Wasp stings and a painful experience

[crusader rabbit]

Bunny and I are leaving the old homestead (which we'll rent out) for life aboard a 40' Monaco Diplomat RV.  We've actually already moved aboard, and that's working out reasonably well.

Anyway, yesterday we were down at the house getting stuff ready for the "moving sale," when I decided to bring Bunny's potting cart from the side of the house closer to the hose to clean it up and make it ready for sale.

I grabbed the handle and started pulling and that's when I found the wasps--or rather, the wasps found me.

Seems there was a very large nest of the critters, and they took offense to my attempts to move their home.

Thay nailed me on the right hand--initially, I thought I'd suffered only two stings.  But, it's hard to count accurately when your hand is being subjected to intense pain.  I later discovered that I'd taken at least five stings, and maybe a couple more glancing blows.

I iced everything down immediately, and the pain soon diminished to merely awful.  I took a couple of benedryl before I went to bed and figuered the worst was over.

About  2 AM, I was awakened from a sound sleep by the intense pain of my now swollen hand.  My paw looked like a fielder's mitt and I didn't know what  was worse, the itch or the pain.

It's been nearly 36 hours now, and I still have a hand that's twice the size of normal.  Still itches like crazy, but the pain has diminished. It has had an unexpected benefit in that I can't get my hand into the pocket where the money lives.

I'm not seeking sympathy.  But I wanted to get this dcown on the thread while I am still able to use my hand.

Them little sumb!tches sting hard!

FWIW,

Crusader

[fightingquaker13]

Three, no four points. 1) check to make sure you got the stingers out. 2) apply ammonia to the wounds, its not an old wives tale it really helps. 3) pay attention to your vitals. ANY shortness of breath etc. and its off to the ER. Better to look a fool than die of an allergy you didn't know about. 4) If you are looking for smaller living quarters maybe you want to unload some clutter, Like say .357 rounds........
FQ13

[tombogan03884]

Tape a penny over the sting, (an older one that actually has some copper on it ) Something about the copper counter acts the sting.
The best way to get rid of hornets and wasps is to scrape the nest off whatever they anchored it to. I've done this several times.
During January.
In NH.
At -10 degrees.
Never been stung yet. 

[Ichiban]

History of composition of the penny

Years   Material
1793–1857   100% copper
1857–1864   88% copper, 12% nickel (also known as NS-12)
1864–1942 1946–1962   bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc)
1943   zinc-coated steel (also known as 1943 steel cent)
1944–1946   brass (95% copper, 5% zinc)
1962–1982   brass (95% copper, 5% zinc)
1982–present   97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper (core: 99.2% zinc, .8% copper; plating: pure copper)[5]

[fightingquaker13]

History of composition of the penny

Years   Material
1793–1857   100% copper
1857–1864   88% copper, 12% nickel (also known as NS-12)
1864–1942 1946–1962   bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc)
1943   zinc-coated steel (also known as 1943 steel cent)
1944–1946   brass (95% copper, 5% zinc)
1962–1982   brass (95% copper, 5% zinc)
1982–present   97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper (core: 99.2% zinc, .8% copper; plating: pure copper)[5]

And it still costs more than a penny to produce them. We are doing this why?
FQ13

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

Ichiban, check the date on your reference. I heard that the new pennies with the shield on the back have either an even lower copper content, or else the plating is much thinner. not sure of the details, but I remember reading that something changed besides the back design.

[Rastus]

If it's still swollen a really great deal, go see a doctor and get some droids to get it down.  You should also talk to him about your suceptability to stings now compared to a younger age.  We keep an epi pen for the boys...they are allergic.

[Timothy]

If it's still swollen a really great deal, go see a doctor and get some droids to get it down.  You should also talk to him about your suceptability to stings now compared to a younger age.  We keep an epi pen for the boys...they are allergic.

+1

I found out the hard way that I was allergic when I was in my early thirties.  My entire childhood I'd been stung dozens of times with no ill effects.  Fast forward a couple decades, I get whacked by a yellow jacket fishing the pond by my house and five hours later, my arm swells four fold and off to the E-Room I go!

[Pathfinder]

+1 on the ammonia. They actually make a pen-light sized applicator that contains pretty much 100% ammonia with a tip to apply it.

Had the same problem with a wasp nest on the hose reel itself. Luckily, the reel tipped over, and as the wasps flew up I hosed them down with a spray rather than a stream. They quickly left for the other direction - away from me.

I cut the nest (about 3.5" diameter) off the reel and tossed it into the weeds and flowers, didn't think twice about it. Last Thursday, I discovered the little buggers had PICKED THE NEST UP and moved it back to the hose reel to a little shelf right under the handle. This time, forget water - I used a farm and ranch strength bug spray and soaked the nest, killing about a dozen that were crawling/flying in the vicinity.

Like Rastus said, get thee to a doctor, only eschew the droids (that C3P0 in particular is a queer little bug) and get some steroids. 

[PegLeg45]

Bleach on a cotton ball, taped over the sting, works well also.