Scorpions and woodpiles

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

After seven years or so of digging through stacks of mesquite, I finally met a scorpion that was smarter than me. ...it stayed on the bottom of the board where I couldn't see it. Never did see it, actually. I was tossing the board away and saying very bad things almost before the hurt started. It's now nearly five hours later and the 'burn like fire' has subsided somewhat. Burned like hell for every bit of three hours.

Be careful out there.

KC

[Jason Roehl]

OUCH! Sorry to hear that, KC! I've never been had by a scorpion, so I can't identify, but I've been bit by various flying demons (wasps, yellowjackets, etc.)

I hope the pain goes away quickly and you have no other ill effects from it!

[Brian Hale]

OUCH!!

Glad you feeling better and nothing bad developed. I'm hyper allergic to bee stings and my imuolligst (sp?) warned me to stay away from scorpions and such...


Take care and have a cold beverage...

Brian

[Wolf Kiessling]

After seven years or so of digging through stacks of mesquite, I finally met a scorpion that was smarter than me. ...it stayed on the bottom of the board where I couldn't see it. Never did see it, actually. I was tossing the board away and saying very bad things almost before the hurt started. It's now nearly five hours later and the 'burn like fire' has subsided somewhat. Burned like hell for every bit of three hours.

Be careful out there.

KC

Those blasted scorpions are one of my fears around here. I have them coming in the house all the time. No stings (so far) but I'm always afraid of stepping on one because I ALWAYS go barefooted in the house or having one crawl in the sack. Usually one of the cats spots them first and that gives us a chance to kill it. My biggest fear, however, is stepping on one when I get up in the middle of the night. Ughhhhhhh....

[Bill Patterson]

Time to buy a mongoose....

Seriously, sorry to hear about the scorpion attack. Did you at least extract retribution? Bill

[Jim Becker]

My biggest fear, however, is stepping on one when I get up in the middle of the night.

"Sitting" on one in the middle of the night would be worse...

KC...hope you feel better!

[Aaron Koehl]

After seven years or so of digging through stacks of mesquite, I finally met a scorpion that was smarter than me. ...it stayed on the bottom of the board where I couldn't see it. Never did see it, actually. I was tossing the board away and saying very bad things almost before the hurt started. It's now nearly five hours later and the 'burn like fire' has subsided somewhat. Burned like hell for every bit of three hours.

Be careful out there.

KC

Geesh-- this is why I'm glad to be a Virginian!!!
I mean, we can count on one hand the number of baddies around here:

Brown Recluse Spider: Seen one at the woodpile, no run-ins. Saw a post here on SMC where someone got bit by one. Yikes!
Black Widow Spider: Got bit by a big one last summer that was hiding in a rolled up carpet. Man that hurt for a week!
Rattlesnake: Killed one with a shovel when I was 7. Other than that, haven't seen any. (Note: There are two rattlesnake species in VA, but one's endangered.)
Cottonmouth Moccasin: See these ominous fellas regularly in the (York) river, poking their heads straight out above the water. Fortunately haven't been bitten by this one. I did step on one when I was running barefoot. Bleah.
Copperhead: Had one on a tree when I was climbing it as a young lad. Had a family member remove it with a shovel before I would come down.

[Jason Roehl]

Geesh-- this is why I'm glad to be a Virginian!!!
I mean, we can count on one hand the number of baddies around here:

Brown Recluse Spider: Seen one at the woodpile, no run-ins. Saw a post here on SMC where someone got bit by one. Yikes!
Black Widow Spider: Got bit by a big one last summer that was hiding in a rolled up carpet. Man that hurt for a week!
Rattlesnake: Killed one with a shovel when I was 7. Other than that, haven't seen any. (Note: There are two rattlesnake species in VA, but one's endangered.)
Cottonmouth Moccasin: See these ominous fellas in the river, poking their heads straight out above the water. Fortunately haven't been bitten by this one. I did step on one when I was running barefoot. Bleah.
Copperhead: Had one on a tree when I was climbing it as a young lad. Had a family member remove it with a shovel before I would come down.

Livin' on the edge there, aren't you, Aaron? BTW, the link to the copperhead doesn't work, but thanks for the others!

This may be the one:

<a href = "http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS/copperhead.jpg">Copperhead</a>

[Dick Parr]

I feel you pain, when I was stationed in Hawaii I got stung by one on the big toe while walking on the beach. Couldn’t get my shoe on for a week it was swollen and hurt to bad to put one on.

Hope you feel better soon.

[Robert Goodwin]

I have met a couple of them in my years here in the desert. One was on a towel I left out overnight at a pool. Now I check everything that gets left outside overnight before use .

I also fell asleep on the floor one night while watching TV. I must have rolled over on him and he got me. What a way to wake up It burned pretty good during the night, but the numbness around the bite did not fully go away for almost a month.

Rob

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Endangered rattlesnake? It'll sure be engangered if I see it! Only good snake is a dead snake in my book...and I don't care how many rodents they may take care of.

As to the scorpion sting, I suppose I was lucky to only have the terrible burn for several hours. No swelling, and no remaining 'hurt' the next morning. I suspect it just got me a 'quick shot'.

KC

[Todd Burch]

Ouch!

I got a splinter today... but I was able to get it out with my lineman's pliers.

[David Rose]

The good ole Game and Fish boys or Arkansas traded some turkeys to some state (who obviously was much smarter) for about 20,000 rattlers. Then they proceeded to release them in our largest wildlife management area. And of course they labelled them as an endangered species and made it illegal to kill them. Fortunately, they don't walk around much in the area where they put them or they would find lots of dead ones.

When I was a kid my grandmother came to stay in our "cabin on the lake" which was still pretty primitive. One morning I awoke to a scream and went in to find her beating the daylights out of a fairly large scorpion on the floor. It was in her shoe when she started putting it on. It had no chance in the world against grandma. She wasn't stung either.

Btw, black widows which are normally non agressive eat the eggs and young of brown recluse. Usually when you find black widows you don't find the recluses.

David, who thinks if it is left alone it should have no more or less than 4 legs (OK, sometimes 2 legs)

Endangered rattlesnake? It'll sure be engangered if I see it! Only good snake is a dead snake in my book...and I don't care how many rodents they may take care of.

As to the scorpion sting, I suppose I was lucky to only have the terrible burn for several hours. No swelling, and no remaining 'hurt' the next morning. I suspect it just got me a 'quick shot'.

KC

[Jim VanBramer]

Yeah, I know what you mean ... Up here in Seattle when you go out to get another piece of wood you've gotta be extra careful or you might just get a handful of ....... SLIME ... those darn slugs are THE WORST!

[Bob Smalser]

Glad you are OK.

Here's another one:

Black Sawdust

One of my finest logs of WRC was 20+ rings to the inch, 72" DBH and 30' long...not a hole or degrade visible on either end...couldn't wait to get into it...prime boat planking.

Bucked the lower log at 12' and set the Lucas up atop it, as it was too big to move safely with the old farm tractor I was skidding with at the time. Didn't test it with plunge cuts with the big Stihl...wastes prime wood.

Get half way thru the opening vertical cut, and the forces on the saw lighten up...I continue cutting...probably a pitch pocket. Then the saw on the return horizontal cut begins to spit out black sawdust, getting down my shirt and trousers as usual. No big deal...that's why God gave us that after-work shower bath.

At the end of the cut I pull away the slab, and a gazillion carpenter ants swarm out all over me.

Musta looked pretty silly stripping down to full nakedness in that open wood lot.