wasps

OK, so there I was on a nice Saturday morning. The sun was sunning, the birds were chirping and wind was breezing. Relaxing in my Adirondack chair and pondering the steps I'll undertake in starting my garden next week, (we can't really plant stuff until about the last week in May) I was blissfully unaware of the horror that was to follow, ruining my day.

I done got stung by a wasp. The target area was my back, below right shoulder blades. The little b*****d snuck through the slats and got me.

I wasn't even doing anything to aggravate the little f***er, just sitting quietly in my chair. I went inside and took Benadryl for any allergic reaction and this made me doze off until later afternoon.

And if that wasn't enough, on Sunday night my wife and I went to a Last Chance Slacker Mass at our parish down the road. Ok, so there I was on a nice Sunday evening, relaxing in a side chapel praying and meditating, blissfully unaware of ANOTHER DANG WASP LURKING RIGHT BEHIND ME!!! I done got stunged again. Right side of my neck. It still hurts.

How was your weekend?

I sorrow you had a bad time with wasps  :(

Personally, if I had been stung twice without provoking them, I'd check what soap/shampoo/fragrances/laundry detergent I was wearing. Wasps react to some odors like that. Things I have heard they definitely react to include Tide laundry detergent, some herbal essential oils on the skin/hair/clothes, several types of perfume/aftershave, and I won't wear muscle rub when I'm outside, because I'm not in the mood to learn the painful way if they dislike it.

Now I'm gonna be eyeing my Adirondack chairs with suspicion... Never thought about the slats.

My beautiful husband swore in church and was promptly stung by a wasp. Do I think it was sent by God to deliver retribution? That's up to you. AHAHAHHAHAHAHA I kid, I kid.

Pearl Sutton wrote:I sorrow you had a bad time with wasps  

Personally, if I had been stung twice without provoking them, I'd check what soap/shampoo/fragrances/laundry detergent I was wearing. Wasps react to some odors like that. Things I have heard they definitely react to include Tide laundry detergent, some herbal essential oils on the skin/hair/clothes, several types of perfume/aftershave, and I won't wear muscle rub when I'm outside, because I'm not in the mood to learn the painful way if they dislike it.

Now I'm gonna be eyeing my Adirondack chairs with suspicion... Never thought about the slats.

I haven't changed personal hygiene habits. The first attack (Sat AM) came 12 hours after my last shower; the second on Sun PM came 30 mins after showering. I use the same hygiene/care stuff as ever.

I may go to Facebook and post a question in some WNY gardening Groups and inquire as to whether anyone has noticed wasps being more obnoxious than usual.

We use muscle rub a lot, never noticed that provoking anything after going outdoors. But your mileage may vary

A weirder thought...
I have seen wild bees become aggressive when chemicals have been sprayed, fertilizer, etc.
Wonder if wasps do the same....

My wife used to have some kind of deodorant or perfume that attracted bees and wasps. Maybe its something like that.

Maybe to them you smell like chicken! You might want to try the opposite and put on some of your grandads 'Old Spice'.

What kind of wasps were stinging you?
The brown colored wasps around my door don't bother me unless I put my hand on them.
And the stings don't hurt for long.

craig howard wrote:What kind of wasps were stinging you?
The brown colored wasps around my door don't bother me unless I put my hand on them.
And the stings don't hurt for long.

I never saw the Saturday one. The Sunday one was yellow. Might have been a yellowjacket, may have been a hornet. A friend id'd it as a yellowjacket bit she picked it up with a tissue and tossed it outside.

Boy, did I cause a ruckus on that local facebook garden group. Contentious postings regarding the value of wasps. (Useless, arrogant a-holes vs misunderstood pollinators.)

Hormonal changes can also effect wasps. My oldest gets stung all the time while pregnant. While I'm not suggesting that you are pregnant, other hormonal changes are likely to have the same effect.

I vote for "misunderstood pollinator" - at least in the spring

From my personal experiences wasps become docile if they have suffient water.

Last year i had a through where i kept some stuff in to not have it scattered over the place,
water accumulated in the bottom, but for the items in it that was ok.

Wasps build a nest in a pot that was partially submerged into said water,
and they never bothered when i took stuff out, even when i moved the nest.

Really can't wait for them ro reappear soon, to get rid of the mosquitos!

However i have once been stund in the city: Wasp somehow flew in my face and found itself between my face and my glasses...stund my eyebrow,
it was swollen, but it could have beend worse...

The wasps around here are no joke

I had yellowjackets all over my hummingbird feeders last summer, got stung sitting at my outdoor table while in a zoom work meeting ( I take my computer outside to forget that I am still somewhat of a wage slave organ grinders monkey for ‘the man’).

They did seem kind of aggressive though I think I put my elbow down on him or her.

My hummingbird feeders had only had ants the summers prior so I don’t know who told the yellowjackets to come round.

The mosquitoes just came out today with a vengeance, they are like raptor birds, so now I halfway want some predatory thing to kill those other predatory things. I don’t know why but North Dakota’s bugs are wimps compared to Texas, though. I got bitten by mosquitoes today and the bites don’t hurt all that much afterward. Ants, same and even the yellowjacket was kind of wimpy for a yellowjacket. All the bugs in Texas seemed to be hopped up on steroids and looking to kill. Those bites or stings stuck around.

Maybe it’s the same way they say dogs start to favor their human…bugs pick up on the local vibe and respond accordingly? No I’m anthropomorphizing….or whatever you call it when it’s insects you are comparing to humans.

Paul Canosa wrote:The wasps around here are no joke

That is one heck of a wasp on the bottom—Japan is home of the Murder Hornet and a type of bee that nobody has ever ‘kept’ if I’m not mistaken. Considering the Japanese way of gentility I guess my hypothesis about insects emulating local humans has been proven to be hooey.