I hope the pain goes away soon. Honeybees are pretty nice, you really have to work at getting stung but wasps are mean and as you pointed out they can make their nests near your door or even in the ground.

Have you tried Benadryl (diphenhydramine) cream on it? Or ice?

I've already found a nest in our iron 'dinner bell'. My DD had rung it for grandson to come in, before I thought to check it. No one was stung--wasps here don't usually get aggressive until later in the summer.

Sorry to hear about your stings--I hate it when the itching starts!

Holy Moly! Would have never thought of them nesting in chimes, yikes! They've been pretty mild in our area this year, not even hanging around the deck or umbrella's like they used to. I hope they don't get you again.

I'm also going to suggest you buy a lottery ticket. You and RavenCajun have that vibe. Just gotta turn it into something good.

I haven't been stung in several years, but I remember it throbbed like heck. I have a current problem with wasp's building in my bird houses. They come out and kill my Monarch caterpillars.

Hope your 'luck' changes soon!

Years ago I ran over a yellow jacket nest while cutting the grass. I was in misery for days--even called 911 because I had never had so many stings at once and was concerned as I felt like I was hyperventilating. I was fine but my feet and legs looked like I had been beaten--so black and blue and swollen. I still have some scars on my ankles.Not fun.

In the last couple of years we haven't had very many honey bees at all, but this year they've come back, yahoo. But, the good news is that the wasps are still hanging around, but in a lot less quantity.

Joanne, the last time I was stung it was a bald faced black and white hornet. One of the big guys and aggressive. Hurt like h*ll, if I can say that ;-) Kind of behind ear, back of upper neck area, red angry swollen. I called my friend who is our public health nurse and she said Ice, Advil, and Benadryl - all three - and do it immediately. It already wasn't quite immediately, but I did, and still felt achy, almost flu-y for a couple of days.

Last year was awful for yellowjackets here, we had 4 ground nests on our one acre. Three were close enough to human activity we needed to treat. The fourth was on a steep downward sloping hillside of native plants. Even with no reason for him to be climbing on my hill, I warned the neighbor below us and let that one go.

The only time I ever got stung by a wasp ( I was in my late 50's) I got a staph infection! It was scary.

As a bee keeper, I must say honeybees are very sweet, and never sting unless you provoke them. I wall right next to them all the time, and even get them out of my birdbaths if they fall in. Never get stung. But hornets and yellow jackets are just plain mean and seem to sting without provocation. I have a wooden birdhouse which is filled with bumblebees! Is that weird or not? I wondered what this mud like substance was and out popped a bumble bee and the whole house is humming.

Last year, I was outside with one of my dogs. He was running around and then let out a high pitched squeal like nothing I had ever heard from a dog before. Poor thing had stepped on one of those red waspy things that live in the ground. :( SO ended up pouring gas down the holes they came out of and set it on fire. It was a miracle he didn't burn the house down. But it took care of the little boogers.

Joanne, you should definitely keep an aloe plant on hand. My son was on our roof cleaning eaves and was attacked by wasps. I immediately covered stings on his inner legs and, in no time, pain was gone. Sorry you've been stung, and sure hope you feel better soon.

No doubt about it, the pain from stings can be excruciating and the itch that sometimes follows can be maddening. For itch, there is a product out there now called "After Bite". It really works to calm the most maddening of itches from bites/stings. The primary ingredient is ammonia.

My most memorable bee sting happened inside my helmet while riding down the interstate at 75 mph. Many motorcyclists have had that experience of a "bee in their bonnet". It does get your attention

satine_gw I can relate to that. Seems like every year my DH finds a nest somewhere in the grass. So far this year we haven't seen one. Last year I was actually chased by a bee. I was cleaning up my little flower garden and must have upset a bee there. He kept buzzing around me and just wouldn't leave me alone. I ran into the house and waited a while. When I went back outside would you believe that darn bee was waiting for me. I kid you not. He just started buzzing around me again. Swatting him just made him angrier, He stung me good right in the boob (LOL). I ran back into the house and he followed me in. I flew into our cellar and shut the door. Got the wasp spray and slowly opened the door and let him have it. I really hated to kill him because I know we need bees but this one was on a death mission to get me.

I used the after bite stick immediately, but it didn't help much. I have one of those handheld bug zappers I am going to carry it with me.

I'm still itching and swelled today. I haven't tried aloe yet

Linda , that was a guard bee. They chase you if you infringe on their territory. but if she stung you, she died anyway.

When my son was a toddler he ran into a wasps nest in the ground and it was nasty. They chased him and a neighbor came and helped him along with me. He suffered no after effects but it was scary.

lily316 - I never knew that. Well, he died twice then. lol Once by me spraying him and then by himself. I'll try to remember that next time.

Their stinger rips out of their body and they die. BTW, they're mostly all female except for male drones for fertilizing. A real female society....lol

I have these big round things in my backyard. They are black & round, about the size of a quarter & they fly like a bee. I keep thinking they're bumble bees but have been told they are something else. I've been told they don't sting & are harmless, but I run as fast as my legs will carry when they buz around me.

Does anyone know what kind of bee this is?

could it just be a dirt / Mud Dauber Wasps. I don't think they sting or come after you

It's these little buggers.

a really good remedy for bee stings is a paste of bicarbonate of soda(baking soda) + water, not sure if it works for wasps though. I've used it on my dogs too when they step on or get stung by a bee, you can just see the relief once it starts to work.

we get paperwasps and mud daubers here, not sure if our paperwasps are the same as the yellowjackets or not but they are yellow and black and are usually pretty well behaved unless you go near the nest. I often see them in the garden when watering. the muddaubers seem more aggressive to me, I was told they will sting if you get in their way, I just don't like the way they hover around. I've only had one wasp sting ever and it was so painful! you have my sympathies joanne_fa

Aunt, that's a carpenter bee. The males are very aggressive acting but are absolutely harmless. You are enticing them to chase you by running and flapping your arms. If you sit still, they will comically swoop up to you, screech to a halt and hover.

It's amusing to have a little chat with them, eye to eye.

The black and yellow mud daubers certainly can sting and will if you mess with a nesting site. Generally, they aren't aggressive creatures, however.

Most of these and other insects are female societies. Some are exclusively female, reproducing entirely by parthenogenesis.

I'm going to make one of these
Fake wasp nest decoy

"The black and yellow mud daubers certainly can sting and will if you
mess with a nesting site. Generally, they aren't aggressive creatures,
however."

rhizo I think alot of the time we freak out so much at these things that they end up stinging us out of defense. maybe we just need to calm down and not be so afraid. I get a lot of wasps around at my place and never been stung, mostly I try to ignore them, although the mud daubers freak me out a little bit but have never stung me so they can't be that bad. If I suspect a nest is nearby by seeing quite a few, I just try to steer clear since I get that they will be protective of the nest, pretty much like birds here will swoop and squawk at you if you get near their nests too. lol

The problem with yellow jackets is that they sometimes nest underground and you can't really see where they are coming from until you are right there. I have been stung by yellow jackets and they will actually come after you.

"rhizo I think alot of the time we freak out so much at these things that they end up stinging us out of defense. maybe we just need to calm down and not be so afraid."

You are so right, trance! I learned that years ago, but it took some will power on my part. My mother instilled lots of irrational fear of all kinds of things in her children and we've had to fight those demons.

Here's a neat story:

A few years ago, I was sitting outside in a chaise reading on a nice spring afternoon. In between turning the pages, a paper wasp landed on my page. I was paralyzed with fear, but ended up being utterly fascinated by its activity......noisily collecting building material from the edge of the page before flying away.

By the end of an hour or so and many visits by that wasp, I felt completely differently about those insects and others like them. It was something of an epiphany (not a religious one) for me and I've never been fearful since.

I work outside for a lawn maintenance company. Every year I get stung a few times. (Last year, by some miracle, I avoided having my carcass perforated all year!)

One way to relieve the itch is with hot water. Soak a washcloth in hot tap water, as hot as you can stand without causing a burn. Hold it on the sting for as long as you can, 10 seconds or so does it for me. This seems to numb the nerve endings, and it won't itch for a few hours. Works for poison ivy, too. Ask me how I know. :)

I've heard that tip, too, aok. It can help with the awful misery of redbug bites, too, so they say.

but ended up being utterly fascinated by its activity...

That was a great little story rhizo. I'm the same way with spiders, I was terrified of them growing up but now I find them fascinating to watch. right now I have two daddy long legs living in a web in my backroom, strung between a table leg and the window. I hate cleaning up webs and putting spiders out of their homes lol. The other day the large one looked like it was wrapping up a bug and as the smaller one came close they looked like they started fighting and hitting each other with their legs. I'd never seen that before.

I just read where if you plant peppermint they won't come around. They hate mints, same for mosquitoes. Peppermint spray is also good. Mix some dawn dish soap with water and add drops of peppermint to the mix and spray.

Rhizo, I know what u mean. I've seen the carpenter bees hover around my dog. He doesn't pay any attention to them. They just hover & check him out.

But me on the other hand. I don't need no carpenter bee in my hair. I'll rip this $200 weave outta my head faster than u can say Aunt Jemima. I get scared just thinking about it.

Benadryl makes an itch relief stick which is terrific. I wouldn't be without it in the first aid supplies. After Bite is good too

Why do bites seem to itch in the night? Especially mosquito bites?

http://www.chron.com/news/local/article/Africanized-bees-kill-two-dogs-in-West-Texas-7963414.php

Just today I went to get a roll of plastic fence from the rafters of the garage, but remembered this post and moved one of them with a stick before grabbing it and a wasp flew out of it. There may have been more, but I left that one alone and moved the other roll of fence by hooking it and pulling it down with a clear path to run. Luckily, that fence had no wasps in it.

Arghhh. I'm about to go out and treat a yellow jacket ground nest, wondering if I dare try before dark. It's somewhat new I think, I watched 6-8 going in and out yesterday evening. I'd hoped last year was an anomaly with so many (4 ground nests total)....maybe not. There is a flight of railroad tie stairs going steeply down through native plants (and weeds) below our bedroom, the nest is 6 steps up from the street below us. We don't use the stairs often, but there are two homes, owners who walk dogs on that short street.

in my family, we always used "black salve" and that seems to work really quickly.

I disagree. You may get results because it burns the area you put it on but can leave a scar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_salve

Please be nice to honeybees! You don't need to run from them or squash them they are your friends. These bees are the big fat ones. If one lands on you, shoo it away sideways don't try to squish it. If you try to squish it, it will sting you in defense and lose its stinger and dies later. They only get one sting.

Wasps on the other hand are carnivores and will bite and sting you for their own pleasure. Avoid them, and squashing them is totally OK! I prefer to play tennis with them with the fly swatter then step on them. If they land on you you will most likely get stung. You know that term Bee-line yea they gave it that name as you guys have mentioned they dive bomb you in a straight line sometimes.

If you want to really not sleep at night, you can worry about the Asian Giant Hornet. Pray that it never ends up gaining a foothold here and stays over in Asia. These things are a menace and kill 30-40 people a year over there.

Off topic, Joann....could you remind us all of the link to the KT site you made?

sure!
KT Gathering Place

I found this, I may be helpful http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Wasps