Monday, July 24, 2006

A Bad Dream

A few days ago we noticed a few yellow jackets in the dog trot. I swooshed a few out the back door. An hour or so later my husband swooshed a few out the front door. The next morning I heard squeals and screams. The children had discovered more. A lot more. I did what any well armed woman would do. I sucked about 25 into the vacuum cleaner and deposited them outside. Then, hubby and I realized we each had swooshed a few earlier. We knew we had a problem, but did not know where to begin looking. There were no nests in the dog trot, no entry holes that we could see. A few could have come in when the children hold the screen doors open for way too long, but 30 or 40 couldn't come in that way.

We kept checking and one or two appeared throughout the day. That night at about 1:30 the Princess started screaming when she turned over and heard buzzing in her hair. She panicked and started pulling at her hair. When I got there and turned on the light. I saw the culprit - one of the yellow jackets from the hall. I killed it, but she was already stung twice on her fingers and once on her neck. The stings weren't bad because I think the yellow jacket had been trapped in her hair for a while (she just has so much of it) and was almost dead and in her panic she didn't keep her fingers anywhere for long. I still gave her some Benedryl and stayed with her while she went to sleep. What a nightmare? Unfortunately, it was real.

Now, she doesn't want to sleep in her bed and she starts squealing every time she hears any buzzing - including flies and honey bees. I can't blame her so she is sleeping in my bed tonight.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I am not giving her that clock with the bees on it.

Wisteria said...

Just give her a few days. She won't be phobic. She just needs time. She wants that pink clock.

Frankie said...

Oh my goodness. I almost have tears in my eyes -- poor girl! Sending her hugs from Minnesota.

I read this to my son who has been bee- and wasp-phobic all summer. He's afraid of being stung. It actually helped him to know that she *survived* her stings.

Thomas sends her "I'm sorry wishes" too.

Did you find how they were getting into the house? I asked DH what he'd do if that happened to us and he said he'd do a bug bomb, as much as he hates to do that kind of thing.

Wisteria said...

We haven't found the entrance, but we have seen only one or two since which we swooshed out. We are watching.

Jennifer said...

I'm sorry. It's my fault. I didn't know they were contageous!

Wisteria said...

I thought of you the whole time, but I would never place blame.

Anonymous said...

We once lived in an old farmhouse with wasps in the attic. They would emerge from the very small vent openings on the ceiling fan motors and from any gaps around ceiling light fixtures. I still remember the horror of finding them all over the baby's crib.