2014/06/26

yeeeooooww!

Today's excitement, so far, certainly exceeded yesterday's in terms of my own adrenaline.

Yesterday a female hummingbird came in through the front door but tried to leave through the window, which has a screen. I managed to carefully raise the screen and usher her out before she had a chance to injure herself. Cool, and a bit of afternoon excitement.

Today I went out and whacked a bit at the undergrowth on the east slope behind the house. All I was trying to do was clear the loop path I take down to the compost and back up to the yard. I was almost done, coming back up, when I disturbed a previously unknown hornet's nest.

It took a fraction of a second to recognize the difference between a couple of thorns and a bunch of small hornets, especially in the shady undergrowth. I never did see the hornets, but if it had been bees I would have had eight of them stuck to me when I crashed onto the lawn. Nobody stuck to me, just eight angry welts screaming in pain.

I knew that the pain would subside fairly quickly, at least the worst of it, but dang it really hurt for a few minutes. Five stings on my right leg, two on my left, and one on my right middle finger.

The worst of the pain is long gone; it's been almost fifteen minutes. All of the welts are a bit swollen and tender. They are starting to itch. Soon they'll just be wee red memories. Fortunately I am not the least bit allergic to most stings. Still, I took a diphenhydramine capsule to reduce swelling and itchiness.

But my weed-whacker is still down on the slope somewhere. I don't think I'll be going back for it until I have long pants and proper shoes on.

1 comment:

  1. Shannon used WD-40 on a hornet sting last year and it took the pain away immediately. You may want to keep some on hand if you can't find that nest in the dark to kill the little monsters.

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