New pole barn smashed to pieces....

[charliepff]

It must be the week for yellow jackets. I was burning brush piles the other day and uncovered a nest of them. I got hit numerous times. I actually jumped a small wood pile with the bx 2350. My neighbor thought I needed a straight jacket after flying threw the yard, jumping the tractor and then running around the driveway with my arms flailing. I am allergic so this had the wife really worried. She went to spray them to knock them down and she ended up getting nailed 4 to 5 times. They are vicious. I could not believe how many there were and how mean they were. They wanted blood. They also were trying to bite the tractor. This happened last Saturday and I am still taking benadryll due to having some hives and itching from it. I need to start keeping my epi pens closer in the future.

MX, I really feel bad for you all down there. Wish we were closer so we could help. The weather people really did not predict that storm well at all. It really did everything opposite of what they thought it was going to do. I have an 8 thousand watt portable generator. It works well but keeping fuel in reserve is a problem. Next year we are adding a 10 or 12 KW propane powered generator and a propane hot water heater. We are actually getting low on supplies ourself and this last storm made us do an inventory. We are going to hit up costco and sams club within the week to restock. Mainly food and water products. The last tax free sale in VA I bought a ton of tarps, clear plastic sheeting, flashlights and a ton of batteries and candles. I also stocked up on furring strips to tack the plastic down on the roof or over windows. We are also buying another saw that is easier for my wife to use. The 390 STIHL really beats her up especially since I do not run low kickback chains. We pick a 180 stihl up next week. We are also upsizing tractors due to us buying property next to us and the fact the state takes four days to clear up hear after a snow storm. We will also eventually be off grid whenever we can afford it.

Keep us posted on how you are making out and watch out for yellow jackets.

 

[MotorSeven]

Oh, man MX...yellow jackets...insidious beasts.

I hear ya on the propane: 1 gal = 84,300 btu's vs gasoline's 114,000 btu's. Is is quiet and handy though in a 300 gal tank.

 

[mx842]

It must be the week for yellow jackets. I was burning brush piles the other day and uncovered a nest of them. I got hit numerous times. I actually jumped a small wood pile with the bx 2350. My neighbor thought I needed a straight jacket after flying threw the yard, jumping the tractor and then running around the driveway with my arms flailing. I am allergic so this had the wife really worried. She went to spray them to knock them down and she ended up getting nailed 4 to 5 times. They are vicious. I could not believe how many there were and how mean they were. They wanted blood. They also were trying to bite the tractor. This happened last Saturday and I am still taking benadryll due to having some hives and itching from it. I need to start keeping my epi pens closer in the future.

MX, I really feel bad for you all down there. Wish we were closer so we could help. The weather people really did not predict that storm well at all. It really did everything opposite of what they thought it was going to do. I have an 8 thousand watt portable generator. It works well but keeping fuel in reserve is a problem. Next year we are adding a 10 or 12 KW propane powered generator and a propane hot water heater. We are actually getting low on supplies ourself and this last storm made us do an inventory. We are going to hit up costco and sams club within the week to restock. Mainly food and water products. The last tax free sale in VA I bought a ton of tarps, clear plastic sheeting, flashlights and a ton of batteries and candles. I also stocked up on furring strips to tack the plastic down on the roof or over windows. We are also buying another saw that is easier for my wife to use. The 390 STIHL really beats her up especially since I do not run low kickback chains. We pick a 180 stihl up next week. We are also upsizing tractors due to us buying property next to us and the fact the state takes four days to clear up hear after a snow storm. We will also eventually be off grid whenever we can afford it.

Keep us posted on how you are making out and watch out for yellow jackets.

Well this morning most of the swelling has gone down and I can see again but some of the bites are itching like crazy. It's been raining to all get out the past two days and I haven't been able to get my revenge but this just gives me a little more time to lick my wombs and dream about all the nasty things I would like to do to each and every one of those bad boys in the dirt that attacked me so mercilessly for just strolling by.

My wife and I have an agreement I don't fool with her vacuume cleaner and she don't mess with my chain saw.:laughing: My wife is somewhat of a city girl but is country at heart. She loves living in the woods but the problem for her is that everything in the woods likes her so she has to be careful. Bugs, even tall grass makes her break out awful and if she isn't careful we are headed for the doctors office. I have to keep the trails around our property cut real short and I have to keep them treated with bug juice so that she can enjoy a stroll through the woods. I'll have to give her credit though she tried really hard to adapt from sidewalks to woody trails but it seems like the bugs know when she is coming and they are ready and waiting. She wanted so much to work in the garden and pick the fruits as they came in but one trip to the bean patch would keep her out of action for days all she had to do was reach into the string bean bush a few times and she would break out like mad.

I like the idea of a diesel genny because it is safer to keep diesel than gas stored and it tends to last longer without losing it's energy than gasoline does. I've been looking around but just haven't decided to pull the trigger on anything bigger just yet but one day I hope to have something that is automatic where I don't have to go into the electric panel and wire it up. I have had a 12 circuit genny switch since the last storm but never hooked it up but when the juice came back on this time I went ahead and installed it so it should be a lot easier next time I need it.

Not to worry, you guys have your own problems over there in God's country and just the thoughts and moral support from everybody will keep our spirits high and our minds on the task at hand to see us through. Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[mx842]

Well it's all over, I got healed up enough to be able to see well enough to go down and take care of business. It was a piece of cake and I didn't get hit one time. Had a close call or two but my flame thrower bee eradicator took care of business. I did burn all the hair off one arm and I set my shorts on fire......just a couple of small places that never burned all the way through and although I am now left with only one eyebrow I am satisfied with my accomplishment of removing 1 bee nest from da hood where I live.

I posted some of the pics of the event and put them in my photo album here and had planed on making a video of the action but there was a minor malfunction when the 350,000 btu flame got a little too close to my video camera and set it on fire as the small container of gas I had sitting on the stump next to it as backup in case the torch had a flame out or something exploded. I had to resort to a back up plan and just take still shots of the event but that also allowed time for the nest to calm down a little from the huge fireball that erupted as the can of fuel took off skyward.

It's amazing how much altitude you can get out of just a gallon of gas these days. Of-course the only neighbor I have within 600 feet of the action wasn't too happy as the gas can trailing a 30 foot fireball landed next to his tool shed almost setting it on fire. It was probably a good thing it did almost get sub orbital before it decended back to earth where it could burn most of the fuel that was left after the initial blast off because I have enough stuff to fix over on this side of the fence without having to build a tool shed for a neighbor that don't like me in the first place.

Anyway, things are almost back to normal and after a few more days of healing time under my belt I'll be ready to start cleanup again. Please don't tell my wife about the fire as she has already took all matches away from me and I have been barred from playing with matches unless I have proper supervision. I don't want her to find out that my torch has a auto start function because that will be next.

 

[mx842]

Shucks the pics didn't show up I guess I'll give it another try.

 

[ChuckinNH]

I'm glad to hear that you, and your wife are fine. It only takes a moment in a storm like that to lose someone. I have to agree with her about yelling at you for running around in the storm with the chainsaw. Too many bad things can happen. I'm sorry to hear abour all the damage done to your trees too. The eye of that storm was supposed to come right over my house, but it stayed west, and I got off very easy. This is a good time to think about a set of forks for your tractor if you don't have them! I can't believe how much they help with logs, brush, and odd shaped things that just don't fit in the bucket.

 

[mojoinco]

:thumbsup:

I feel for you guys and the yellow jackets -- but I have to admit you 'turned my frown upside down'!

On the smaller chainsaw. I bought a Stihl with the 'easy2start' and and tool less chain tensioner. Feels really weird to start it, but makes it likely that a weaker (or hurt) person could run it, worst case (and no chain adjuster wrench to loose). I have a case from a larger saw and can keep a small bottle of 2 stroke oil and a quart of bar oil in it too. That only leaves keeping a can of gas with it and an axe or maul.

I hadn't thought about tarps and furring strips, I guess as I usually have stuff like that laying around (projects past, projects future, and projects not yet completed). Something to consider on the emergency materials list.

When our addition is complete I intend to buy one of the 275 gallon fluid tanks (the metal caged plastic tanks on a pallet). We will have a garage door accessible heated space then (easy to get to, no freezing, easy to drain and fill occasionally when the water gets stale).

Bummer on the weather hit! And all that hard wood to rot. Hard wood is not native here (unless you count aspen -- I don't). Sounds like an interesting idea to try a mill. After the yellow jackets hibernate (ours are usually paper wasps and some will usually winter over when you find a nest). They are slow when it is cold and easy to kill.

 

[mx842]

How about a pic of your swollen eye with the burned off eyebrow?

You might want to "hang out" on the safety threads for a bit...otherwise, I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry for you but your tales and writings of them are kindof humourous. I just don't like to laugh at someone else's mistakes when they get hurt.

I did snap a pic of my eye and I'll look for it and try to post it. I didn't think to get a brow shot though cause burned off eye brows and lashes are not that big a deal around here with all the welding and cutting I have been doing lately.

No problem with the laughing I don't mind cause when it was over I did a little of both as I thought about it. Laughter is good for the soul and sadly to say It seems like there is not much for people to laugh at these days with the economy the way it is. Also, I would not have wrote it the way I did if I didn't want for people to see the humor in my adventure and sometimes humor has to hurt a little to be funny. Also there is an old saying, don't mess with Mother Nature and now I can brightly see where it came from.

 

[mx842]

I'm glad to hear that you, and your wife are fine. It only takes a moment in a storm like that to lose someone. I have to agree with her about yelling at you for running around in the storm with the chainsaw. Too many bad things can happen. I'm sorry to hear abour all the damage done to your trees too. The eye of that storm was supposed to come right over my house, but it stayed west, and I got off very easy. This is a good time to think about a set of forks for your tractor if you don't have them! I can't believe how much they help with logs, brush, and odd shaped things that just don't fit in the bucket.

Didn't you guys get a lot of rain out of the storm? I heard of a lot of flooding all the way up the coast and in some places it was the worst flooding in many many years. normally wouldn't the worst place for it to pass be just a little west of you? In a normal hurricane the strongest part of the storm is in the front right hand quadrant of the system. This one did do strange things though and seemed to be stronger on the left hand side.

 

[mx842]

:thumbsup:

I feel for you guys and the yellow jackets -- but I have to admit you 'turned my frown upside down'!

On the smaller chainsaw. I bought a Stihl with the 'easy2start' and and tool less chain tensioner. Feels really weird to start it, but makes it likely that a weaker (or hurt) person could run it, worst case (and no chain adjuster wrench to loose). I have a case from a larger saw and can keep a small bottle of 2 stroke oil and a quart of bar oil in it too. That only leaves keeping a can of gas with it and an axe or maul.

I hadn't thought about tarps and furring strips, I guess as I usually have stuff like that laying around (projects past, projects future, and projects not yet completed). Something to consider on the emergency materials list.

When our addition is complete I intend to buy one of the 275 gallon fluid tanks (the metal caged plastic tanks on a pallet). We will have a garage door accessible heated space then (easy to get to, no freezing, easy to drain and fill occasionally when the water gets stale).

Bummer on the weather hit! And all that hard wood to rot. Hard wood is not native here (unless you count aspen -- I don't). Sounds like an interesting idea to try a mill. After the yellow jackets hibernate (ours are usually paper wasps and some will usually winter over when you find a nest). They are slow when it is cold and easy to kill.

Yeah I have a couple of those plastic 55 gal barrels that I normally fill up before a storm to use for incidentals, flush toilets, maybe even wash off a little with if something goes wrong with the genny.

I have been thinking about building me a log mill for some time but I never could get the idea and the time on the same wavelength to put it together. With all the mess I have now and my other projects all lined up this wood will most likely be rotted away before I have the time to do it. Too bad I'm not a rich guy and could just go out and buy one of the dang things..........but then I would just have to go out and hire someone to run it cause rich guys don't do work like that.:laughing:

 

[deereman75]

We dont have yellow jackets here, how do they compair to hornets?

 

[mx842]

We dont have yellow jackets here, how do they compair to hornets?

Lucky you! Do you guys have ciggers up there? I guess hornets are bad and one on one their sting is probably more painful. But yellow jackets are sneaky and most times by the time you know you are in trouble you have already been stung several times and the probability of a few more is highly likely before you get out of harms way. Hornets are bigger and easier to spot so you have less chance of wondering into a nest of them. Most hornets build nest that are a lot easier to spot so the element of surprise is taken away and you can deal with them from a distance. Those big ol' yellow hornets that look like a giant yellow jacket on steroids sometimes build nest in peoples attics, walls or under the eves of your house but you most likely will know they are their because you will hear them buzzing around the nest.

I guess yellow jackets most useful tactic is the surprise people get when they stumble on to or even around their nest. I don't like to get stung by anything hornet or otherwise and to me they are all fair game to a good hot fire or a big ol bottle of bug juice fired from a long way away from the target.

 

[SPIKER]

We dont have yellow jackets here, how do they compair to hornets?

the two are pretty different, hornets usually have a nice large nest up in a tree somewhere usually 15' or more higher. though low hangers also are somewhat popular at times (heard that higher the nest the worse the winter will be.) Yellow jackets make a 3/4" hole in the ground usually hidden well so you cant see them they are smaller and fly quickly in/out so you rarely see them easily. When the get mad they start dropping pheromones. That attracts every other yellow jacket too any bug within a hundred yards comes to joint the attack.
When they start biting & stinging (yes they do both and not sure which is worse) as they usually bite you to hang on and start spinning/twisting your skin and stinging at the same time inflicting a multitude of pain higher that you would thing a little thing could do. they give you no warning when they do this and for some reason they have learned that any exposed joint, lip or eye or soft patch of skin is way more painful than say the middle of an arm or leg. I cant recall ever being stung in say the center of my back or chest by them always has been eye or cheek or arm/knee joints.

Now when you smash one they release more chemical warfare on you which really makes the rest of the nest go nuts.

My HORNET experience usually they will give you a warning bump or two to chase you off without actually stinking you yet they get in your face & fly around you pretty good. Usually they are 4 or 5 times the size of the average yellow jacket to swatting them is not quite as bad as the yellow jackets which are only a few times the size of a deer fly or half the size of a horse fly. The yellow black stripes help them blend into the woods brush as they move about vs a big black & white hornet... so ya I think the yellow jackets are a much worse critter than hornets on a 10 to one scale yellow jackets are 9.5 as they generally only leave you hurting for 4 or 5 days. Hornets are 3 or 4 to me for reasons above. stuff that would rate a 10 will kill or leave you severely damaged for long term. Brown Recluse spiders rattle snakes & the like.

Mark M

 

[deereman75]

Lucky you! Do you guys have ciggers up there? I guess hornets are bad and one on one their sting is probably more painful. But yellow jackets are sneaky and most times by the time you know you are in trouble you have already been stung several times and the probability of a few more is highly likely before you get out of harms way. Hornets are bigger and easier to spot so you have less chance of wondering into a nest of them. Most hornets build nest that are a lot easier to spot so the element of surprise is taken away and you can deal with them from a distance. Those big ol' yellow hornets that look like a giant yellow jacket on steroids sometimes build nest in peoples attics, walls or under the eves of your house but you most likely will know they are their because you will hear them buzzing around the nest.

I guess yellow jackets most useful tactic is the surprise people get when they stumble on to or even around their nest. I don't like to get stung by anything hornet or otherwise and to me they are all fair game to a good hot fire or a big ol bottle of bug juice fired from a long way away from the target.

I havnt heard of the ciggers anywhere but on here, what are they like?

 

[eepete]

I feel your pain. Weed wacked over a nest once, about 28 stings. They will hunt you down. I've dealt with white faced hornets "down here" and "up nawth" when I lived in Mass. The yellow jackets are worse because they will attack with less provocation. I have a post here somewhere on that incident.

Chiggers, well, your story was right on the money.

Sorry about all your damage. It's great that you have the skill and tools tools to deal with it.

One more thing on yellow jackets: After a tornado and a hurricane when I'm working with the Fire Department, the nests (tree and ground) are a huge hazard. Everyone thought I was crazy for having 4-5 cans of wasp spray around when these things come in. Now they understand.

'Course they still think I'm crazy .

Pete

 

[mx842]

I feel your pain. Weed wacked over a nest once, about 28 stings. They will hunt you down. I've dealt with white faced hornets "down here" and "up nawth" when I lived in Mass. The yellow jackets are worse because they will attack with less provocation. I have a post here somewhere on that incident.

Chiggers, well, your story was right on the money.

Sorry about all your damage. It's great that you have the skill and tools tools to deal with it.

One more thing on yellow jackets: After a tornado and a hurricane when I'm working with the Fire Department, the nests (tree and ground) are a huge hazard. Everyone thought I was crazy for having 4-5 cans of wasp spray around when these things come in. Now they understand.

'Course they still think I'm crazy .

Pete

I'll take crazy over being laughed at for running around in circles flapping your arms while being eaten by the a nest of PO'ed yellow jackets.:laughing:

It seems the cool nights and the heavy rains we have been getting the past couple weeks have slowed down the bees and the chiggers in our area. I have slowly been cleaning up the mess in the areas around the house and the barn and not had one encounter since the two nest I ran into right after the storm.

I guess an update is in order so I'll include it here. Progress has been slow because every time I get started on cleaning up a section I either have to stop in the middle and go to some thing that is more important which always seems to uncover some thing else that needs fixing or replacing. I finally got the big tree cut out of the barn so that I can start clean up and start to rebuild the sections that were destroyed by the tree.

Once I got that tree cut up I found all sorts of tools and my small brush saw I was using to cut the tops of the post off with under the mess all smashed to pieces. Also I discovered the pile of roofing material on a pallet smashed as well. I had 50 16' 5/4 boards that I was going to use as roof perlins also broken in half from the weight of one of the trees that fell. I still have not cut into the piles that cover a lot of the things I had stored and covered with shrink wrap waiting for the barn to be built.

I got a little side tracked while waiting for the insurance people to get out here to let me know what they would and would not cover. While I was waiting I decided to go ahead and take out all the trees around the barn that were within 40 feet or so just to keep this from happening again in the future. I had already decided to take out several at the back corner anyway so I could do proper grading but I was going to do that once the barn was finished. I figured this would be a good time to do it since I was burning anyway and what's another 10 to 15 trees when you add it all up.

I had to do this in the usual manor, by hand of-course and with the help of Stihl, Bronco, chains, wire rope and good ol' hard work and sweat. I got them all down but 2 and have burned up all the stumps that I had pulled up but for 3 of the larger ones that I have now somehow gotten close enough together to start a new burn pile. It takes a lot of brush and wood to completely burn a freshly pulled stump and I got rid of a whole lot of the brushy material that was scattered all over the property. Although I have to be careful and not burn too much of the stuff because I won't have enough brush and wood to burn the other 50 or so stumps I have scattered all over the place.

I had good luck burning the giant stump from the one tree that fell through the barn. The root base was 14' high and the hole in the ground was 6' deep. What I did was start a fire in the hole and once I got a good base of coals going I threw in about a 1/2 cord of knotted up larger limbs and any firewood that was not clean some pieces were 24" around on to the hot coals and waited until they started to burn good then I took the Bronco and pulled the stump back over to its upright position and let it simmer. That was last Sat when I pulled it over on to the fire and it is still smoking. There was not much left yesterday when I was working out there and was about to pull it over so I could cut off the log and pull out what was left of the root system but a huge rain storm came in and I couldn't finish the job. This morning all the fire piles are out because of the heavy rains and hopefully I can get back out there this afternoon and get them going again. With any luck I should have all of the trees I pulled out and that one big stump gone by the end of the weekend...that is if it will just stop raining long enough to get the fire started again.

Once I have finished removing these trees and stumps from around the building I can then hopefully start back with the task of finishing the barn. I have already decided that I am not going to worry about doing any of the work at the house, I'll get a contractor to do that work if I can ever get the insurance company to okay the work.

 

[J35]

mx842 don't feel alone, many many people are in the same boat as you.

I see a lot of places that were totally destroyed, cars, homes, shops all from tree's.

We were with out power 11 days after Isabelle 9 days from Irene.

Stay safe--- J