Last Saturday, due to the high fire warnings, I decided it was high time to attack the long grasses in my orchard line. I leave these long grasses for several reasons. It invites in the local wildlife, deer and the like to bed down in the shade of the trees. It also provides protection for the free-roaming strays and ferals from the hot sun in the summer and the rain in the wintertime.

Although this year, the grasses were quite higher than ever before, due to a malfunctioning lawnmower. So I pulled out my trimmer mower and went to work. The DR Trimmer mower is a godsend. Especially in regards to getting rid of thick grass and blackberry bushes. I always wear protective gear because it is known to fling up small rocks and sticks as it eats its way through the weeds etc.

I was making good time with it, when suddenly I felt this burning sensation on my neck. Initially, I thought it was small rocks that had flung up from the ground. Boy was I wrong. I looked around and that’s when I saw these small white flying insects swirling out of the ground. I had inadvertently run over a massive nest! I could feel several sensations in my neck that were not pleasant. I am grateful now, that I had put Kota on a down stay in the backyard. Had he been there, I am sure he would have jumped immediately into the nest to protect me. Cupping my hand to my throat, I fled to the house.

This is the first time in my life that I have been attacked by wasps. Turns out Sunday after having to go to Urgent Care due to the pain and swelling, I was not stung. The doctor said I was bitten. He explained that wasps have teeth with venom inside their mouth as potent as what is carried in their stinger. I was bitten five times.

They gave me a pain shot, a shot of steroids, some anit-nausea pills and sent me home with  additional steroids to take the next day. The pain was incredible. I have a high threshold for pain, but this was so different. Right after the attack, I started getting this nasty taste in my mouth. I could feel it as it dripped down my esophagus and it burned. That turned out to be the toxin the bites delivered.

Yesterday, the pain was still so intense I called my PC and went in. She told me I am suffering from extended reactions to the bites and gave me some lidocaine cream.This morning, thankfully, I was able to keep down water and crackers. The swelling is gone, the redness is gone and as the pain was traveling from my neck down to my chest, the chest pains are gone as well.

Now, I have a massive underground nest of stinging biting white wasps?  I dumped two large cans of RAID (something I would never ordinarily use on insects outside.0 But these buggers are fast, they come in hard and leave a lot of damage behind. God knows what they would do to Twist or Goblin my two high-prey cats. Much less to Kota because i have seen this goofy dog snapping and eating yellow jackets when he is getting pestered by them. I had called several pest control companies after the incident, but it was on the holiday so only yesterday did one arrive.

Turns out, these were yellow jackets and why they were white (according to this man) is because the nest was being attacked and they were diving down into the nursery to carry the larvae to another location. The nursery is protected by this white powder, and they tuck their stinger underneath the babies to protect them. This is why they bit me and did not sting me. The price he gave me to not remove the nest, but to dust it with what turns out to be something I already have on hand- diatomaceous earth (I use it to control fleas in the backyard) was way overpriced( in my mind anyway.) I have another guy coming on Friday. I want to see what he says. I don’t know about you guys, but $500.00 to kill these insects seems a bit steep? That could buy a lot of cat food, cat litter and hit the vet debt. We will see what this second man has to say.

So for now, I have to stop feeding Bristol by the creek. I am not even going into my back pasture with the entrance to this nest being so exposed. The RAID did not even faze these buggers! I just want them gone. I don’t want my cats stung or bit either. I am going to ask the pest expert if he can find anymore nests in the long grasses that remain. I don’t know if that is even possible? But it never hurts to ask. I do know, it will hurt if I find another nest when I try to continue attacking the grasses before they decide to fight back!

This morning when I went to feed, God blessed me with my first contact with Goblin! I was able to actually run my hand quickly down his back as he was eating! He will have been here one year ago on this approaching Halloween. This is a good sign that he is finally trusting in my presence.

My thanks to those of you who contributed recently to keep my non-profit going. So appreciated that you gave of your hearts. Stay safe everyone. Love the ones you’re with and let them know or show them   how important they are to you.