Yellow Jackets

[Mitch f]

7 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

Reminds me of my bumble bee and lawn mower episode...Dad had just told me that he'd ran the mower over a bumblebee nest and gotten stung, so he went back with the mower, parked it over the nest with it running, and as the bees came out of the hole the mower chewed them up.  He talked with great glee about bumblebee parts spewing out of the mowing deck.  So when I had the same thing happen to me while mowing on the dam of my pond, I took Dad's advice.  Ran the mower over the hole, let it sit, and waited for the giblets to start spewing.  Then, WHAP, one got me on the back of the neck.  BAM, another on my arm.  I wheeled around, and there was another hole, another entrance to the nest!  I ran for cover, getting another sting along the way.  So now the mower is sitting there on the sloping pond dam, running, and it had a full tank of gas, with bees swarming it.  I really wanted to finish mowing, but approaching the mower wasn't going to be a good idea as long as it was running and keeping the bees stirred up.  So I got the idea of using a long rope, tying a length of wood to it, and trying to wrap it around the handles of the push mower so that I could drag it away from the nest.  Succeeded in snagging the handles, but when I started pulling, the thing overbalanced and rolled down the dam bank and into the water!

That's a real Kodak moment!😂

[bfishn]

We discovered a nest hole late one day in the hayfield when I was a kid. Our good neighbor Tom was helping that day, and he said to leave it alone 'till morning. We returned in the AM twilight, whereupon Tom briskly scruffed the soil bare around the hole with his boot, placed his toe over it, and shoved his hands in his pockets.

A good 10 minutes later, with the sun good and up, Tom started releasing and stomping the critters one at a time. It was the craziest dance I ever seen, slide a toe, stomp a heel. It wasn't long before they were coming out 5-10 at a time, but Tom kept his rhythm up. I backed away sensing danger.

Another good 10 minutes later, Tom was still dancin', but the novelty had worn off, and we readied for the day. Suddenly we heard him let out a cry, and he took off running towards the house that was over a half mile away. When we caught up with him at lunch, he said he missed one that must have crawled up his overalls. It stung him in the nads.

My Dad, never one to let the opportunity for a lesson slip by, merely pointed out the spelling of the word 'Tomfoolery'....

[Pat Magee]

On 9/10/2017 at 9:10 AM, Al Agnew said:

Reminds me of my bumble bee and lawn mower episode...Dad had just told me that he'd ran the mower over a bumblebee nest and gotten stung, so he went back with the mower, parked it over the nest with it running, and as the bees came out of the hole the mower chewed them up.  He talked with great glee about bumblebee parts spewing out of the mowing deck.  So when I had the same thing happen to me while mowing on the dam of my pond, I took Dad's advice.  Ran the mower over the hole, let it sit, and waited for the giblets to start spewing.  Then, WHAP, one got me on the back of the neck.  BAM, another on my arm.  I wheeled around, and there was another hole, another entrance to the nest!  I ran for cover, getting another sting along the way.  So now the mower is sitting there on the sloping pond dam, running, and it had a full tank of gas, with bees swarming it.  I really wanted to finish mowing, but approaching the mower wasn't going to be a good idea as long as it was running and keeping the bees stirred up.  So I got the idea of using a long rope, tying a length of wood to it, and trying to wrap it around the handles of the push mower so that I could drag it away from the nest.  Succeeded in snagging the handles, but when I started pulling, the thing overbalanced and rolled down the dam bank and into the water!

This is hilarious.