Music?, Cooking and Yellowjackets

 The thumping that is called music is so loud my chest hurt and my heart beat funny all night. After three hours sleep on Friday night, I finally got to sleep about 5 am Sunday morning and slept until 3:30 in the afternoon. This is not a car or house speaker. It comes from the community center in the park. So, it is a pretty big deal. They are supposed to shut down the music at 10 pm, but this did not happen. 

Around 8 pm on Saturday night, I told Tommy I wanted to drive and see where they noise was. Well, we can get to the park through a gate in the fence. The affair going on was young adults, not teens as usual.

This evening, as I started to cook, I was horrified to find we had neither turkey bags nor regular cooking bags ( 8 lb. size), so in two minutes were on the way to Publix. After we came back, I went online, and he wrote prices as I called them out. We found we can get cheaper bags by buying a dozen boxes, only 60 bags. So, we will on Amazon. Price is cheaper per bag, no driving to get them, less taxes, free shipping, so this is all a benefit. 

This is the third time I have run out of bags and gone out specially to buy them. We both want this to end, hence the huge order. 

In the bag I put enough food for at least three meals for both of us, so six meals, and some in the freezer. There are not enough squash for three meals, but we have other vegetables.

In the bag--Five chicken legs, three huge bscb, five squash I bought Saturday, two pounds of carrots. I put two of the legs into a freezer bag for later. I had a small piece of one bscb, the smallest squash, and about a whole carrot. I seasoned it and forgot once again to add onion to the bag. 

The five squash were on the small side, like I like them. I knew that cutting in chunks or slicing them would cause them to disintegrate, so I cooked them whole. If we want less than a whole squash, it can be cut and will hold together once it is cold. 

Before we left for Publix, I was heating some sort of precooked, sliced beef for Tommy. It was supposed to be in thin slices, but I let it sit until it was cooked into a mass. No big deal. When we got back, I turned it back on and heated it for Tommy. He had salad with all his fixings and some of the meat that was now solid meat. There are two more meat portions there, so whenever he decides he can eat it. 

My friend, Lynda, was stung many times by yellowjackets this evening. She was in her nightgown and went out to check on her strawberries. She went on to the fence to talk to a neighbor and stopped right over a nest of yellowjackets in the ground. They flew up her nightgown and stung her above her waist on her chest. Yikes! They chased her to her car and were in the car. She was trying to kill them and drive at dusk and cannot drive in the dark! She downed Benadryl in Walgreens and opened the alcohol and put it on her stings. She refuses to take my Epipen or ointment for itches and pain. So, I am worried. Yes, there are better things to put on the stings to reduce itching and pain, but this is her choice. 

Beware of yellow jacket nests, especially later in the day and this time of the year. Now, I am afraid to walk in the backyard if I ever decide to walk there. 

One day, in 1980, I called a friend who was crying. She had gotten into yellow jackets while mowing. At the same moment, my son came in loudly and started crying. He was mowing and got into a nest, too. 

I know they are not supposed to leave a stinger, but my son had one on his knee toward the edge of his kneecap. For quite a few months he had a divot in his skin. I spent a lot of time consoling him and treating his stings. I felt so sorry for him and my friend. 

The next day, I killed the nest by pouring gasoline into the hole, taking a shovel and lifting the dirt, pouring in more gasoline and lighting a match and dropping it in from arm's length. I understand gasoline. All the kids in the neighborhood learned from my son what I was going to do, so we had an audience. I strictly enforced their not coming near. It was quite a spectacle, and many children had a tale to tell that night. 

If you see a stinging insect close to the ground around dawn or dusk, watch and see if it settles and disappears. Several circling low to the ground and settling probably means they are going underground and into a nest. Stay away and eliminate the nest safely, probably not with gasoline.

Have you or do you know anyone who has gotten into yellowjackets?