Summer 2020 Banter and random observations

[Dan76]

32 minutes ago, BrianW said:

Go buy tempo dust if your dealing with wasp, bees, yellow jackets, etc.  You can get it on Amazon. Its what the pros use. You dust the nest entrance and they bring it into the nest and it's done in a day or two. Those sprays only kill on contact and don't penetrate into the nest. 

Not available in CT or NY f me

[OceanStWx]

16 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

I lit up an underground yellow jacket nest and just like last year, something came along and dug up the comb. Maybe a skunk?

Same thing happened to me (after the bastards got me and the mower). Fired off a can of raid into the swarm origin point and sometime in the next 48 hours something found the free meal and dug up the rest of the nest.

[klw]

On 8/15/2020 at 9:06 PM, powderfreak said:

No bee problems but the bear (we named him Blue) keeps coming by daily or twice daily. 

Sometime between 2-4pm this afternoon he stopped by and dropped a deuce on our walkway. 

I'm about to buy a camera like Phin but instead of watching the mountains you can watch this guy take craps around our place in the middle of the day.

 

[tamarack]

18 hours ago, ORH_wxman said:

Wonder how big it was...was it during your days in NJ? They can get pretty big the further south you go (longer season). Though even up here they’ll grow large if it’s a mild spring. 

This year they seemed to get a late start. Probably the first half of May didn’t help with those snow threats and sub-freezing lows a couple mornings. I was still seeing queens emerge inside the house in June which is usually on the late side for that to happen. During warmer springs like 2010 and 2012 I’ll see them in early/mid April. 

My mom's parents had a summer place in Long Valley (part of Chester, NJ) that had 3/4-acre lawn that we would mow periodically during the summer, with 2-3 yellowjacket nests found per visit.  That's where the burnout crater occurred.  From age 5 thru 20 I doubt there was a single summer in which I didn't get multiple stings.  The critters' love for me remains - several years ago on one of our peer0review field trips, 25 of us were tromping over some logging slash - me toward the middle of the line - when I got hit, hollered "yellowjackets!" and all the folks sped the hundred yards to the spot we wanted to discuss.  One of the buggers followed and hit me a third time.  (No one else was bothered.  ) 

[tamarack]

18 hours ago, Hoth said:

Man, I thought that pine was gonna be like the blue shed from Harvey...and then 14:00 came along. What an incredible storm.

Then about 16:30 another monster gust took out the silver maples across the road, and it seemed the heaviest rain came after the 26-minute mark, though that was also when it started sluicing the window.  (And that "pine" is/was a Colorado blue spruce  though the entire spruce genus is in the pine family.  Also, note the tree that's behind the house across the street, in line with that foreground iron lamp holder or whatever.  Retained full foliage and branches while other ones broke or partly defoliated or both.  Made me wonder what species that was to hold together so well.)

[Ginx snewx]

13 hours ago, alex said:

Just makes you realize how much more seriously the US could be taking Covid. It's not like we don't have the means. 

Yea wished we lived on an island with 325 million less people 

[dendrite]

48 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Yea wished we lived on an island with 325 million less people 

Yeah HI was doing great until the last couple weeks too. It seems like it eventually hits every populated place eventually. 

[Cyclone-68]

I was reading about a newer mutated strain that’s even more contagious that was found in Europe the last few days?

[Baroclinic Zone]

1 minute ago, Cyclone-68 said:

I was reading about a newer mutated strain that’s even more contagious that was found in Europe the last few days?

this?

https://in.news.yahoo.com/worse-come-malaysia-detects-coronavirus-061800564.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-17/malaysia-detects-virus-strain-that-s-10-times-more-infectious

[Cyclone-68]

5 minutes ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

this?

https://in.news.yahoo.com/worse-come-malaysia-detects-coronavirus-061800564.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-17/malaysia-detects-virus-strain-that-s-10-times-more-infectious

Yes that’s it unfortunately although what I read earlier made it seem more infectious but not necessarily deadlier 

[ORH_wxman]

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

My mom's parents had a summer place in Long Valley (part of Chester, NJ) that had 3/4-acre lawn that we would mow periodically during the summer, with 2-3 yellowjacket nests found per visit.  That's where the burnout crater occurred.  From age 5 thru 20 I doubt there was a single summer in which I didn't get multiple stings.  The critters' love for me remains - several years ago on one of our peer0review field trips, 25 of us were tromping over some logging slash - me toward the middle of the line - when I got hit, hollered "yellowjackets!" and all the folks sped the hundred yards to the spot we wanted to discuss.  One of the buggers followed and hit me a third time.  (No one else was bothered.  ) 

That sounds ridiculous...2-3 yellow jacket nests attacking you every summer? That's only the ones you know of since you were attacked...there were probably some that never attacked you but were present and probably didn't irritate them enough.

I'm guessing maybe they grass wasn't mowed very often or it was let to grow out a lot in the first half of the summer? Seems like a ot of nests to be established on a maintained lawn of 3/4 acre. Granted, that's a decent sized lawn, but still.

[HoarfrostHubb]

1 hour ago, dendrite said:

Yeah HI was doing great until the last couple weeks too. It seems like it eventually hits every populated place eventually. 

New Zealand too.  

[PhineasC]

2 hours ago, Cyclone-68 said:

Yes that’s it unfortunately although what I read earlier made it seem more infectious but not necessarily deadlier 

That’s a pretty typical mutation path for coronaviruses from what I have read. Weaker but more broadly infectious. That’s what defines the common cold, which is caused by various coronaviruses. 

[tamarack]

3 hours ago, ORH_wxman said:

That sounds ridiculous...2-3 yellow jacket nests attacking you every summer? That's only the ones you know of since you were attacked...there were probably some that never attacked you but were present and probably didn't irritate them enough.

I'm guessing maybe they grass wasn't mowed very often or it was let to grow out a lot in the first half of the summer? Seems like a ot of nests to be established on a maintained lawn of 3/4 acre. Granted, that's a decent sized lawn, but still.

One year we didn't get there until the grass was 2 feet tall - don't think we found any nests on that very laborious mowing.  Most nests were discovered painlessly - we'd probably anger the yellowjackets on a nearby pass but by the time we came back (big lawns have some advantages) the swarm was obvious and avoided.  One time I quit for a water break and when I came back the lawnmower handle had about a dozen residents with a couple hundred circling for a landing.  Oh, and the house next door had an inside corner that hosted for decades a huge honeybee hive.  When I was 4, one morning I wandered into that corner (attracted to the sound and ignorant?  I have no memory of the event) and got well stung.  My mom said my hands swelled up as big as hers and that I slept for 30 hours.  Glad that the bees weren't nearly as aggressive as yellowjackets!

Elsewhere I less benignly found nests next to our house, next to a brook while I was washing breakfast dishes while camping with a friend, and various other encounters.

[Lava Rock]

46 minutes ago, tamarack said:

One year we didn't get there until the grass was 2 feet tall - don't think we found any nests on that very laborious mowing.  Most nests were discovered painlessly - we'd probably anger the yellowjackets on a nearby pass but by the time we came back (big lawns have some advantages) the swarm was obvious and avoided.  One time I quit for a water break and when I came back the lawnmower handle had about a dozen residents with a couple hundred circling for a landing.  Oh, and the house next door had an inside corner that hosted for decades a huge honeybee hive.  When I was 4, one morning I wandered into that corner (attracted to the sound and ignorant?  I have no memory of the event) and got well stung.  My mom said my hands swelled up as big as hers and that I slept for 30 hours.  Glad that the bees weren't nearly as aggressive as yellowjackets!

Elsewhere I less benignly found nests next to our house, next to a brook while I was washing breakfast dishes while camping with a friend, and various other encounters.

I got a bunch of shrub brush that I need to brush hog. I think I'll wait till after 1st frost for fear of bumping into a nest

[ORH_wxman]

11 minutes ago, Lava Rock said:

I got a bunch of shrub brush that I need to brush hog. I think I'll wait till after 1st frost for fear of bumping into a nest

They can still be active after first frost....esp a larger nest which is the ones you'd most be worried about. Either do it during a cold morning (sub-40F, they are essentially useless at temps that cold outside of their nest) or wait until after a good hard freeze.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

We just beat out Mexico for the worst OECD country to raise a family. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2020/07/29/best-worst-countries-raise-family/amp/

As if things couldn’t get worse. According to a new study from the travel website Asher & Lyric, the United States is the second worst place in the world to raise a family. The country came in at a shockingly low 34th place out of 35 countries, only beating out crime-ridden Mexico. Topping the list of best places to raise a family were countries like Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland (which was recently named the happiest country in the world for the third year in a row).

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

If only our Constitution did the same and actually lived up to its promise of ‘all men are created equal’:

“Iceland achieved top-10 rankings in all categories and was number one in safety,” says Fergusson, who points out that Iceland is also a world leader in human rights. “No matter the origins of a child or who they turn out to be, Iceland’s constitution ensures they will be treated unequivocally as an equal.”

[ORH_wxman]

That seals it, we’re definitely moving to Hungary and Turkey to raise our kids. 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

Yeah... this certainly isn’t America of yore, where the dad could work as a truck driver and support a wife and 8 kids.

Pretty sobering article though, what do we do well here? Our healthcare and childcare costs are astronomical.... among other things

[ORH_wxman]

10 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Yeah... this certainly isn’t America of yore, where the dad could work as a truck driver and support a wife and 8 kids.

Pretty sobering article though, what do we do well here? Our healthcare and childcare costs are astronomical.... among other things

The subject is too political to be talking about in here ...but that study definitely has the cost analysis very flawed. It’s not taking into account a big tax increase you’d see under a theoretical Scandinavian model...and that’s not even commenting on some of the more subjective variables and how they score them.  

That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the wrong way to go, but all the variables should be normalized if you want to do an apples to apples comparison.

[Hoth]

2 hours ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

We just beat out Mexico for the worst OECD country to raise a family. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2020/07/29/best-worst-countries-raise-family/amp/

As if things couldn’t get worse. According to a new study from the travel website Asher & Lyric, the United States is the second worst place in the world to raise a family. The country came in at a shockingly low 34th place out of 35 countries, only beating out crime-ridden Mexico. Topping the list of best places to raise a family were countries like Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland (which was recently named the happiest country in the world for the third year in a row).

Meh, those Nordic countries have plenty of problems of their own.

[powderfreak]

Norway is hands down the best country I’ve ever visited.  Place was so clean and it appeared money grew on trees, even very rural areas seemed “well kept”... have family there so visited some spots tourists might not, but just seemed like every thing was so well kept.  Even way rural, none of this letting my yard grow out, cars up on cinder blocks, trashy look.  

Not to mention the craziest geography you can imagine.

It was incredibly impressive... roads looked like they were repaved annually lol, bridges, tunnels, ferries, the infrastructure oozed money, Oslo has to be the cleanest European city I’ve ever been to... and it cost $40 USD for a large pizza, which is probably how they pay for it all lol. 

[powderfreak]

I think this is what all schools are trying to avoid, from colleges to elementary schools... start in-person then quickly be forced to go to online only.  Better off just plan for it.

“UNC-Chapel Hill moves all classes online after 130 more students infected with COVID-19“

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article245014185.html

[PhineasC]

1 minute ago, powderfreak said:

Norway is hands down the best country I’ve ever visited.  Place was so clean and it appeared money grew on trees, even very rural areas seemed “well kept”... have family there so visited some spots tourists might not, but just seemed like every thing was so well kept.  Even way rural, none of this letting my yard grow out, cars up on cinder blocks, trashy look.  

It was incredibly impressive... roads looked like they were repaved annually lol, bridges, tunnels, ferries, the infrastructure oozed money, Oslo has to be the cleanest European city I’ve ever been to... and it cost $40 USD for a large pizza lol. 

It also has a tiny, ethnically homogeneous population with a strong work ethic and sense of civic pride that stretches back many generations. Basically the opposite of most American cities. 

[PhineasC]

1 hour ago, ORH_wxman said:

That seals it, we’re definitely moving to Hungary and Turkey to raise our kids. 

This reminds me of the UN “studies” that put the US behind places in Africa and the Middle East in terms of women’s rights and press freedom. These things are always politically slanted. 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

19 minutes ago, Hoth said:

Meh, those Nordic countries have plenty of problems of their own.

Yeah... I mean like all of these things, there is an obvious slant.

[PhineasC]

2 hours ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

If only our Constitution did the same and actually lived up to its promise of ‘all men are created equal’:

“Iceland achieved top-10 rankings in all categories and was number one in safety,” says Fergusson, who points out that Iceland is also a world leader in human rights. “No matter the origins of a child or who they turn out to be, Iceland’s constitution ensures they will be treated unequivocally as an equal.”

Things would be very different in Iceland if 2-4 million poor uneducated mothers with 5 kids each suddenly appeared. These comparisons between tiny Nordic countries and huge nations such as the US are always stupid. 

[PhineasC]

The Nordic countries are basically Vermont and parts of Massachusetts. Comparing them to the entire 325 million person US one-to-one is dumb. 

[powderfreak]

48 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

It also has a tiny, ethnically homogeneous population with a strong work ethic and sense of civic pride that stretches back many generations. Basically the opposite of most American cities. 

Yeah for sure.  They all looked like fathers side of the family ha, blond hair, blue eyes and tall.  My grandparents came over from Norway, through Ellis Island in the 1940s.

Its a stunning country though from aesthetics, and yes it oozes pride and civic duty to fellow countrymen.  The cleanliness really is absurd though from how people take care of their properties to even mass public transit stations being spotless.  Like some weird Nordic Stepford wives utopia.  Most of the police officers didn’t even have guns outside the airport, transit stations, those types of places.