The AM Forum
March 29, 2024, 10:55:41 AM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
 
   Home   Help Calendar Links Staff List Gallery Login Register  
Pages: 1 2 [3] 4   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: @&##$% wasps  (Read 37831 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
KM1H
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 3519



« Reply #50 on: August 27, 2010, 02:03:42 PM »

Unfortunately pets cant read the books and roll in the PI and bring the oil into the house. My oldest son is allergic and we would have to get him treated every year thanks to the dog and cat.

When I moved here the property had ben unattended for decades, just some hippie renters that did nothing. There were huge vines climbing stone walls, the fruit trees and oaks, they dont like pine, and generally popping up over about half the 5 acres. The first year I rented a gas engine sprayer and got a gallon of the pure RoundUp from another ham who was the head groundskeeper at a country club down in MA. This stuff wasnt sold to the public, a little went a long way. I sprayed adjoining properties and along the road where the animals also strolled. Neighbors didnt mind, there were only 2 in the area then. After that it was a pump sprayer and regular patrols. Now I might find a tiny outbreak every other year and the other vacant properties have been developed.

With that #1 son and his family living here until they can find a house (came from H-D in Milwaukee) Ive been extra vigilant.

Somehow I get the feeling that Don doesnt like PI Grin

Carl
Logged
k4kyv
Contributing Member
Don
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 10057



« Reply #51 on: August 27, 2010, 02:38:51 PM »

Birds are the primary spreaders of poison ivy.  They eat the berries but don't digest the seeds.  When they shit them out, the seed hits the ground intact, with along with an adequate supply of fertiliser to help it establish.

When I was a kid the doctor gave me those shots, too. I remember the medication in a green package, and IIRC, the  liquid was also green. They seemed somewhat but not totally effective, but a few years later they were discontinued.  No-one seemed to know why at the time, but I recently found an article on a website that claimed the medication in those shots did some kind of chromosome damage, so they were taken off the market.
Logged

Don, K4KYV                                       AMI#5
Licensed since 1959 and not happy to be back on AM...    Never got off AM in the first place.

- - -
This message was typed using the DVORAK keyboard layout.
http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak
K1JJ
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 8893


"Let's go kayaking, Tommy!" - Yaz


« Reply #52 on: August 27, 2010, 03:07:49 PM »

but I recently found an article on a website that claimed the medication in those shots did some kind of chromosome damage, so they were taken off the market.


Wonderful... Shocked  No wonder the docs knew nothing about it years later.  I've been known to turn into a super-hero like "The Thing" of the FF.   I'm also a teen idol, so maybe it's not so bad.

T
Logged

Use an "AM Courtesy Filter" to limit transmit audio bandwidth  +-4.5 KHz, +-6.0 KHz or +-8.0 KHz when needed.  Easily done in DSP.

Wise Words : "I'm as old as I've ever been... and I'm as young as I'll ever be."

There's nothing like an old dog.
WA1GFZ
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 11152



« Reply #53 on: August 27, 2010, 04:58:19 PM »

HMMM green liquid. Do you pop out of your shirt and put on a mean face when you go into super hero mode.
Logged
W3SLK
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 2651

Just another member member.


« Reply #54 on: August 28, 2010, 08:25:30 AM »

Dave said:
Quote
According to Ewell Gibbons (remember him?)  the native Americans would develop an immunity to poison ivy by eating one of the tiny leaves of the poison ivy as soon as they emerged in the spring, and successively eating larger leaves every couple days over time as they grew bigger.


Ewell Gibbons, died exactly 2 blocks from my house. My dad was good friends with him. He passed away due to cirrhosis of the liver. He was a big time drunk!

(.....At night I'm a junk food junky, good Lord have pity on me...... [my apologies to Ray Stevens])
Logged

Mike(y)/W3SLK
Invisible airwaves crackle with life, bright antenna bristle with the energy. Emotional feedback, on timeless wavelength, bearing a gift beyond lights, almost free.... Spirit of Radio/Rush
K3ZS
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 1037



« Reply #55 on: August 28, 2010, 11:34:56 AM »

I never had ivy poison until this year.   I was sharpening and fixing up an old antique pair of manual hedge shears.   I had put some oil on it.  After chopping off some wild bushes and some low plants with them I noticed some of the oil had run down on my arm.   About a day later, I had severe poison ivy at the same spot on my arm.  Every other part of my body that my arm touched also got infected.  They usually use predisone now to help heal it.  I must have chopped some poison ivy with the shears.

Logged
K1JJ
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 8893


"Let's go kayaking, Tommy!" - Yaz


« Reply #56 on: August 28, 2010, 11:49:17 AM »

Being an oil, poison ivy extract can be cleaned off easily using dish detergent and warm water. Soap up those  exposed legs and arms good. (not automatic dishwasher but standard liquid hand dish detergent)

Whenever I come in from any lawn work, etc, I do the once over with it. The grease-cutting formula is recommended by Betty Croaker, so it must be good.

T
Logged

Use an "AM Courtesy Filter" to limit transmit audio bandwidth  +-4.5 KHz, +-6.0 KHz or +-8.0 KHz when needed.  Easily done in DSP.

Wise Words : "I'm as old as I've ever been... and I'm as young as I'll ever be."

There's nothing like an old dog.
WU2D
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1800


CW is just a narrower version of AM


« Reply #57 on: August 28, 2010, 11:50:42 AM »

We have Cicada Killer Wasps out in back at work and some of us have to walk by them to get to our cars. These are big. They seem to be active about 1 week before you hear the cicadas and they disappear shortly after the cicada season is over. They have a patrolling behavior and generally stay in groups of two about 3 feet off the deck flying in rectangular patterns. Fascinating to watch them. They will investigate everything that comes within range of their territory and seem to recognize people after a couple of days and they pay less attention. Nobody has been stung - everybody has been checked out.
Logged

These are the good old days of AM
W1ATR
Resident HVAC junkie
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 1132


« Reply #58 on: August 28, 2010, 01:30:16 PM »

Somebody else said the same thing about using dishsoap to get it off. He says he has used Dawn, but not to scrub it in too much. Just lather up and leave it on till it dries, then wash it off and do it again. He also mentioned that it was important to do it asap right after contact.

I wash my work clothes in Dawn because its the only thing that gets the fuel oil and grime out.

73, J
Logged

Don't start nuthin, there won't be nuthin.

Jared W1ATR


Click for radio pix
kb3ouk
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 1640

The Voice of Fulton County


« Reply #59 on: August 28, 2010, 03:31:22 PM »

We've had a lot of bees here too this summer we had a new roof put on the house but before the new roof was put on all the tires that were on the old roof to keep it from rattling had to be removed. The 2 guys doing the work would be up there taking these tires down and they had bees coming out all over the place. the one guy had a can of bee spray and was trying to blast a bee out of the sky that was following him and while he was doing that he was also trying to run backwards on the roof. we have a couple honey bee hives here that a local guy put there. any other person i see work with honey bees usually has the hat with the mesh face net and has a beesuit or at least has longsleeved shirts with the ends of the sleeves tucked in gloves, the bottom of the shirt tucked in their pants and their pants tied around their boots.Not this guy he walks right up to the hives with bees swarming everywhere, smokes them, and the only thing he wears is a pair of pants and boots, no shirt at all.
Logged

Clarke's Second Law: The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is by venturing a little past them into the impossible
k4kyv
Contributing Member
Don
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 10057



« Reply #60 on: August 28, 2010, 03:54:24 PM »

I have been able to work on the painting job by getting up at the crack of dawn and working until about 10:30 AM.  They don't seem to be sluggish and not all that aggressive in the morning.  But my mid-day it is impossible to work without them swarming at you.  I caulked up some of the cracks they were using to enter into the cavities in the wall and that has greatly reduced their presence.
Logged

Don, K4KYV                                       AMI#5
Licensed since 1959 and not happy to be back on AM...    Never got off AM in the first place.

- - -
This message was typed using the DVORAK keyboard layout.
http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak
W1RKW
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4410



« Reply #61 on: August 28, 2010, 03:59:33 PM »

I had PI one year after doing a clean up in my parents back yard one summer.  Didn't know I was up to my knees in PI.  Wearing shorts and a tee shirt ripping stuff out with bare hands.  Wiping sweat off in various places, scratching too. Using the bathroom.  You get the idea.  Covered head to toe and many places in between. I was a cooked lobster 3 days later.  I couldn't take it. I wouldn't wish it on an enemy.  Broke down and went to  the dermatologist.  One shot and one day later, instant relief but still red.  2 days more then 50% clearing.  5 days no sign of exposure.  Doc tells me it was a steroid.  What variety don't know.  

Any potential exposure I go for the GoJo hand cleaner and dish soap.  Gojo first. Wipe off Gojo with paper towel.  Soap second to wash remaining Gojo off. End up squeaky clean and PI free.

If you find you have PI after a few days of exposure a good soaking in sea water will help heal under light or medium cases.
Logged

Bob
W1RKW
Home of GORT. A buddy of mine named the 813 rig GORT.
His fear was when I turned it on for the first time life on earth would come to a stand still.
KM1H
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 3519



« Reply #62 on: August 28, 2010, 05:49:04 PM »

Gee, gets it on his wee wee, gets a steriod shot and is now auditioning as Johnny Wadd Jr Grin
Logged
K1JJ
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 8893


"Let's go kayaking, Tommy!" - Yaz


« Reply #63 on: August 28, 2010, 06:32:06 PM »

One Saturday night when I was 15 a friend and I each finished off a six pack of Colt 45 in the woods.  We had planned to go to a graduation party but never made it. I passed out in a poison ivy patch and slept there until 3AM and then walked home. Within a day I was swollen up like a tick. I didn't have any Calamine lotion so my father mixed up a batch of flour and vinegar. I smeared this on my face and body. It dried to a hard plaster-of-Paris. I looked and felt like a walking cast. My schlong was covered too and it was like a white brick.

My brother drove me to the hospital the next day in his '66 GTO and opened it up in town for fun. He had loud Thrush mufflers and made quite a racket. We got stopped a cop. He was about to write out a ticket when I got out of the car and told him it was an emergency and we needed to get to the hospital. He looked at my face covered in white flour crust and freaked. He let us continue on, even though the hospital was in the other direction... Grin  June, 1968

T
Logged

Use an "AM Courtesy Filter" to limit transmit audio bandwidth  +-4.5 KHz, +-6.0 KHz or +-8.0 KHz when needed.  Easily done in DSP.

Wise Words : "I'm as old as I've ever been... and I'm as young as I'll ever be."

There's nothing like an old dog.
AJ1G
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1283


« Reply #64 on: August 28, 2010, 10:56:51 PM »

@&##$% white faced hornets nailed me again today - this time cutting the lawn at home.  I had just brushed under a overhanging branch of a big Japanese threadleaf maple in our side yard and then WHAM!  Felt like I had taken a shot in the back of my head with a nail gun! I know what a nail gun hit feels like (at least to a fingertip).  Got me right through my Red Sox cap  (must have been a Yankee fan ).  I got the hell out of Dodge in a flash and then after the pain went down somewhat, went back to investigate.  I was extremely lucky.  Since last week, the hornets had built a nest in the Japanese maple the size of a football that was swarming with 'em.

I have to be very careful around that spot in the yard.  It seems like the hornets build a big nest this time of year in either the maple or a nearby crab apple within about a 10 foot radius. 

Diane went out after dark and hosed the nest down with Spectracide, going to dump in another can in a little while.  Hope we  get them all - this is the biggest nest I have ever seen them build in the 31 odd years we have been living here..
Logged

Chris, AJ1G
Stonington, CT
k4kyv
Contributing Member
Don
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 10057



« Reply #65 on: August 29, 2010, 12:41:42 AM »

Just wait until after dark when they go dormant at night.  Set the thing on fire.  Remember, it is made out of paper.  You don't even need any kerosene or lighter fluid; a cigarette lighter will do if you can reach the nest.  If it is too high in the tree, wrap some  rags  round the end of a pole, light it and hold it up under the nest.  The fire will destroy the nest and the hornets inside. I used a burning rag attached to the end of a bamboo fishing pole once.

If they are well away from anywhere people will normally venture on the property, I just  leave them alone.  But I get rid of them when they get too close for comfort. Hornet nests are rare here; I think I have seen a grand total of two since I moved back here in 1979.
Logged

Don, K4KYV                                       AMI#5
Licensed since 1959 and not happy to be back on AM...    Never got off AM in the first place.

- - -
This message was typed using the DVORAK keyboard layout.
http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak
k3zrf
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 604


WWW
« Reply #66 on: August 29, 2010, 06:58:18 AM »

Get a heavy duty flame job if you are going to burn them out!


* flamer.jpg (566.42 KB, 1024x590 - viewed 490 times.)
Logged

dave/zrf
A closed mouth gathers no foot
Ed/KB1HYS
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1852



« Reply #67 on: August 29, 2010, 10:59:15 AM »

I went to an OT's house one time to do some work.  He distinctly told me NOT to use the front door because it would set off his security system.  Ok Fine.  WHen I got there (via the back door) I asked about his security system (since he lived in a 200+ hr old farm house that didn't look like it would need security).  We walked out front when he showed me a BIG wasp nest attached to the Door frame and the adjoining overgrown bush.   I would guess he didn't get many door to door guys or Jehovas visiting him, well at least no often.
Logged

73 de Ed/KB1HYS
Happiness is Hot Tubes, Cold 807's, and warm room filling AM Sound.
 "I've spent three quarters of my life trying to figure out how to do a $50 job for $.50, the rest I spent trying to come up with the $0.50" - D. Gingery
Bill, KD0HG
Moderator
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 2563

304-TH - Workin' it


« Reply #68 on: August 29, 2010, 02:34:24 PM »

There are commercial wasp traps available, but I like this homebrew one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7KkBySHWKM

Here's one of the Home Depot one with pheromone attractant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5pGY0rgvv0&NR=1

Not quite as immediate and satisfying as nailing them with brake cleaner, but you won't have to tear your siding off, either.

I am very sensitive to yellow jacket stings, more so over the years. Last summer one nailed me on a finger knuckle, my whole hand swelled up like a baseball glove a day later.
Logged
W2DU
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 490

Walt, at 90, Now 92 and licensed 78 years


WWW
« Reply #69 on: August 29, 2010, 05:41:38 PM »

The use of many short-cut abbreviations on this forum that I don't understand is annoying. Is there any listing of them with their meanings that I can review?

In this thread 'PI' was used several times, once as 'PI patch'. What in heck is 'PI"?

Also, what is 'YMMI'?

Walt
Logged

W2DU, ex W8KHK, W4GWZ, W8VJR, W2FCY, PJ7DU. Son Rick now W8KHK.
Ralph W3GL
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 748



« Reply #70 on: August 29, 2010, 06:24:20 PM »




   Walt,

    This thread swung from wasps to poison ivy and back again...
    Therefore I assume "PI" =  poison ivy.

    As for "YMMI" it's not in my vocabulary. What context was it
    used in?  I don't recall seeing it...

    Too much texting crap here; spell it out!   

Logged

73,  Ralph  W3GL 

"Just because the microphone in front of you amplifies your voice around the world is no reason to think we have any more wisdom than we had when our voices could reach from one end of the bar to the other"     Ed Morrow
Ed/KB1HYS
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1852



« Reply #71 on: August 29, 2010, 10:16:23 PM »

I think YMMI was a typo and should have been YMMV  "Your Milage May Vary"  usually meaning "you can try what I did but it may not work the same for you".

I'd rather see whole words myself. Cute abbreviations just obfuscate meaning if everyone isn't in on them. We also have a lot of non-native english speakers who monitor the board, who I'm sure don't find the cute abbreviations all that entertaining.
Logged

73 de Ed/KB1HYS
Happiness is Hot Tubes, Cold 807's, and warm room filling AM Sound.
 "I've spent three quarters of my life trying to figure out how to do a $50 job for $.50, the rest I spent trying to come up with the $0.50" - D. Gingery
N0WVA
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 291


« Reply #72 on: August 29, 2010, 10:53:22 PM »

Poison Ivy? Where? Ill rip that crap out by the roots. Ive only gotten it twice in my life, both times just one little blister between my fingers and then my toes. Never had it since, even though Ive contacted it numerous times. Must have been all the work logging and at the mill made me immune to it.

Ive had a run-in with one weed that was worse though, and that was stinging nettle. Woe to the person who runs along the creek bank in shorts looking for a fishing hole. Bad, bad stuff. The kind of stuff you could torture someone with.
Logged
k4kyv
Contributing Member
Don
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 10057



« Reply #73 on: August 30, 2010, 01:43:20 AM »

I would take a solid acre of stinging nettles any day over one poison ivy vine.

The nettle sting is almost immediate, and although intense, it goes away after about a half hour.  Poison ivy is sneaky.  You may not have any sign of rash for days after coming into contact, but when it finally breaks out, it keeps you in misery anywhere from 10 days to 2 weeks.

I read somewhere  that a severe case of poison ivy may cause permanent damage to internal organs as well as producing the debilitating rash.

An archaeologist reportedly opened an Indian burial site and  came into contact with some centuries old dried up poison ivy that was interred along with the deceased, and it still gave him a rash. It really is evil, nasty stuff.

I have never encountered stinging nettles anywhere in North America, but I became familiar with it in Europe.  Whereabouts is it found over here?

An interesting thing about stinging nettles is that you can caress a sprig of the plant in the direction from the roots to the top, and it will have ill no effect.  But even slightly brushing against it from top down will result in a sting.  
Logged

Don, K4KYV                                       AMI#5
Licensed since 1959 and not happy to be back on AM...    Never got off AM in the first place.

- - -
This message was typed using the DVORAK keyboard layout.
http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak
Ed/KB1HYS
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1852



« Reply #74 on: August 30, 2010, 06:52:56 AM »

I had volunteered on a field trip with my daughters school. We'd gone to sturbridge village (an 19th century historical site).  Along the trip, we found some stinging nettles near a sheeps pen. (well the kids found it).  They were uncomfortable for about 20 minutes with slight redness. (much complaining). Then they were fine. 
It was in the only clump of grass not eaten by the sheep.   I had thought it was just an odd thistle, until the kids got in touch with it.
Logged

73 de Ed/KB1HYS
Happiness is Hot Tubes, Cold 807's, and warm room filling AM Sound.
 "I've spent three quarters of my life trying to figure out how to do a $50 job for $.50, the rest I spent trying to come up with the $0.50" - D. Gingery
Pages: 1 2 [3] 4   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

AMfone - Dedicated to Amplitude Modulation on the Amateur Radio Bands
 AMfone © 2001-2015
Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines
Page created in 0.099 seconds with 18 queries.