Walking down the front walk yesterday afternoon, I felt an insect land on my foot. I was only wearing a pair of sandals on my feet, and didn’t think anything of the insect until I felt a sharp pain coming from one of my toes. I looked down, and the insect was a wasp. I was being stung!
I must have presented a strange sight to the neighbours, as I danced around on the lawn, trying to kick the wasp off my foot. It wouldn’t go, of course, and I finally ended up getting rid of it by dragging the top of my foot across the grass. With that accomplished, I painfully limped back to the front porch to assess the damage. But it was just a sting–it hurt and the toe that was stung would swell a bit, but I would be fine. And I’m not allergic to stings, so no problems there.
But damn! It hurt all evening, and I can still feel it this morning. It’s been years since I had any kind of bee or wasp sting–I don’t think I’ve been stung since I was a child–and I don’t remember feeling them for this long. Like I said, I’ll be fine, but I’m certainly going to make sure the front walk is clear of insects (especially wasps) before I walk down it again in sandals!
If it’s still hurting, make a poultice of baking soda and tobacco (if you smoke or can get some, if not, just the baking soda) and slap it on the sting. It helps. Make sure the stinger is out – that can cause it to still hurt.
I bloody hate wasps. Nasty little stripy bastards.
Calamine lotion is also good for anything that stings or itches.
There was a young man from St Bees
Who was stung on the nose by a wasp
When asked “Did it hurt?”
He said “Yes, it did,”
“But I’m so glad it wasn’t a hornet!”
Yes, the itching is starting. Not sure if we have any Benadryl in the medicine chest, but I do have some yardwork to do today, and my steel-toed safety boots may be in order. Try and get through those, wasps!
The underground nesting is something I didn’t know about, but I have seen them around the patio stones that are our front walk. They seem to come from and go under the stones, so perhaps they have a nest there. I’ll give the stones a wide berth as I do the yardwork anyway.
I had an underground nest in my old yard that I found the hard way one time. I was so POed that the little bastards stung me while mowing that I got out the gas can and soaked the ground where the entrance was. Still fuming, I put the gas can away fumed a little more, then got a match, certain that I was going to show them. Elapsed time was about five minutes when I struck the match and tossed it.
Fortunately, the nest was in a bank, and I threw the match from the uphill side. The resulting explosion blew a hole in the ground about 18" across and a foot deep, pointed away from me. :eek: :smack:
I sure showed them. I stick to Raid Wasp and Hornet Killer these days…
Hahahaha! I have been tempted to do this many times myself. Unfortunately, though (or fortunately, as it keeps me from actually doing it) we have a well and the little buggers tend to nest near the well. I don’t want to contaminate my well water (even though I don’t drink it, I do still cook with it), but how much fun gasoline ground explosions can be… uh, nothin’ to see here, move along.
