Just having a good time - NAW!!!!

[doc]

I believe I may be one of those who 'walk among us'. We have been putting in a couple of RV sites for visiting friends and I was using the tractor and a rotary mower (we call them 'bush hogs' down South here) to cut some small privet hedge that has sprouted up there. I finshed and was taking the cutter off the tractor. I backed it up and sat it down on a small clearing covered with leaves and twigs, under some large oak trees. I noticed some bugs flying around, but paid no attention to what kind. *mistake #1 I pulled the power shaft off the tractor and had to use a steel bar to knock the lift arms from the cutter *mistake #2 The bugs flying around got to be a little thicker and one landed on me. It was then I noticed his fashionable colors - black and yellow on the bottom end. This little guy was persistent and stayed with me. I tried to brush him off and he was joined almost instantly by "numerous" lookalike friends, swarming over me a black and yellow cloud. It was then that something in my head said, "those might be yellow jackets". Now I am talking the genuine article, not the cute little Georgia Teck mascot!! All these synapses were taking place pretty fast and about that time, the signal was given and these cute little guys started stinging. I ran off a couple of yards and so did they - still lighting me up. It got so bad I pulled off my shirt *possibley mistake #3. These guys were wearing me out and I am beating feet away from the tractor (still sitting there running) with a shirt full of yellow jackets, swinging it around trying to beat them off my pants and waist. Finally in desperation, I began picking them off me like burrs off a dog's coat. Luckily I had my gloves still on.
Got them off my trousers and the swarm had retreated back toward their nest and the tractor (still running )
Of course at the same time I was retreating toward my house as well. Then I started pullng these little buggars off my shirt. Could not brush them off, had to pick each one off and crush him in my fingers.
Note to self: Yellow Jackets do not like loud banging noises - they perceive it as a threat.

So now my back and side is on fire with stings beginng to swell getting redder every step. Revenge is on my mind. Pick up two cans of bug spray and stalk back to the tractor and cutter. One of the cans shoots a stream about 10 feet and is deadly on bees and wasps etc. ...IF it has enough in the can to do the job. Did I mention the wind is blowing from the effects of Fay?
Anyway a two second blast of the spray empties my can! The second can has more but the wind is blowing it away from the target. I then quietly unhook the remaining lift arm and move the tractor. Get upwind from the little buzz saws and start my spray again letting it drift with the wind over the nest. Saw a few hit the ground like shot down Kamikazes but I suspect the rest are sitting in their little under ground burrow waiting and hoping I'll move the cutter again.
Three mistakes. Black T-shirt > bigger heat signature than a white one; didn't pay attention to WHAT these creatures were until it was too late; pick a clear area to store farm implements.

[doc]

I believe I may be one of those who 'walk among us'. We have been putting in a couple of RV sites for visiting friends and I was using the tractor and a rotary mower (we call them 'bush hogs' down South here) to cut some small privet hedge that has sprouted up there. I finshed and was taking the cutter off the tractor. I backed it up and sat it down on a small clearing covered with leaves and twigs, under some large oak trees. I noticed some bugs flying around, but paid no attention to what kind. *mistake #1 I pulled the power shaft off the tractor and had to use a steel bar to knock the lift arms from the cutter *mistake #2 The bugs flying around got to be a little thicker and one landed on me. It was then I noticed his fashionable colors - black and yellow on the bottom end. This little guy was persistent and stayed with me. I tried to brush him off and he was joined almost instantly by "numerous" lookalike friends, swarming over me a black and yellow cloud. It was then that something in my head said, "those might be yellow jackets". Now I am talking the genuine article, not the cute little Georgia Teck mascot!! All these synapses were taking place pretty fast and about that time, the signal was given and these cute little guys started stinging. I ran off a couple of yards and so did they - still lighting me up. It got so bad I pulled off my shirt *possibley mistake #3. These guys were wearing me out and I am beating feet away from the tractor (still sitting there running) with a shirt full of yellow jackets, swinging it around trying to beat them off my pants and waist. Finally in desperation, I began picking them off me like burrs off a dog's coat. Luckily I had my gloves still on.
Got them off my trousers and the swarm had retreated back toward their nest and the tractor (still running )
Of course at the same time I was retreating toward my house as well. Then I started pullng these little buggars off my shirt. Could not brush them off, had to pick each one off and crush him in my fingers.
Note to self: Yellow Jackets do not like loud banging noises - they perceive it as a threat.

So now my back and side is on fire with stings beginng to swell getting redder every step. Revenge is on my mind. Pick up two cans of bug spray and stalk back to the tractor and cutter. One of the cans shoots a stream about 10 feet and is deadly on bees and wasps etc. ...IF it has enough in the can to do the job. Did I mention the wind is blowing from the effects of Fay?
Anyway a two second blast of the spray empties my can! The second can has more but the wind is blowing it away from the target. I then quietly unhook the remaining lift arm and move the tractor. Get upwind from the little buzz saws and start my spray again letting it drift with the wind over the nest. Saw a few hit the ground like shot down Kamikazes but I suspect the rest are sitting in their little under ground burrow waiting and hoping I'll move the cutter again.
Three mistakes. Black T-shirt > bigger heat signature than a white one; didn't pay attention to WHAT these creatures were until it was too late; pick a clear area to store farm implements.