August Discussion/Obs

[Baroclinic Zone]

3 minutes ago, DavisStraight said:

I get one at least every year, I try and inspect the house weekly to get them before they get big. When they get big I get a can of wasp spray and wait til a cooler night and spray it, those cans shoot 30 feet and I usually dump the whole can on the nest and saturate it.

That's gonna be the case here.  I already dealt with a smaller one a week ago on an overhang but that was tiny.  This will have a shit ton of hornets in it.  Bald-face ****ers too.

[HoarfrostHubb]

Pro tip:

The hornet spray is also very flammable.    Saturate the nest then torch it.   Have the fire department standing by

[CoastalWx]

17 minutes ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Pro tip:

The hornet spray is also very flammable.    Saturate the nest then torch it.   Have the fire department standing by

You experienced in that.  

[Sey-Mour Snow]

HRRR is all over the place, back to nada for CT at 12z..

[radarman]

if the wasps/hornets aren't aggressive, just let em be.  We have some fearsome looking mf'ers around but they mind their business and we mind ours.

[Baroclinic Zone]

Just now, radarman said:

if the wasps/hornets aren't aggressive, just let em be.  We have some fearsome looking mf'ers around but they mind their business and we mind ours.

When are the bald-face ****ers ever NOT aggressive?  They'll sting you just for pure amusement.

[radarman]

everything is more truculent in eastern mass I guess.  Better let em have it

[Torch Tiger]

5 minutes ago, radarman said:

everything is more truculent in eastern mass I guess.  Better let em have it

hornets are built diff out here.

[CoastalWx]

We have a hydrangea tree that attracts every bee/hornet/wasp species alive. I walk by it all the time and even brush by it since it's spreading onto our walkway. Never had an issue. Just minding my own business.

[Typhoon Tip]

1 hour ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Pro tip:

The hornet spray is also very flammable.    Saturate the nest then torch it.   Have the fire department standing by

Jam the tee peg close to the ground surface, then use the 9-iron, ...not a pitching wedge.  A pitching wedge will convert too much momentum into arced trajectory, whereas the 9-iron will provide enough arc, while conserving enough kinetic energy to blow the intended hole straight through the other side of the nest. 

 

[Whineminster]

I cried when I went off to college, my parents did too. 

[SouthCoastMA]

23 minutes ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

When are the bald-face ****ers ever NOT aggressive?  They'll sting you just for pure amusement.

had a huge nest of those last year..about the size of a beachball. paid $160 to get rid of it. DIY is probably not worth the hassle for those..especially with toddlers and pets around. it was only about 7ft high on my maple in the front yard

 

[Typhoon Tip]

21 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

We have a hydrangea tree that attracts every bee/hornet/wasp species alive. I walk by it all the time and even brush by it since it's spreading onto our walkway. Never had an issue. Just minding my own business.

It's interesting pattern of behavior ... 

Somehow my lawn has been invaded by Alpine Delphinium that emerge perennially, producing an absolutely stunning blue-violate flower. They grow in dense, uniform arrays so jaw-dropping one would have to be a sociopath to so callously run a lawn mower over like Kevin.  In fact, neighbors going for walks often stop to observe them in May, commenting their jealousy. "How did you grow those... where can I get those"  I don't know. I can only imagine contaminated seed stock when doing autumn over coverage ... years ago before I learned how that sort of lawn appearance is toxic to base-line ecology.    One such evidence to that?   Bees...

All kinds of them.  There are vast numbers of pollinating bee species.  When they are full bloom, bees of all kinds of shapes and sizes can be seen zig-zagging in and out, and in between the flowering canopy.  Bumble bees, and honey bees, and bees in between.   In fact, in a silent moment when the background of the town shenanigans happens to drop off, you can hear the whirring buzz of their frenzied foraging. 

They don't sting.  Not once have I been bothered.  And I've actually stepped into the patches of the blooming arrays to pull out opportunistic weeds and such.  They just ignore me.  The softy in me wants to think they know why I'm there.  But in reality ... they're just too sated by all that bounty the Delphiniums provide. Singularly too intended on getting even more, the preoccupation won't perceive us a threat.   Ha, probably why we haven't been to the I.R. yet

[dendrite]

This is a sting. 

 

[tamarack]

37 minutes ago, Typhoon Tip said:

It's interesting pattern of behavior ... 

Somehow my lawn has been invaded by Alpine Delphinium that emerge perennially, producing an absolutely stunning blue-violate flower. They grow in dense, uniform arrays so jaw-dropping one would have to be a sociopath to so callously run a lawn mower over like Kevin.  In fact, neighbors going for walks often stop to observe them in May, commenting their jealousy. "How did you grow those... where can I get those"  I don't know. I can only imagine contaminated seed stock when doing autumn over coverage ... years ago before I learned how that sort of lawn appearance is toxic to base-line ecology.    One such evidence to that?   Bees...

All kinds of them.  There are vast numbers of pollinating bee species.  When they are full bloom, bees of all kinds of shapes and sizes can be seen zig-zagging in and out, and in between the flowering canopy.  Bumble bees, and honey bees, and bees in between.   In fact, in a silent moment when the background of the town shenanigans happens to drop off, you can hear the whirring buzz of their frenzied foraging. 

They don't sting.  Not once have I been bothered.  And I've actually stepped into the patches of the blooming arrays to pull out opportunistic weeds and such.  They just ignore me.  The softy in me wants to think they know why I'm there.  But in reality ... they're just too sated by all that bounty the Delphiniums provide. Singularly too intended on getting even more, the preoccupation won't perceive us a threat.   Ha, probably why we haven't been to the I.R. yet

Bumblebees will sting, though it takes a great deal of provocation before they make the stick, and like wasps, they can hit multiple times.  I've been stung by a bumblebee on two occasions.  One was while I was feeding a wood splitter and the bees had colonized one of the stove-length pieces between chainsaw time and the splitting.  The noise, vibration and tumbling of wood pieces were the trigger as I got hit on cheek and arm by the same bee.  Second time was when I was cleaning out part of the shrubbery for a 90+ y.o lady from our church, and the nest was in the ground where I was pulling and cutting stuff.  Took about 20 minutes of my work to enrage the insect enough to attack.  

In my experience, yellowjackets are 10 times more aggressive than whiteface hornets.  The latter will nail you if they're disturbed and you're within a few dozen feet.  I've been chased and stung by yellowjackets that chased me a hundred yards from the nest.  Most recent time that occurred was during one of our peer-review forestry field trips.  I got nailed twice as the group walked over roadside slash (no one else got stung), then after we'd walked another 100 yards into the woods, one of the little beasts followed and picked me out of the 29 people on the trip for a 3rd stab.

[Torch Tiger]

Kids off to school. Cry?  We celebrate!

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

I was aerating a few years back and caught an underground nest. When the wife looked out the kitchen window and saw me sprinting across the backyard while hitting myself on the back of the legs, she didn't know if she should laugh or call for help.  

[40/70 Benchmark]

14 minutes ago, Torch Tiger said:

Kids off to school. Cry?  We celebrate!

All it means for me is more traffic....nothing, and I do mean nothing congests traffic like a school bus.

[cleetussnow]

Had a yellow jacket fly into my helmet once while going 60 on my motorcycle. He’s buzzing around in there enraged and I am trying to be cool about it.  Then another one stung me in the neck.  Died on impact but still stung me.  Took all I had to stay calm and keep driving.  Happily the one in my helmet escaped and didnt sting me in the eyeball. That was exciting.  I also ate a bee doing yard work once.  Nailed me on the tongue.  The wife jacked me full of Benadryl and made me stay awake a couple hours in case my throat and tongue swole shut.  
 

funny I used to be deathly allergic to bug venoms in my youth after a run in with fire ants in texas.  Almost died.  After that I was treated with bee venom therapy for a year or so and since then I can tolerate stings pretty well.  
 

Back to the motorcycle, bee stings were a regular occurrence on my hands and neck.  Utterly sucks because every sting hits like a hammer blow.

[cleetussnow]

8 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

I was aerating a few years back and caught an underground nest. When the wife looked out the kitchen window and saw me sprinting across the backyard while hitting myself on the back of the legs, she didn't know if she should laugh or call for help.  

And they don't give up the chase.  
 

whatever happened to those killer African bees?  I thought we all supposed to be dead by now from them.

[Typhoon Tip]

30 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Bumblebees will sting, though it takes a great deal of provocation before they make the stick, and like wasps, they can hit multiple times.  I've been stung by a bumblebee on two occasions.  One was while I was feeding a wood splitter and the bees had colonized one of the stove-length pieces between chainsaw time and the splitting.  The noise, vibration and tumbling of wood pieces were the trigger as I got hit on cheek and arm by the same bee.  Second time was when I was cleaning out part of the shrubbery for a 90+ y.o lady from our church, and the nest was in the ground where I was pulling and cutting stuff.  Took about 20 minutes of my work to enrage the insect enough to attack.  

In my experience, yellowjackets are 10 times more aggressive than whiteface hornets.  The latter will nail you if they're disturbed and you're within a few dozen feet.  I've been chased and stung by yellowjackets that chased me a hundred yards from the nest.  Most recent time that occurred was during one of our peer-review forestry field trips.  I got nailed twice as the group walked over roadside slash (no one else got stung), then after we'd walked another 100 yards into the woods, one of the little beasts followed and picked me out of the 29 people on the trip for a 3rd stab.

LOL,  ...seems to be a leitmotif of Tam' getting stung for doing god's work - hahaha

yeah, I know bumblers'll sting in general, if provoked enough...  

I was talking within that context of that setting, as they're busy foraging in the bounty the Delphinium provide - it seems they are too distracted ?    seems that way - like in Africa:  the lions sometimes will be seen at the side of the watering holes lapping, while Caped Buffalo are right near by doing the same.     ....not withstanding crocodiles, which appear to operate within their own moral code ( i.e. none ), there seems to be some settings where there is a mutual understanding, unwritten code among species to suspend all hostilities.

I mean that's probably a Disney version..but I have seen that image before where thirst overcomes all -

[HoarfrostHubb]

5 minutes ago, cleetussnow said:

And they don't give up the chase.  
 

whatever happened to those killer African bees?  I thought we all supposed to be dead by now from them.

I remember watching made for tv (I think) movie called The Swarm.  I think they got them all to fly into the New Orleans Superdome or someplace and then they froze them.  
 

It was really bad

[radarman]

seems like you practically have to beg bumblebees to sting you, sort of like that the guy in the video above with the Asian hornet.  Could there be a less aggressive animal on the planet? 

[Cyclone-68]

3 minutes ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

I remember watching made for tv (I think) movie called The Swarm.  I think they got them all to fly into the New Orleans Superdome or someplace and then they froze them.  
 

It was really bad

It was the Houston astrodome and Michael Caine was in it. A classic lol

[HoarfrostHubb]

Just now, Cyclone-68 said:

It was the Houston astrodome and Michael Caine was in it. A classic lol

Yeah.  My memory was foggy and I looked it up.  Lots of big actors in it.  I guess they lured the bees out to sea and incinerated them???    Weird film

[Typhoon Tip]

21 minutes ago, cleetussnow said:

Had a yellow jacket fly into my helmet once while going 60 on my motorcycle. He’s buzzing around in there enraged and I am trying to be cool about it.  Then another one stung me in the neck.  Died on impact but still stung me.  Took all I had to stay calm and keep driving.  Happily the one in my helmet escaped and didnt sting me in the eyeball. That was exciting.  I also ate a bee doing yard work once.  Nailed me on the tongue.  The wife jacked me full of Benadryl and made me stay awake a couple hours in case my throat and tongue swole shut.  
 

funny I used to be deathly allergic to bug venoms in my youth after a run in with fire ants in texas.  Almost died.  After that I was treated with bee venom therapy for a year or so and since then I can tolerate stings pretty well.  
 

Back to the motorcycle, bee stings were a regular occurrence on my hands and neck.  Utterly sucks because every sting hits like a hammer blow.

That fist sentence? hilarious ... it's like, 'ooh, not gonna end well'  

You know, I just did a road trip to Michigan and back last week.  Once you get west of about Pa, it's not all that uncommon to see these black leather clad Harley riders with nothing more than a beanie helmet.  Sometimes?  none at all.  

I'm like,   really -

They're cruising along ...you can just feel their aura of defiance as they're riding with one hand, the other on hip, at 78 mph.  Full face and nape exposed.  

They have to have been popped before.  I mean I don't see how they haven't.   I ride a road bicycle and got whacked and stung on the lip once doing 17 or 19 down a bike trail and my handle bars were wobbling from the repulsive shock.  What the f happens when a sting enraged bullet tries to tunnel through your neck on a Harley. 

[Cyclone-68]

4 minutes ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Yeah.  My memory was foggy and I looked it up.  Lots of big actors in it.  I guess they lured the bees out to sea and incinerated them???    Weird film

Nothing too remarkable about it but a decent  Michael Caine film 

[HoarfrostHubb]

There were a few other films made about African bees.  The Killer Bees and The Savage Bees.   
 

Someday someone will make a film about our devastating drought

[DavisStraight]

21 minutes ago, cleetussnow said:

Had a yellow jacket fly into my helmet once while going 60 on my motorcycle. He’s buzzing around in there enraged and I am trying to be cool about it.  Then another one stung me in the neck.  Died on impact but still stung me.  Took all I had to stay calm and keep driving.  Happily the one in my helmet escaped and didnt sting me in the eyeball. That was exciting.  I also ate a bee doing yard work once.  Nailed me on the tongue.  The wife jacked me full of Benadryl and made me stay awake a couple hours in case my throat and tongue swole shut.  
 

funny I used to be deathly allergic to bug venoms in my youth after a run in with fire ants in texas.  Almost died.  After that I was treated with bee venom therapy for a year or so and since then I can tolerate stings pretty well.  
 

Back to the motorcycle, bee stings were a regular occurrence on my hands and neck.  Utterly sucks because every sting hits like a hammer blow.

I've been bitten in the neck driving into bees driving my motorcycle, hurts twice as bad when you're going fast, first the impact then the sting.

[Cyclone-68]

“The Deadly Bees” was a classic MST3k riff as well