Got stung the other night.

[Hogwildz]

So it was about 2 am, I threw a few splits in, while waiting for them to get going I start nodding off. I catch myself, go out back to grab an armful of splits to filler the rest of the way. Load one on the arm, then next. Damn a splinter....... hmmm its hurting more & more and I pulled the split off a minute ago. WTF is going on????
I get the flashlight, shine on the split, theres a yellow jacket sitting there, stinger now in my bicep. I knock him off & step on him. All I can say, is I am lucky I was 1/2 asleep and the sting wasn't fully registering with the brain. So I finished up loading the beast. The I was semi thinking.... what If I have a reaction? So I take one of those dissolveable Benedril strips, slap it on my tongue, sit on the couch (temp bed), let the fire get blazing, knock the air down. Then I said hell with it, going to sleep.
Figured I'd either wake up the next morn or not, welp I did

So yall check your wood when loading it up in arms. I did see a couple other yellow jackets last week on same wood stack, and thought nothing of it.
Last night had a wasp flying around in the living room. Splat his arse too. Depends where I get stung as to how much it affects me. Arm is still a lil swollen & itching like a mofo, but thats how it goes.

Stung in January, sheesh. Ain't been stung in a few years too. This winter has been lame so far!
Need it COLD to kill off some of the insects, or next spring & summer gonna be bad.

 

[babalu87]

You havent had single digits yet?

I got stung on the underside of my forearm by the side load door frame above my gloves, double clutched it too :red:

 

[DoubleClutch]

double clutched it too :red:

Whut's THAT supposed ta mean?

 

[babalu87]

double clutched it too :red:

Whut's THAT supposed ta mean?

It means I got burned, pulled back, hit the other side of the stove with the top of my forearm and then hit the underside again so I have three matching burns.

You a truck driver?

 

[nshif]

You still have yellow jackets this time of year? I havent seen one in months. You guys must be having a mild winter

 

[swestall]

I must be a wussss; I just got a bunch of lady bugs on the table walkin all over my glass of wine....

 

[Hogwildz]

We have had single digits, prolly a few below nights. But these pricks just won't die!
Have tons of lady bugs too. Damn bugs

 

[fish]

same problem here in new york. the bees seem to hibernate till they hit the warm house and out they come. about 2 weeks ago i was loading the stove when all of a son the bees started flying out the stove . closed the door and killed the escapers. im also noticing lots of lady bugs. we here in ny have had some single digit temps but they still live.althought it has been a warm winter.
is there anything that can be used to debug the wood of bees and so on. i tried 7 dust but it seems to was away. otherwise i dont think the bees would have made it . any suggestions

 

[Hogwildz]

wear long sleeves and gloves
I wear the sleeves, and just check the wood visually as I pick it up. Use a flashlight at night , no lights on back porch yet.

 

[DriftWood]

Is your pile covered with a tarp or anything like that. I had a neighbor who threw off the tape and got swarmed and stung in summer. I have never herd of stingers active in winter.

 

[detmurds]

Ahh, my dog was looking at the carpet, and then I was,...it was a bee,....it has been pretty cold here in WA state. They hide in the wood piles when it gets cold! That simple.

 

[eba1225]

have been lucky here, no bees wasps ot lady bugs (know on wood), but what I do have is an occasional stink bug (those prehistoric looking things).

 

[offroadaudio]

I saw a Garter snake on my property 2 weeks ago! January in the Mid-Atlantic, never thought I'd see that. His face was covered in dirt, like he had just dug himself up - sunning on a rock.

 

[BurningIsLove]

I pulled a few splits out of my rack the other day, and then had a mouse run up my arm, onto my shoulder, and then leaped off. In the middle of the three small splits was a small (and obviously inhabited) mouse nest. Gave me quite a start....better in the wood pile than in the house...

 

[Ted69]

For mice...... a neigbour told me to put a few pucks of mice and rat poison in the in and around the pile. Will know if this worked or not in a few weeks when I start burning that load.

 

[BurningIsLove]

Eh, I dont mind them that much, if at all. It's not like they bite or cause significant damage to the pile. Keeping them out of my lawn mower/tractor/etc spaces and building nests, eating wires....I want them all dead

 

[begreen]

We get a big female hornet flying around the house about once a week in the late winter. It usually happens after I have the house nice and warm with a good fire. I suspect they are living somewhere in the attic and have found a route through the recessed can lights. They are usually harmless and just want to get out of the house. I gladly oblige them.

 

[DriftWood]

What was the old saying "Speak of the Hornet and then it appears".

Today a big black and yellow stinger fell off the wood I carried in. The next thing its buzzing at the window. So I boxed it up and set the open box in a stack Im not using now.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I didn't know that bees would stay alive this long being dormant; see some dead ones here and there in some of the wood. I usually get somekind of flying bug in the house around March; don't know if they just hatch or are dormant and re-awaken. I'm guessing that they hatch from eggs 'cause I don't see them on the wood at all. Glad that you're okay from that reaction. I never have gotten bit, but years ago the wife wanted to help stack wood and got bit twice on the boobs-that ended that!

 

[begreen]

Young females overwinter. The get active as soon as they warm up a bit. And just like you would, after not taking a dump for the last several months, it's the first thing on their little minds.

 

[jeff in pa]

Hog,

I think its the new super hornets from the nuke plant, Africanized AND powered by the atom..... Nice!

I was cutting red oak today, and thinking how glad I was that it was 18 F. I could smell that oak smell the yellow jackets love.

I'm allergic too...

Hate those things..

JD in PA