Current Conditions

[susan]

Scarey, Mike,so sorry to hear it and glad you are ok! I wonder more about what happened!

I once asked a doctor if I could get an Epi pen to keep on hand as part of a first aid kit, as I was thinking of how off the grid we get in Soyo, and this was not long after a couple of friends upset a hive while climbing and suffered multiple stings. Thankfully neither of them were overly allergic and had Benadryl. Anyway doc told me a flat out No saying that unless you are allergic, Epi pens are incredibly dangerous. So is dying, right? And Epi is only to be used as a last resort. I generally keep Benadryl with me while climbing but sometimes have slacked off on that. Good reminder.. and good tip to chew vs swallow to assimilate it fast.

[John]

Wow, glad you are OK Mike! Please tell me you took photos from the chopper. Just kidding...

You need to climb with something like Linda's numchucks!

[splitclimber]

Holy Crap Mike.  Hope you are goin' OK. 

[mike a]

Hi all, I am good as new, but scary how fast things can turn from fun to am I going to die today?, got a epie pin now and will always bring benidril with me, I was stung all together last weekend six times in two days, I think the one to the face was the one that my body was not happy with, old Mike A, is running out of nine lives lol 😊

[John]

I remember talking with you at the pools Mike and every few minutes...wasp, toe!...wasp, ankle!...wasp, toe!..wasp, left face!...I think they really love you.

Sheesh, you would guess you weren't allergic if your body hadn't freaked out after five stings so far! I would wager there were other sting emergencies in the last few weeks, it is really out of hand for some reason.

[mungeclimber]

How much was the epi pen? Hopefully they gave you the old style injector for the cheaper price.

Mrs. Munge has like 4. 1 for the car, 1 for the house, 1 for the truck, and 1 in the climbing pack. But she bought them a long while ago.

Good reminder to reload Benadryl to the pack. thx

[John]

You know they have a 6 month shelf life? That's $600 a year at the generic $300 per pen prices. Expensive staying alive these days.

Edit: That's $300 per 2 pack.

[mungeclimber]

don't believe the hype. We talked to the doctor about the ones she has. Her's don't expire.

[mike a]

My pin cost $15 😊

[mungeclimber]

nice!

[DG]

Dang, you guys got me worried about the bees now! Anybody know if there are particular areas around Fresno/Hawk Dome that are worse with them?

Glad you survived it, Mike!

[mike a]

Hi all the bees seemed to be real bad at the Fresno dome area last weekend, the bees did not seem has bad at gray eagle and chiquito dome last weekend did not get stung there, but the at Fresno dome area is where I got stung every day I was there last week so look out if you go there!!!

[susan]

About how many wasps were surrounding people at any one time at Fresno Dome as opposed to Gray or Chiquito? 

At the Balls at the end of August, I noticed from a few to roughly half a dozen wasps buzzing my personal space at any given time while at camp in the mornings and up at the climbs, but the following weekend, last weekend, there were sometimes double and even triple that count. That first weekend I noticed swatting the air angrily only stirred them to more aggression. John relayed the bee anger fart phenomenon to me. Ha ha... And trying to relax seemed to help. Cooling cloud cover and maybe the stronger breezes helped lessen the swarms. At night they would disappear completely. But any food or drink containers left out by morning drew them back.

I read that the green traps are more helpful to put out in the spring and that introducing them only by now is really too late to dent the populations.

[susan]

Actually at their worst, I stopped counting at about 30 wasps last Saturday - no fun. Long sleeves and pants and hood all light weight material helped a lot.

[DaveyTree]

This European strain might be gaining ground. http://www.kevinroderick.com/meatbees.html

Lunesta Fiesta should be interesting. Long sleeves and pants will be a good bet. Maybe I will pick up some yellow jacket traps for camp and some bowls for the soapy water as well.

Mike, What areas at Fresno DOme were the worst for the yellow jackets?