Bees!

I feel your pain Jim , Been stung bad like that twice. Bees don't give you a chance , bang . Be nice if you could pet them or talk nice and maybe they won't sting ya . No way they bang you and call all their buddies. I was driving a bucket last week , down a back road , curves and going about 35 , bam , I qas getting stung . I Got lit up nine times while driving , couldn't pull over . Finally I found a side road and pulled in , than they got me two more times after that ( on my right ankle while shifting) . Black and White hairy bees . I think they flew in my truck or something. Bees blow .
 
Speaking of being able to pet and talk nice... has anybody ever been attaked by a dog on the job? I was at one client's house today to sell some spray work and her dog (a LARGE / NASTY pitbull) was doing its best to bust through the solid wood front door to rip me apart. One day I'm sure that dog will be successful and will either go through one of the solid wood doors, or it will just break the big sliding glass door. When that happens somebody is going to be in BIG trouble. Hopefully that somebody isn't me, and is packing a fully loaded shotgun.
 
No, but I've seen them piss on everyones gear if they could. You'd have to hang your gear on a fence when you took your lunch break...
 
The thing that sucks about epi-pens is there short shelf life. Keep it as cool as you can. The usual expiration date around here is only six months. However the doctor said as long as it is clear in color it should be ok to use. The expiration date is located on the end of the box and on the pin itself.
 
Glad that you are alright.

I was watching the discover channel and they compared honey bees to african bees by measuring the distance of the attack and the trigger.

This is from memory so "grain of salt":

Honey bees take more to provoke and will give chase for just over 300 feet.

African "killer" bees trigger off of the first sign of CO2 and will give chase for over 2000 feet.

Moral of the story is to run and if they are still comming run further.
aaa.gif
 
Glad you survived with only 75 (!) stings Jim!

I'm glad we don't have such problems in the UK. Sure, we've got wasps and Bees, and I've been stung a couple of times, but they aren't aggressive as what has been relayed here.

Now, I know tree men and fishermen level peg with 'you should've seen the size of it' stories, especially tree climbing fishermen.

So, who has had the most stings and lived to tell the tale? Is Jim the champ, or has someone had more - possibly including breaking the 100 metre hurdles world record?

I put my foot through a wasps nest once sending them up my trouser leg - I pulled my trousers down to my boots which just exposed more bare flesh to the swarm, and a nice 'upshirt' opportunity. Scene two, I'm bunny hopping bare chested and trouser less across a field, with my shirt stuck on my helmet and wrists above my head, trousers round anckles, till my suspenders lassooed something and set me face first to the ground.....of course there is always a crowd when you don't need one : )

Just 4 stings to the groin.



: )
 
lazarus, thats gotta be the funniest thing ive ever heard happen to a tree guy before, the only way it could have been better was if a senior citizen bus drove by to catch the action, no free shows you shoulda charged everyone around you a buck for all the action, ya gotta learn to turn them lemons into lemonade
 
Good luck on recovery.

[ QUOTE ]
Not to minimize, I got tagged by one wasp last week and that swelled up my forearm like a half an egg. There was some relief knowing once these bees stung, they only had that one opportunity. Wasps and hornets will keep coming back with more.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have been stung by the same hornet 3 times (down the shirt). The first hurt, the second was irritating, the third was really weak. (And he was finally squished before he could do a fourth.)
 
In my latest bee incident I didn't get stung. I was on a roofing job helping do tear off. Under the ridge cap there were hornet nests every 10 feet or so. I pulled off a piece and the hornets started flying around so I was watching them and not watching my feet and then I put my shin down right on a vent pipe sticking out of the roof. I left a chunk of flesh on the top of the pipe. Oops. I think a sting or two would have felt better than that one. Especially since I had to wear spurs a few times this week and the pad pushes right on the cut.

Luckily around here we don't have many incidents with bees in trees. Usually the yellow jackets have ground nests here so the ground crew receives the brunt of their fury. Once they start dancing around I usually give them a break to go find some bee spray and hope that I don't have to find a creative way out of the tree.
 
[ QUOTE ]

I put my foot through a wasps nest once sending them up my trouser leg - I pulled my trousers down to my boots which just exposed more bare flesh to the swarm, and a nice 'upshirt' opportunity. Scene two, I'm bunny hopping bare chested and trouser less across a field, with my shirt stuck on my helmet and wrists above my head, trousers round anckles, till my suspenders lassooed something and set me face first to the ground.....of course there is always a crowd when you don't need one

[/ QUOTE ]

Generally, I won't laugh at someone else's misfortunes. This is going to be an exception... blwah ha ha ha! I hope you're over the indignity.

TS
 
I was speaking with the Orkin guy today. Very informative... he told me that he once found a 15' diameter underground yellowjacket's nest. It was down in Greenwich and they had to get it out using an excavator. Said he was stung well over 100 times before collapsing by his truck.
 
Hey folks, thanks for the support. All the good meds kept the swelling down but it was present. I'll live.

Although I wouldn't wish either way, a small amount of wasp stings would have been far less tolerable.

Putting the migraine headaches I get at a 10 on a 1-10 pain scale, the stings would be a pale 4 or 5. Its the unknown whether our body will swell shut to protect itself that's cause for preparation.

The Texas Ag Extension guide to bee profiles shows the European and Africanized strains with the same graphic. I believe that is to say, at least around here, they all have some of the genetics...

Suggested remedial listening:
Let It Be - The Beatles
Because - The Beatles
Tupelo Honey - Van Morrison
Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
Liquid Tension Experiment, Vol 1 & 2
Flight of the Bumblebees - Rimsky-Korsakov (ineffective)
 
So I though of yea'al today.
The crew leader when to the front door, knocked, and a bit later got stung right on top of the head. There was a wasp nest (not sure what type) about a foot and a half from the front door. Probally a foot long 9 inches wide. When the owner came out we told him about it and he told us, "O don't worry those are wasps, not bees. Belive it or not, they don't sting."
Ok buddy, it's your front door and we aren't working anywhere near it. Belive anything you want.
Suppose it is a good way to keep the door to door salesmen away.
 
wow. 75!

we've been getting stung lately too.

that time of the year.

had to finish trimming a cherry tree today actually after the other climber got stung a few times today. Paper wasps, the ones that are usually under house ridge vents and stuff. The cherry tree had some lean to it and English Ivy that gave the wasps a dry place to build a home.

I'm always glad to see them in a tree instead of a house (don't see that much anymore), but these had to go. I climbed up, sprayed them and finished the tree.

by the end of this month, we should be coming across mean yellow jacket nests, usually under white pines, in the ground in the needles, or even a paper nest on a low limb.

I haven't had my first sting yet this summer. Two of the other guys have though. :)

It'll come though.....

Those must have been Africanized honeybees. 75 stings and you got away fairly fast. I can't see regular honey bees ever doing that. that's crazy. Luckily, we don't have the African bees here in Maryland, or any hybrids.
 
it's amazing how many people dont' know the difference between a wasp, a hornet, a yellow jacket, a bumble bee, or a honey bee.

Those are the common ones and people are always mixing up the names. Some reason that always has bothered me. My wife doesn't get them right either.

I don't mind people not knowing things like cicada killers, mud daubers, ichneumon wasps, but I don't know how people don't know the basics.
 
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