Hornets

[Poppi G. Koullias]

When hornets are around, usually September, best let them carve out a bit of your meat and fly it back to their nest, rather than you wave your arms about only to get badly stung.

Up in the mountains of Massouri is a great hornets nest of several hundred thousand. Being so high and dangerously out of reach except to climbers who have the sense to keep clear, our hornets have gotten away with being exterminated for decades. Unlike flies, they are clean. They frequent our natural springs to drink. I ignore them, they don't bother me. But they sure bother others. Like a really big man who by the look of him wouldn't be upset at anything, running away in panic being persued by angry hornets after he flayed his water drum at them.

 

[4meandthem]

That's a biggun'.
I might fight him for my steak but he can have my chicken.

I get a ton of meat bees around here.I had one crawl down my back and get me 4 times under my shirt while golfing. I must have looked pretty funny running around screaming!Ruined my game!

 

[taxlady]

That's a biggun'.
I might fight him for my steak but he can have my chicken.

I get a ton of meat bees around here.I had one crawl down my back and get me 4 times under my shirt while golfing. I must have looked pretty funny running around screaming!Ruined my game!

I can see how that might ruin your game. Yikes!

I really dislike getting stung.

 

[LPBeier]

I am highly allergic to bees and wasps. When I was young I was bored waiting for my Mom at the hairdressers so she gave me some money and sent me next door to get an A&W Rootbeer. I sat on the bench.....next thing I know I am being loaded in an ambulance and I am covered in rootbeer head to foot. They have a mask on me and the sirens were going.

I sat on a bee! That's how I found out I was allergic.

 

[Poppi G. Koullias]

That's a biggun'.
I might fight him for my steak but he can have my chicken.

I get a ton of meat bees around here.I had one crawl down my back and get me 4 times under my shirt while golfing. I must have looked pretty funny running around screaming!Ruined my game!

Indeed a biggun! The yellow and brown hornets can grow up to 3 inches long. But the hornet will get your steak by whatever means! But your having one crawling under your shirt must have been terrifying!

I can hear one before I see it. They have flight paths and during September and even into October if the weather stays hot, they busy around feeding their hatchlings and generally making merry over fermenting fruit. I should have said late August when any left over figs drop to the ground. Hornets are most partial to them.

I am highly allergic to bees and wasps. When I was young I was bored waiting for my Mom at the hairdressers so she gave me some money and sent me next door to get an A&W Rootbeer. I sat on the bench.....next thing I know I am being loaded in an ambulance and I am covered in rootbeer head to foot. They have a mask on me and the sirens were going.

I sat on a bee! That's how I found out I was allergic.

I'm sorry to hear you were stung and allergic, and went to hospital. That must have been terrible!

Kalymnian hornets as any other, are no different. They are beliggarent, even I took a chance when putting my camera on macros to get a closeup of the beast. When i say "they don't bother me" I mean staying out of their flight path and not giving out signals of fear, which hornets seem to home in on.

I strongly advise you to carry an emergency syringe that counteracts hornet venom. They are available somewhere on the internet. I carry an emergency insulin kit for myself because we cannot be too careful.

Our mountains have caves and small holes, and this is where the big hornet nests are. Smaller ones can be found anywhere, in sheds, garages even basements. No fun, but the most expedient way is a can of wasp spray and run away fast!

 

[taxlady]

This is what my husband wore, including safety goggles, to protect himself when spraying wasps. As you can see, we duct taped all openings, so wasps wouldn't get under his clothes. We also did this in the late evening, so the wasps would be asleep.

You are allowed to laugh. It was August!

It worked perfectly.