Booze-Proof Hornets Could Hold Key to Studying Alcoholism

Israel21c ^ | November 19 | Zachy Hennessey

[nickcarraway]

Did you want to give them qualudes?

[nickcarraway]

See, there is a trick to getting the nests of hornets and wasps. You wait until after sunset. Then they go into a torpor, and you can do whatever you want to them.

I had one on my deck, and I just took the whole things to the dumpster. A few of them walked around near the nest, but they couldn't do anything.

[rlmorel]

That sounds so much like what guys would do...

I have watched a few of the “Jackass” movies, and I firmly believe most guys laugh at that, because it isn’t too far off of what most guys are capable of at some time in their lives or another!

And most honest guys will own up to that...:)

[georgia peach]

The Irish definitely have that gene. All up and down my family tree back to the Civil War.

[rlmorel]

Heh, well, I know that NOW, but when I was seven...I didn’t think that far ahead! But let’s face it-stinging insects can be quite intimidating to humans who harbor any degree of caution.

I have a shed out in my backyard, and one day while working around it, I noticed the large black bumblebee types landing on the concrete ramp, and walking under the large sliding door.

That usually isn’t a good sign, and sure enough, when I watched one land, it walked under a table with a bunch of stuff piled around it, I saw a large dome on the floor, about 2 feet by two feet, and the bumblebee walked right into it.

It looked kind of like a mouse nest.

Now, those large, mostly black bumblebees looked nasty with a visible stinger on them that looked to me like it stuck out a quarter inch from their abdomen, so I went inside, and had one of those helmets with the netting on it, put on a pair of woolen german army pants that had a plastic liner over a pair of sweatpants, put on a heavy jacket, used duct tape around my pant legs and jacket cuffs over heavy leather gloves, and had the jacket zipped all the way up with the netting tucked inside. It felt impenetrable.

So, I grabbed a large, thick, heavy duty garbage bag, a small rake, and walked up to the thing where I could hear a faint buzzing inside.

I poked it gently with the rake, and heard the buzzing volume increase dramatically. I stepped back and pondered it, wondering why I felt so damned nervous...as covered up as I was.

I screwed up my courage, opened the bag on the ground, held it open with my legs, and took the rake to scoop the whole nest inside.

I put the rake behind it and moved the whole thing about an inch, and it erupted with a really, REALLY loud, ANGRY buzzing...and the entire nest visibly VIBRATED moving from side-to-side!

LOL, I left it alone and called some guys who advertised themselves as “The Bee Guys”. They showed up in a beat up red pickup, and got out wearing white coveralls and ZZ-Top style greasy gray beards...they looked to be crittery guys in their mid-sixties!

They went out back and came back about a minute later, no other protective gear, and had the nest in a large black garbage bag...I think we paid them $75 and they left us a jar of honey...:) When we asked what they did with the bees, one laconically said “We just kill em, they ain’t good for honey or nuthin’ anyway...”

[rlmorel]

If you tack “Climate Change” into the justification somewhere, you are a shoo-in!

[jmacusa]

Right? Next thing you know these buggers will be smashing up saloons and bars and blocking traffic screaming(or buzzing) :Just Say No To Booze!’’.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

I've never had any problems with bumble bees. Or most stinging critters really. Hornets can be ornery. Last time I was stung was for no reason at all. Yellow jackets are uppity too.