We had a problem at the farm yesterday.
I got home a bit early and decided to clean up a deck that had become overgrown with weeds. We had wooden lawn furniture on it. I moved the furniture out of there and cleaned up the area. Later, my kids were playing on that deck and all of a sudden my youngest came screaming into the house in all sorts of pain. She had received three wasp stings on her ankle. The wasps were swarming. I have no idea how I didn’t get stung that whole time.
This morning we saw the wasp nest embedded in the underside of one of the wooden tables and took care of it.
When my youngest was in agony we instantly grabbed our phones and went online and to facebook, to find a cure of some sort. We should have had some sort of sting medicine in the place but didn’t.
Just like when our dog got skunked, we found an instant solution – it was a paste of baking soda and something else. It worked pretty well.
I am blown away at how much information is available at one’s fingertips. A lot of people know a lot about a lot of things.
My sympathies to your child.
A tip regarding attacking wasps nests. If at all possible…
– wait until nightfall when the wasps will have returned to the nest
– get a couple (at least) cans of those long distance wasp & hornet killer sprays
– find a good location from which to launch your spray attack
– take the most powerful light(s) you have (your auto headlights are ideal) and shine them on the nest from a place that is NOWHERE NEAR where you will launch your attack from
– send women and children to a safe place, preferably out of state
– launch your attack.
regarding the dog skunking, I recently went through that. I also found the peroxide and baking soda recipe on the web (how did we live without it?. Problem is, who has a quart of hydrogen peroxide around the house? (I do now – two of them.) The vast majority of us have a small brown pint bottle that is 10 years old and half empty (or full depending on your disposition).
The recipe does seem to work OK. Several washes will make an improvement. Unfortunately every time you dog gets wet it will stink all over again. For weeks. Nasty animals those skunks.
“who has a quart of hydrogen peroxide around the house?”
My grandmother for one.
Baking soda too.
We learned first hand all about how well those worked on bee stings.
It seemed she had a whole stockpile of industrial revolution era chemicals and solvents that could remedy a whole host of ills and any predicaments we found ourselves falling into.
Gurray – it is interesting to us that we now have large quantities of peroxide, baking soda and other things like that on hand at all times. Just gotta have them when the stores are closed.
Join the Marine Corps and learn the time honored cure for stings, cuts, and bruises…..you curse at it, until you feel better…unless its falling off then you go see the Corpsman for some midol.
I like that Jezzy.
“it was a paste of baking soda and something else.”
So what is the something else?
(deleted by Dan)
I thought it was baking soda and something, but it was just baking soda and water. It worked just ok, we have her on Benadryl now and hope to see some improvement by morning.
I remember when I was working in the back country of Sequoia (we came in by helicopter for the summer) – got stung by a yellow jacket and my hand swelled up like a bear paw. Didn’t have any remedy but to cuss at it ;-)
Sorry to hear the little one’s got stung. As a kid stings were common. Honey Bees, Bumble Bees, Mud Wasps, Yellow Jackets etc. By far the worst was the Bald-Faced Hornet. Terrible, they will chase you for a mile. Can’t remember what my Mother used as a remedy though.
Yes, baking soda and ice applications are about all you can do for wasp stings, I tend to think the ice pack does more good.
If you have dogs who may encounter skunks, get yourself a supply of Skunk-Off, it’s readily available online, including Amazon, and at pet supply stores. It works better than some of the other commercial preparations we have found, and doesn’t change the fur color the way the hydrogen peroxide mixtures do. We had a solid liver German Shorthaired Pointer who was working his way through dog shows to his championship when he got skunked, the peroxide would have resulted in disqualification due to the color effect.
Our shorthairs never learn about skunks, their predator instinct takes over and they want to kill the nasty critter, so we have had a number of times to try out the various products on the market for skunk odor, and so far haven’t found anything better than Skunk-Off, so we keep a good supply on hand, even though we are down to only one dog now. My, how I miss my old buddy…
Here in NC we have these “yellowjackets” (don’t know their correct name) that live in holes in the ground or under decks. They look like small bees rather than wasps. About fifteen years ago I was walking on an old deck while wearing short pants and was attacked by a swarm of those little bast**ds. I ran like the wind, screaming like a little girl. Those suckers REALLY hurt!
Thankfully I had some Sting Kill ampules in the glove compartment. You crush the glass vial between your thumb and forefinger and dab the liquid on the welt. They seem to work.
I now keep Sting Kill in all my vehicles… Oh, and that was the last time I EVER wore short pants in the woods. Duh…