About a month or two ago I was mowing the yard and a yellow jacket flew up my shorts and stung me on the back of my thigh. I didn't need to do any research to confirm this but I did and found their sting ranks among the top 10 most painful insect stings. And unlike a honey bee, they don't have a barb on their stinger so they can jab you over and over and over... And believe me, it did. About a week after the swelling went down (and man did it itch!), I counted about a dozen spots where it got me. After looking around outside, I found yellow jackets were flying in and out under the shed. So of course I did the smart thing and got out the gasoline and sparklers... That didn't even touch them (I was being careful not to burn down the shed). Then I tried various sprays and had a hard time finding anything that would bring them down. Even after coating them. Finally I found a red can of Spectracide that was designed just for yellow jackets and that did the trick. I wiped out a bunch of them from 25 feet away but those cans are mostly propellant with very little juice. Then WalMart brought out their Christmas stuff and the sprays all went away. Fast forward to today and I was mowing and hadn't seen any bees in a while so I grabbed a shovel and decided to turn over the ground where I had last seen them flying in and out. Of course I am wearing shorts... Well there were more bees than I could have imagined under the shed. One of them found his way onto my left calf and started going to work. Fortunately he only got one jab in me before I smacked him. Ran in the house and pulled out the gallon jug of vinegar we had bought since my last encounter and swabbed down my leg. Gave it a smear of Benedryl and I was good to go. Hurts a little but only a fraction of the last time. After the swarm settled down, I tossed a Gopher Gasser in their hole. Not sure what effect that had but it couldn't hurt. I read the best thing to do is to flood them out with water so I may take the garden hose and let it run down the hole for a while. Another day...
It has been a while since I have posted because I have been busy! Thank God! Work is going great. I got in with this company at the perfect time - they are expanding from a regional company into a national, full service security company. They hired on some FBI and Secret Service executives and are plugging me into a lot of the operations and financial meetings. Hard to believe I have over 25 years experience but it is about to start paying off. I have been doing a lot of traveling to Chicago and NYC but I don't mind.
Speaking of 25 years of experience, a couple of weeks ago, Lucie and I went back to Maine for my 30 year high school reunion. I am happy to report that I was not the fattest, baldest, or oldest looking so I may push my luck and go back again next year. We had a great time seeing some "old" friends and faces. Someone brought a yearbook so I was able to show Lucie some before and afters of the people. Only about 25% of the class showed up but hopefully word will spread and more will come next time. My junior prom date was there and she gave me a big hug so either that night wasn't as bad as I remembered it for her or she suppressed the memory... Although we were only up and back the same weekend, we had a good time visiting those friends, my younger brother and my mother. (Took the Acura up and we made near record time!)
One more quick story - my mother came down to Amish country near us about a week or two ago with a church bus tour group. So Lucie, Elliott and I drove over to see her and have dinner at the Amish restaurant they were eating at. We had a nice visit and ran into my old youth pastor and his wife. They hadn't changed all that much but I bet they felt ancient after seeing me. The group only had time to eat for about an hour before they were off to the huge Sight and Sound show. We had an issue with the restaurant - they charged us the group rate (because we ate with the group) which, oddly enough, is more than the regular rate! - but overall it was a good time.
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