of anything beneficial they do for me. Tonight, they die!

[keesa-renee.livejournal.com]

I've never been stung by a bee, even though I've worked around them a lot.

[garunya.livejournal.com]

I don't even remember the circumstances very well. I just remember I was about three, and it was on my nose, where it promptly died. It was a bumblebee.

Admittedly, that's more than I remember about most things at that age ;)

[tlmorganfield.livejournal.com]

We get wasp nests in the dog house every year. In fact, we've had two so far this year (your post reminded me that I needed to go out and check to make sure more weren't building in there again, and wouldn't you know they'd started a second nest. I'd just sprayed out the last one a couple weeks ago.). We have tons of wasps around our house, since we're right next to a field of weeds and they seem to particularly like weed flowers (I've also observed them pulling splinters of wood off our deck railings and flying off with them, for what purpose I don't know.). We keep a stock of wasp spray in the garage and I don't hesitate to use it. My daughter was bitten multiple times by wasps in the dog house when she was quite young and still doesn't want to go anywhere near it.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Wasps in the dog house!

::cringing::

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

What happened to the ppo dog?

Thank goodness for No Allergies!

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Er, POOR dog.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Spelling problems today, dear?

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Whut speling problums?

I don't have spelling problems. Typing problems, sure...

[tlmorganfield.livejournal.com]

Well, the dogs just don't go in there at all, so the house is mostly unused. Our newest puppy was using it a little in early spring but then abruptly stopped and that's when I decided to take a look inside and found the newly started nest. So far neither of the dogs have been bitten.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Dogs are smart....smarter than me, evidently.

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Wise dogs!