Sand wasps to be more precise (at least I think...)...
Well, as some of you know, I am in the lawn care industry. For the past week I have been lucky and UNlucky enough to be doing Aeration and Overseedings, the most expensive applications we do, also the most time and effort consuming. Basically I lug around a huge machine that essentially pulls plugs of soil to reduce the thatch layer, therefore allowing more sun and water to enter the soil and get microbes goin, which in turn makes for a healthier lawn... ANYways, the machine is about 4 feet wide, has a big roller in the front, and the tines that poke into the ground in back. I pull the lever, it goes... kinda like a big, bulky, heavy, annoyingly loud and obnoxious lawn mower.
So I'm doing this lawn, its only about 5,000 sq ft, so it should only take me about a half hour to complete the aeration, and then spread some seed over top. This a beautiful house in Essex right on a lake, big house with a three car garage and a SEPERATE HUGE garage for their RV. So I take my aerator out of the pick-up, and get to doin the damn thing.
I figure it's easiest to make a few border passes and work my way into the middle so i have room to turn the machine around so that I dont get these dirt plugs all over their driveway and such, so I start on the sides of the driveway and go to make my way around their huge RV garage. I do a pass, then another, and go to make my third pass.
All of a sudden, I feel a burning sensation on my hand... then my neck, then my arms, then my HEAD, WTF?!?! So I look down and BEES ARE EVERYWHERE! I immediately freak out. I ran from that aerator so fast, I might have bent the steel toe in my boots if I would have tripped. Like a little girl, I retreat to my truck, lock myself in, and shake like a leaf in a stiff breeze. Then I notice, THERE'S STILL BEES ON ME!
So I get out of the truck, take my shirt off, drop my pants, and do a little jig, reminiscent of the harlem shake. When I was sure the bees were off me, I got back in the truck. I proceeded to pull stingers out of my neck, arms, hands and head... a total of 27. Yeah I said it... 27.
I sit there for a while, crying like a child and shaking, not knowing if Im allergic to bees. I havent been stung by a bee since I was a baby, and then, it was only one bee... not dozens. I call my manager, he says to wait it out, let the bees disperse, get my aerator on my truck and get the hell out of there.
I sit there for a few minutes, then go to try to retrieve my aerator. I felt like I was walking into a dark cave where I knew there was a bear. I was terrified. I look to my aerator which has been just chillin, runnin on these peoples lawn. It is, in fact, STILL surrounded by bees. I round about behind it, and look at it again... Then I noticed the bees were COMING FROM THE GROUND.
Im thinking to myself, "what kind of freakish Gears of War type of insect IS THIS?!" I then thought about it deeper, and figured it had to be some kind of burrowing wasp, and I must've sunk the aerator right into their hive in the soil. I ran to my aerator and pushed like I was competing in the push cart derby. Put it on my truck, and BOOKED it.
I banged out a couple more houses, and called it a day.
Long story short. Fuck bees. And wasps (thanks hugh, lol)
Well, as some of you know, I am in the lawn care industry. For the past week I have been lucky and UNlucky enough to be doing Aeration and Overseedings, the most expensive applications we do, also the most time and effort consuming. Basically I lug around a huge machine that essentially pulls plugs of soil to reduce the thatch layer, therefore allowing more sun and water to enter the soil and get microbes goin, which in turn makes for a healthier lawn... ANYways, the machine is about 4 feet wide, has a big roller in the front, and the tines that poke into the ground in back. I pull the lever, it goes... kinda like a big, bulky, heavy, annoyingly loud and obnoxious lawn mower.
So I'm doing this lawn, its only about 5,000 sq ft, so it should only take me about a half hour to complete the aeration, and then spread some seed over top. This a beautiful house in Essex right on a lake, big house with a three car garage and a SEPERATE HUGE garage for their RV. So I take my aerator out of the pick-up, and get to doin the damn thing.
I figure it's easiest to make a few border passes and work my way into the middle so i have room to turn the machine around so that I dont get these dirt plugs all over their driveway and such, so I start on the sides of the driveway and go to make my way around their huge RV garage. I do a pass, then another, and go to make my third pass.
All of a sudden, I feel a burning sensation on my hand... then my neck, then my arms, then my HEAD, WTF?!?! So I look down and BEES ARE EVERYWHERE! I immediately freak out. I ran from that aerator so fast, I might have bent the steel toe in my boots if I would have tripped. Like a little girl, I retreat to my truck, lock myself in, and shake like a leaf in a stiff breeze. Then I notice, THERE'S STILL BEES ON ME!
So I get out of the truck, take my shirt off, drop my pants, and do a little jig, reminiscent of the harlem shake. When I was sure the bees were off me, I got back in the truck. I proceeded to pull stingers out of my neck, arms, hands and head... a total of 27. Yeah I said it... 27.
I sit there for a while, crying like a child and shaking, not knowing if Im allergic to bees. I havent been stung by a bee since I was a baby, and then, it was only one bee... not dozens. I call my manager, he says to wait it out, let the bees disperse, get my aerator on my truck and get the hell out of there.
I sit there for a few minutes, then go to try to retrieve my aerator. I felt like I was walking into a dark cave where I knew there was a bear. I was terrified. I look to my aerator which has been just chillin, runnin on these peoples lawn. It is, in fact, STILL surrounded by bees. I round about behind it, and look at it again... Then I noticed the bees were COMING FROM THE GROUND.
Im thinking to myself, "what kind of freakish Gears of War type of insect IS THIS?!" I then thought about it deeper, and figured it had to be some kind of burrowing wasp, and I must've sunk the aerator right into their hive in the soil. I ran to my aerator and pushed like I was competing in the push cart derby. Put it on my truck, and BOOKED it.
I banged out a couple more houses, and called it a day.
Long story short. Fuck bees. And wasps (thanks hugh, lol)
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