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[Roger2561]

Hi all, earlier today I was stacking some firewood onto pallets for the next year or so to dry.  I was perhaps 5 hours into the work when I felt something spongy in my hand.  I looked down to find I was holding onto a hornets nest, perhaps 5 or 6 inches in diameter.  I didn't think it was a live one until I saw 2 hornets fly out of it.  I threw the nest on the ground and crushed it with my foot only to find it had 6 more hornets in it.  Thankfully they were all dead.  I do not have an explanation of why I wasn't stung other then it was only by the grace of God that I wasn'.  Roger   

[hoardac]

That would have made for a bad day firewood and hornets.

[AirForcePOL]

You got lucky on that one, Roger!  Glad you didn't get stung.  That could me for a very bad situation in no time at all!

[Roger2561]

You got lucky on that one, Roger!  Glad you didn't get stung.  That could me for a very bad situation in no time at all!

AirForce - I know, I was dang lucky.  The good Lord must of have had his hand in it.  The hornets are on thing but those yellow jackets are a breed of their own.  They are in a constant state of pissed off and will sting you for no other reason than because you're there.  The fact that we were only a few feet from them, destroyed their nest and didn't get stung is miracle.  They are nasty buggers to deal with. 

[Roger2561]

I just noticed that I forgot to mention the run in we had with the yellow jackets earlier in the day.  My brother and I were cleaning the area where we process the firewood and while raking it my bro mentioned that there are a lot of bees around the area.  At first glance I thought they were flies but at closer inspection I realized they were yellow jackets.  We had inadvertently destroyed their nest.  There must have been 20 to 30 of them.  Those guys are bad guys to be around.  It wasn't until later in the day that I had the run in with the hornets.  Roger

[Chas]

Bees...... one of the many reasons I like to harvest my wood in the winter. Also included on the list is heat, sweat, tall weeds, snakes, mosquitos, and the fact that I can dress warm but it's hard to dress cool..... and cut wood.

[GCTerpfan]

I am allergic to Bees.  Yellow jackets have put me in the hospital twice.  The last time included a fairly scary ambulance ride.  One of the four stings I received that time was on the top of my head and my face was so swollen that my wife didn't recognize me when she got to the hospital.  I have learned to approach areas that look "Beeyee" with caution.

The most scared I have been because of bees though is when my 2 yr old son, who was allergic to milk, soy, wheat, peanuts, (pretty much everything you can think of) when he was young, stepped on a yellow jacket nest while with his grandmother.  He was stung 13 times, knowing my bee allergy and all of his allergies,  they rushed him to the hospital and called me and my wife who were over 1 hour away.  That was the scariest 1 hour drive I have ever made.  Luckily, the only thing my son wasn't allergic to at the time was bees.   

It was a huge relief and a little humorous when we got to the hospital waiting room to find him running around trying to step on a fly and yelling "bad bees" while wearing nothing but his diaper. He has since grown out of all of his other allergies and is a healthy 5 year old.

[juddspaintballs]

Yellow jackets are wasps, not bees.  They have excellent eyesight and are easy to piss off.  They will follow you and sting you over and over again.  They are bad news.  Always attack them in the dark, if possible.