I was outside this morning with Matthew, I was sitting in a chair talking on the phone and something landed on my leg. OK, let me just say that I have an irrational fear of most insects, especially ones that fly and sting.

I screamed, brushed it off and ran wildly around the yard, I'm not kidding. My poor friend thought something happened to one of my children. Good thing we have a high fence and the neighbours weren't home.

At first I didn't even know what had landed on me and I didn't feel a bite or sting, I was just freaked out. A few minutes later I noticed what looked to be mosquito bite on my leg where this thing had landed. Then I saw it on the ground where I had brushed it off and it was still moving. Panic! It's still alive and it STINGS! OMG! I went in search of something to kill it with and used one of Matthew's pails to squish it.

Upon further inspection I saw that it was a black and white hornet or wasp. The little bite thing has disappeared so I'm not sure what this thing did to my leg. Do they bite? I didn't feel a sting and I was just sitting here minding my own business, why did this thing decide to attack me?

I was sitting under the Pear tree and all the pears are ripe and ready for picking, therefore attracting a lot of birds and insects, but I still don't get what this thing was after.

Any ideas?

By Trina~moderator on Friday, August 11, 2006 - 03:26 pm:

Hornets and wasps can sting repeatedly. They don't lose the stinger and die like bees. It probably got you when you brushed it off. I teach my kids to sit very still when a stinging insect is near, and especially if it lands on them. It will realize you're not a flower or food and then will fly away. Works like a charm! Getting wild and flapping arms around will most likely end in getting stung.

By Heaventree on Friday, August 11, 2006 - 03:32 pm:

LOL, Trina I have to laugh at you what you said about sitting calmly. I'm much better than I used to be and I certainly don't want to pass this fear onto my kids, but sometimes I just can't help it.

I'm not just scared but terrified, my heart beats faster and go into a complete panic. I wish I could have hypnosis or something to get rid of this.

I need to have an intervention or something.

Thanks for tip, that's exactly what I'm going to tell my kids to do.

By Ginny~moderator on Friday, August 11, 2006 - 05:27 pm:

I was terrified of spiders for years, but didn't want to pass that on to my sons, so I would grit my teeth and say "that's interesting" when my oldest - who was really into bugs - would show me a spider web. I still think they're creepy, but I haven't screamed or flinched at one since my oldest was about 4.

By Ginny~moderator on Friday, August 11, 2006 - 05:29 pm:

Heaventree, the wasp was probably looking for some of the windfall pears or pears on the tree that were starting to get soft spots. Many wasps like sweet stuff. I remember being very careful not to spill any sweet drinks when we would eat outside, because the wasps would come to drink the spilled liquid.

By Nicki on Friday, August 11, 2006 - 05:51 pm:

I was working in an over grown and neglected area in our yard one day. Suddenly a wasp flew into my hair. I tried hard to brush him away (and now I know I shouldn't have!) and it stung me three times on my head. I ran to my husband and asked him to get "them" out of my hair. He said it was only one, so it's true, they can sting more than once.

As it turned out, after I was calm, my dh and I investigated the spot and I had disturbed an underground nest. Dh sprayed it, once it was evening and cool so they wouldn't attack him, too. Heaventree, could a nest be near by your tree? It sounds like it's the pear nectar, but just a thought. Sorry about your bite. I think the worst part for me was the fright that little thing gave me, lol! I was still shaking an hour later.

By Colette on Friday, August 11, 2006 - 06:18 pm:

The one of the best ways to get rid of an underground nest is to cover the opening with a clear glass bowl. If you block the nest they will tunnel around it and they are hard to spray because you have no idea how big the nest is - and they can be quite big. If you cover it with a clear bowl, they do not realize the hole is blocked so they do not make a new entrance. It takes 1-2 weeks and it's really creepy looking (they will cover the glass and then climb on top of the ones that die) and then when you see no more live bees, you can remove the bowl and a raccoon or skunk will dig up the nest and eat it.

By Heaventree on Friday, August 11, 2006 - 11:20 pm:

We have a green belt in the back so there is very probably a nest close by. We had 3 on our house and one in our tree last year but it was hot and I was pregnant so I didn't care as I did not step outside last summer.

Funny as soon as I posted my response to Trina, Matthew woke up from his nap and we went outside to sit on the steps. Sure enough a stinging insect came along and I was telling Matthew "Ok, don't touch the Buggy Bug (as he calls them) and sit very still, meanwhile I'm looking for the closet escape route.

I didn't freak out this time. Trina I'm working on it!

I did see a black bag that you can hang in your trees that looks like a nest to wasps and apparently it scares off wasps from other nests, maybe I'll look into one of those for next year.

I love that Pear Tree but hate what it attracts, we have to pick those pears!

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, August 12, 2006 - 12:16 am:

I hate hornets. I got stung once, while waiting for a bus, in college and once, when Sarah was an infant. Ugh. It hurts soo bad. My kids have each been stung once, but I think Emily has gotten it twice, in her life, when she was much younger.

I totally freak, if there is one in the car and we are sure getting into hornet season! Yuck. On the playground at school, kids are always getting stung. It's horrible, sometimes! I can't wait for cooler weather! (and it's too early to wish for that!)

By Hol on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 01:13 am:

Two weekends ago, we were on the patio and I felt something hit my arm very fast, and keep going. However, in that split second, it stung me without even landing on me. It burned like fire, and I started getting a welt. My DH thought I was crazy when I said it literally "hit and ran". Well, the other night, the same thing happened to him. He got stung on the shoulder. I have NO idea what kind of stinging insect can do that.

They had something on our TV the other night about "digger wasps". It seems that they are back. Our area had a lot of them a few summers ago. They literally burrow into the dirt a few inches down, and will swarm you if you walk over "their" area. A lot of people get stung while unsuspectingly mowing over the area.

I guess really hot summers bring them. We've certainly had that!

By Heaventree on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 08:36 am:

Hol, that was exactly what happened to me. It wasn't just buzzing around it was like it dive bombed me. Scared me half to death. Usually I try to be calm and not run around like a crazy women but this thing attacked me. Really.

By Karen~admin on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 08:58 am:

Wasp stings HURT like nothing else. Several years ago, I was mowing the yard, and reached down to move the hose, which was coiled up, but on a thing attached to the side of the house, and hanging down in the way. I didn't know there was a wasp nest underneath the thing and I literally grabbed the nest and it felt like my hand was on fire. I jumped back and when I opened my hand, 6 or 8 wasps flew out of it. I'd been stung over a dozen times, and it was one of THE most painful things that's ever happened to me. Most of the stings were on 2 fingers, my hand was swollen, and I just cried like a baby. Jen ran to get my neighbor, who is a nurse, and she put baking soda paste, tobacco, anything she could think of on it. No one had any Adolphs meat tendurizer. :-( The burning and stinging lasted well over an hour. It was awful. So can we just say I've developed a *healthy respect* for wasps? Actually I am TERRIFIED of them now!! I had no idea their stings were so painful, but I remember that as if it were yesterday.

By Bea on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 10:20 am:

With it being so hot this summer, the mud daubers have been using our pool as a water source. They can actually land on the surface to drink. I will have several out there at the pool, whenever I'm in it. I respect their space, and I've never had a problem. The dragon flies and butterflies land on my toes while I'm floating. I can feel them drinking the water on my toes, and it tickles. I try to stay still. I love them to do that.

As a kid, we had a summer home that had a rose trellis over our front gate. There was a hornet's nest in the rose bush. We left them alone, and were fine, until one day my younger brother was excited to show a boyfriend of mine his new pet turtle. He ran through the gate, slamming it behind him, and they emerged in a swarm, biting him repeatedly. The poor little kid was dancing and crying, holding his turtle in the air. We pulled him into the car, and drove off. That night I took a bottle of DDT we had, and poured it over that nest. In the morning they were all dead, and I knocked that thing out of the bush.

Our oldest son was playing on a slide in a Howard Johnson's Lodge playground, near Orlando Florida. When he came off the slide, he tumbled on top of a ground wasp nest. He was stung dozens of times. We took him to the emergency room, and they gave him a shot of Benadryl and some cream to stop the pain. It certainly put a damper on his first trip to Disney World.