Boy, did I had the adrenalin rushing this morning when I happened onto a nest of ground wasps! Peg and I had gone riding on her two horses, Simon and Haley and were on either side of a pine tree, clearing a trail. Our goal was to meet in the middle to make an alternative path from the mail trail to Harland Creek.
I was on foot, clearing brush while holding onto Haley and we’d been inching along like this for some time when she started going apeshit. Scrambling backwards, eyes wild, Haley was doing everything she could to turn around and run back out of the spot we were in.
It was all I could do to hang onto her and about that time I realized I was getting stung all over, too! Yipes! We beat it on out of there and made it to the open trail where I could see what was going on. We both still had angry yellow jackets attached and stinging away. I kept killing them and moving until we were sure we weren’t being followed.
It took Peg and Simon a few minutes for them to get around to where we were. Peg wasn’t sure what she’d find after hearing all the ruckus. Happily, we were all in one piece, albeit still trembling a little. Haley was beginning to nibble on the Elaeagnus (Autumn Olive) again which was a good sign.
I crushed one last wasp that I found between the saddle and pad showed Peg. Yepper, it was a yellow jacket. It’s amazing that such a tiny critter could cause all that pain! My half a dozen stings are still throbbing two hours later. Although I must say they didn’t hurt as much when I was mounted which is how I’ve always been. Aches and pains disappear when I’m on horseback and despite today’s adventure, I’d still rather go bushwhacking with Peg than just about anything else I can think of!
