And so I torture you with a story
One of our tasks as parents and bosses is to train our replacements. If the children/employee is willing, then we attempt to pass on the knowledge and tricks that we learned so they don't have to remake every mistake humans have made since the beginning of time.
So there I was, standing behind Southern Belle as she started slamming in the first corner post in the next paddock for her goats.
The plan was to build the second enclosure next to the current enclosure (2 feedlot panels in one direction and 5 feedlot panels in the other direction). We planned to reuse one of the long sides of the current paddock. We would crowd the goats into a temporary cell made from four feedlot panels and recycle the ones that were freed up.
Like most people getting into livestock, Southern Belle is expanding as budget becomes available. She recently purchased used T posts and the next paycheck will buy three additional feedlot panels.
Since she had the posts, it made sense to put them in so we were ready to hit the ground running after she purchased the additional feedlot panels.
Happy Tools (named after the cheap toys found in value meals)
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| I tapped two nails into a work-surface. The nails were 8' minus 1/4" apart. |
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| I tied a loop in the starting end and wrapped around the nails 9 times. |
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| Then I marked the Start end with some paint. |
Untangling the cord
The first five minutes at Southern Belle's was spent untangling the cord and stretching it down the two-track that runs beside the paddock.
Then we dropped the loop on one end of the cord over the corner T post of the current paddock and pulled the cord to stretch it. Then we stuck another T post 32' away (two feedlot panel lengths) for the corner post of the new paddock.
I stood behind Southern Belle (west of her) as she started slamming in the post with her driver.
Unknown to us, precisely 24 inches eastsoutheast of where she was driving the post was a yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons) nest. It took SB about three whacks of with the driver before they were boiling around her and sharing their misery with her.
"Oh SHIT! I am getting stung by bees!!!!" she said, dropping the post driver and sprinting toward the house.
At which point I also vamoosed.
Time to make a plan
After dosing Southern Belle with 50mg of I drove home to get the materials I needed to deal with the yellowjackets.
I cleaned the remnants of herbicide out of my sprayer and mixed up 1/2 gallon of permethrin insecticide.
I found my fishing hat with the mosquito netting.
And then I walked out into the breezeway between our house and garage and pulled my quilted coveralls off of the hook where it hangs year-round.
And it was slightly heavier than I expected. Because it had a set of keys in the pocket.
It had my keys in the pocket because that is where I put them after locking the door to the house when I am going for a run. Mrs ERJ had unlocked the door and I must have been distracted when I came back from my last run (maybe ten days ago) and not picked them up. Then I didn't have a need for them for a bit and forgot that is where I had left them.
So do I tell Southern Belle that St Anthony of Padua may have sent those yellowjackets? Without those yellowjackets, it would have been months before I would have worn those insulated coveralls. On one hand I am sad that she got stung three times. On the other hand I am filled with joy that I found my keys before hunting season started and I needed to open the safe.
*Apologies to Luke 15:9
**I hung out for 20 minutes after she got stung to see if she had a reaction to the stings.
No gold eagles in your pocket? woody
ReplyDeleteYay, serendipity!
ReplyDeleteI pulled on a pair of old work pants for an overdue, messy chore. What's this in the pocket? My missing spare car key! Woo-hoo! Saint Tony takes his sweet time; I sold the car six months previously.
ETA:
DeleteThe wrapped cord and spray paint is ingenious.
Flattening the #$@% yellow jackets with the post driver would be so satisfying, but permethrin makes more sense. Better living through chemistry.
Pint of gasoline down the hole after dark so you get them all.
ReplyDeleteI enraged a nest once. Found that they had broken off the stinger in me-neck and shoulders. Recovery required the talent of my eagle eyed daughter to fish them out with tweezers. After successful removal the pain subsided. Apparently the little bitty pieces of stinger shaft keep giving the gift. Roger
PS Love the paint on string idea! Roger (who is in need of about 1,200 feet of fence.)
ReplyDeleteThose feedlot panels do not stretch and are unforgiving about post placement, especially if the errors are on the long side. You can shingle them if you measure short but you cannot stretch them if you measure long.
DeleteMost other kinds of fence don't care.
That tool this is genius, ERJ. I am glad smart people can figure these things out - it took me 20 minutes looking at it to understand how to use it.
ReplyDeleteOne could perhaps wish St. Anthony worked in slightly less mysterious ways.
Ah yes, mysterious ways... But they work! And good idea with the tape!
ReplyDeleteReminds me, for some reason, of a couple I knew years ago. They were installing wood fencing. They got the idea to assemble the sections, lay out on the ground, then dig the holes where the upright posts should go.
ReplyDeleteThis is New England. Rocks everywhere, always. They could not dig the holes, had to disassemble the fencing, and put posts where they could dig, then buy new boards and cut to the required length. Pre-assembly wasted a day of work.
Us old timers laughed at them. I can’t even use posthole diggers here. I used a pry bar, small shovel, and sometimes a trowel.
Southern NH
Ground bees. If you shove the neck of an empty two-liter pop bottle down the hole, the returning bees can't get in, so there is a big swarm that drops when you flame them. All the bees exiting go up into the bottle. If you hit the bottle with a long stick to get out from under the swarm, you can put the cap on. At that point nobody dares hold the plastic bottle. The buzzing is loud and the bottle vibrates a little. The bees can't sting through the plastic, but even knowing that, you don't want to hold it.
ReplyDeleteStumbling across a nest is bad! Seeing it beforehand is easier. If you watch which way the bees are coming and going, you can stay out of the flight path and not be bothered. That allows you to approach the entrance and pour a cup of gasoline in the hole.
Around here, skunks usually dig them up before I get a chance to play.
sam
Have had 2 ground nests this summer. Nest #2 was dug up by a skunk, the first time I have ever seen that.
ReplyDeleteIn my neck of Tennessee, we must have 5 or 6 types of wasps. Only the red ones seem to have extra attitude.
ReplyDeleteWhen I opened my generator/trash bag shed, I disturbed the biggest red wasp nest EVAR. They came boiling out looking for trouble. I held real still, thinking happy thoughts, then slowly turned and walked away. No contact! YAY! After about 5 minutes, I casually cruse back over and finish getting the trash bags I needed. In my head I'm telling them "I mean you no harm, just taking care of business." Apparently, they bought it.
I used to be a bug murderer, but in my old age, I'm not killing anything that I don't need to, including black (chicken) snakes in the chicken coop. So far, well over two dozen in 10 years. They get a ride to the other side of the river, 2 miles away. I used to haul them a couple hundred yards away and toss them into the holler, but they remember their way back, so now a trip to the bus (not train) station. I've been into reptiles since very young, so catching and releasing is "the way", including 3 timber rattlers so far. The 1st rattler, 10 years ago, I killed and had great remorse, so now they go to the bus station too.
I've trained my 3 outside dogs to fear snakes from puppyhood, by letting them check out a corn/gopher/black snake and get bit in the face. They never forget that! We have snakes-on-demand, down by the pig palace under old boards 'n sheeit, so they're always available for training aids.
If you have skunks and can wait until the evening, I have found that a can of cheap stinky catfood placed near the entrance to the nest will attract a skunk who will also extract the hornet nest and consume the contents……
ReplyDeleteSaturate with gas and leave a trail back a ways. Then flip a match. I hates ground bees
ReplyDelete