I recently started making a portable reloading bench that I could move around as needed. A few days ago I went out to the storage shed to use the chop saw to cut a few boards. After cutting the boards & sweeping the sawdust out I turned to close the door. What appeared to be a dirt dauber tried to get in the shed. I don't want a dirt dauber in the shed. I slapped down in the grass & bent down to try to see it & put my foot on it. I'm half blind & have trouble seeing  dark objects on a dark surface. Just as I spotted it, it came up right at my face. It wasn't a dirt dauber after all but a common brown wasp. I don't want a wasp in the  shed either. It must have taken umbrage for being slapped down. Before I could slap it again it hit my nose & stung me lightly. Now it doesn't bother me much being stung by anything but it irks me no end being stung on the nose, ears or lips by anything. Didn't take me long to slap it off my nose. Slapping my nose is no fun either. I can't relate the conversation I had with the wasp because of forum rules but I don't remember exactly what I said anyway. I'm sure part of it had something to do with his dubious ancestry. You have to remember I'm a reformed US Navy sailor but I have relapses under certain circumstances. Under the circumstances any man of The Cloth that didn't utter unholy epitaphs gets my vote for Sainthood. In our battle the wasp scored another hit in my arm. I decided to resort to chemical warfare myself & came to the back porch & got a spray can of bug killer. When I got back to the shed the varmint was waiting for me. I filled the air with enough fog from the can to block the sun for 20 minutes. When it dissipated I couldn't see the wasp. I guess that makes me the winner.   .......Paul H

Wasps don't bother me as much as those ground Hornets. I had one drill me on the chin while mowing and it hurt for 2 days!

In my mind's eye, I can see all of this taking place.

Paul

I got bitten in the lip by a Orchid Dupe Wasp (Lissopimpla excelsa) when mowing my block before we built our house in Queensland. Lips blew up and I looked like Jimmie Walker from Good Times after it bit me. Mind you that block was full of creatures. Stopped in a spot one time and had about 5 wolf spiders crawling all over my boots. Never seen me do such a fast paced Irish Dance, I was the Lord of the Dance that day.

Some wasp will sting & bite at the same time. Common honey bees usually just sting but leave their barbed stingers in you with a venom sack attached with a built in pump that keeps pumping venom for some time. When I was a teenager a young lady I was dating told me yellow jackets sting, bite & claw you all at the same time. Apparently she sat down on a log with a dress on & there was a nest of yellow jackets under her. That's another story. .....If a bee or wasp sting bothers me I put a dab of toothache & sore gum medication on the spot & wet my finger & rub the spot in question. One brand name that comes to mind is Orajel. It's rather expensive  at over 8 dollars for a tiny tube. No need to waste money when you can buy "generic" brands for half the price. They all do the same thing. Doctors don't want you to know this. They want to write you a prescription for  something that cost 28 dollars because they have money invested in pharmi. companies. Toothache & sore gum medications just numb the area. They don't cure the problem. Works on mosquito bites too. .......Paul H

Rick. when farming you have to keep in mind what Will Rogers said. " A bumblebee is faster than a John Deere."   ......Paul H

Once, when my wife and I were clearing the land around a house we bought, my wife turned over a sheet of plywood that had been laying around for at least a couple of years. There was a white-faced hornet's nest under it. I ran like the dickens. Sue stood in one place and "moved around a lot". If I remember correctly, she had about 10 or 12 stings. Ya GOTTA RUN!

I don't recall ever having been stung by anything other than bees. (And bitten by ants!)

Paul

I hate hornets. They are like a bee on meth.

I'm not particularly fond of ball hornets either. When I was 12 or 14 years old I went squirrel hunting in the ridge across the valley from the Cumberland Mountain. One of those wild thunderstorms came thru. There was a driftmouth to the coal mines where we dug coal for the winter. I made a beeline for the opening & ducked my head to get in out of the rain. In my haste I didn't notice the big hornet nest  hanging from the roof of the mine & butted it with my head. I  still can't figure how five gallons of hornets could live in a two gallon nest. The mine was about 75 feet deep but I must have dug 200 tons of coal getting away from the hornets & that was in total darkness using my bare hands.   :frown.....;.;.Paul H