Prolly mentioned before but I was stung over 100 times when I was young by yellow jackets. Hate the bastiges. Killed 3 nests of them this summer.
Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)
- Thread starter mainewoods
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
Good morning all. 30 degrees and foggy overnight here. They had originally predicted high 40's this week but have toned it down to low 40's to high 30's. Yesterday was the first sunny day in what felt like weeks.
I remember when I was a kid, some of the neighborhood kids were playing in our backyard. One went under a forsythia bush ... big mistake!
He came our yelling and screaming and covered with them.
I had a nest of them in the ground in my back yard a few years ago. Had to pour mix on them (and light it) over a half dozen times to get rid of them. Ended up getting tagged twice in the process (when I thought I had already eradicated them).
My wife is allergic, so I had to get rid of them.
WoodAbuser
aka WoodchuckAbuser
My eggs were not sunny side up this morning.I had forgotten you had previously mentioned your scrounge. At least I know where to go for spare parts
.
WoodAbuser
aka WoodchuckAbuser
If the party of the first part is willing to share?I had forgotten you had previously mentioned your scrounge. At least I know where to go for spare parts
I've been mass stung multiple times... the last time was bad enough that I nearly passed out and needed Benadryl. I've taken to pouring about a cup of denatured alcohol into ground and stump nests and lighting it on fire. The ground and stumps act like a wick and the fire burns hot for a long time. It is kind of satisfying to watch yellow jackets return to the next and fall out of the air as they hit the invisible flame. I've never had to apply the treatment more than once. It also leaves no hydrocarbons behind to attract two legged pests.
hcube
ArboristSite Lurker
Once when I was in probably late grade school, my brother and another friend or two went camping on the back of the farm by a pond. We noticed a yellow jacket nest where we wanted to camp. Some how we got a fire going on top of the hole where they were coming out. We kept a fire going all night . The next morning we raked the fire back and they came buzzing out. Little did we know they were safe down there.
I stumbled into a nest a few years back that was in a hollow birch log. The beavers were very active in the swamp near my cabin and I was trying to sneak in and get pics of them working. The deer flies and horse flies were horrendous that year and I did not hear the din of angry yellow jackets surrounding my legs due to those other bastards swarming my head. 7 of them got me and a couple of them got me multiple times. A couple rode me for about 75 yards before I swiped them all off.
I was a bit worried afterwards but was ok.
Went back and threw a bug bomb in the end of the hole. Problem solved.
I was a bit worried afterwards but was ok.
Went back and threw a bug bomb in the end of the hole. Problem solved.
WoodAbuser
aka WoodchuckAbuser
Always wonder what happens when someone just vanishes. He was posting regularly till 2022 then was just gone.
Some of Randy's thugs/groupies had it out for him but they had all "migrated" several years back so nobody was giving him a hard time.
And our founder, Clint (mainewoods). He had, IMO, the best avatar ever!
I miss his posts, and remember he was a big fan of burning Red Oak!
I miss his posts, and remember he was a big fan of burning Red Oak!
Sampson
ArboristSite Operative
Re: yellowjackets. Not fan of paper wasps either... I was dropping a taller than average dead apple tree at my grandmothers house and little did I know they had started construction inside a rotted out limb. As soon as that tree hit the ground all h*ll broke loose. Luckily I was able to run to the house with only a few stings. I waited several days before looking at bucking up the tree and thankfully the coast was clear.
Went up to WV camp this past week end. Wanted to leave by 8-9 in the morning, didn't make it till noon. Got up there about 3. Our last trip we got the heat pump in, but it was late and my BIL didn't want to spend the night so we could clean up after the install. So, the purpose of this trip was to clean up. We took both beds out of the bed room, the kitchen table was so covered with STUFF, I couldn't make room to eat a sub. I walked in and was just so depressed, I didn't want to start cleaning. I set my bed up in the middle of the big room and drove up into the woods looking for a nice dead Oak. Found a nice White Oak right next to the old logging road. Threw a tag line up in it and pulled it across the road. Bucked it up, noodled the bottom 5 blocks, and loaded up the F150. Took 2 1/2 hours from starting the saw, loading up, and putting the tools away. The field running up hill was pretty squishy, but I made it. Aimed the truck down the drive way for my escape on Sunday morning. Was in a better frame of mind Saturday morning and had everything pretty cleaned up by the time 2 friends showed up. We took several sheets of plywood and insulation out of the old addition on the trailer, and finished most of the wall in the bedroom. Had planned on taking more building supplies out of the old addition Sunday then leaving around noon. it poured all night Saturday night. Mt friend went out early to walk his dog, and came back in said they were packing up and leaving. It was still raining so hard, he said running water down the hill to the trailer was so bad his feet got soaked. I think the real cold weather last week had the soil still frozen. The water couldn't soak in, it just ran down the surface of the field. I walked up to the trailer to get some tools, and my boots were soaked in ten minutes. In the pic, it looks like the truck is sitting on gravel. It's water an inch deep running down the whole field. The good part of the week end was I brought back almost half a cord of wood, and my truck still averaged 19.4 MPG. If I take the 10K dump up there and bring back a full cord, I only get 9 MPG. The heat pumped heated the building, 12'X40' no problem. It was set on 68 when we went to bed and it was too warm, lowered it to 65 and was perfect.
When I built the 8X12 addition on the back of the old house trailer, I got all of the 2x4's free. At UPS all private contractors that bring loads in, have to have the load secured inside. They use plastic stirrups with springs in them, You stick the stirrup on the wall, and put a standard 8' 2x4 in them, and the springs hold them tight. I saw a maintenance guy dumping them in a dumpster and asked the manager if I could have them. I took home over 600 2X4's before they told me to stop. When I built that addition I put it together with deck screws. My BIL said just take his nail gun and Bap, Bap, and we would be done. I told him I didn't plan on keeping the old trailer forever, I'd need all those supplies again, later. Now I'm glad I have them.
Met the sawmill guys at dad's woods this morning so the could measure the trees. I asked them to measure this big oak just to get an idea of board feet in it. The device they were using was to small to fit the tree. They said the could only go up to 40" DBH. That's my 261 at the base.
This was a chestnut oak at 37"DBH. One of the bigger ones they had seen for a while.
WoodAbuser
aka WoodchuckAbuser
I can identify with that. I am a chestnut also.
