When I began to do the laundry accumulated on our vacation, I swatted something away from my arm. Then I felt an intense pain, as if I had received an injection. Confused, I went upstairs to try to figure out what had just bitten me. My husband went down to the laundry room and couldn’t find anything. Convinced(with nothing to support my conviction)that I had been bitten by a spider(even though I had never felt a spider like that) I returned to do the wash. Immediately I felt that same sharp stab on my bare foot. I looked down and saw a yellow jacket stuck between my toes, having a wonderful time injecting his poison nonstop into my foot.
At least we now knew what had bitten me! But despite constant ice packs my foot screamed in pain for the rest of the evening and interrupted my sleep. Then it began the kind of itching for which you are at first grateful(it must be healing!) and then being driven insane wishing for the pain to return.
We had never had any yellow jackets in the house, so my resident sleuth(aka my husband) went on a fact finding mission. He discovered a break in the vent pipe to the bathroom exhaust fan and sealed it up. Apparently the yellow jacket(and his pals I later discovered) had been happily flying in and out of our house while we were in Maine. We have evicted our squatters and I now wear shoes when I do the laundry–just in case.
Saved By Words 
I hope they did not build a nest in between. They are a menace. I can feel the itch and the pain. Ouch.
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Thank goodness no. The nest was in the strawberry patch which my husband found and destroyed.
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Goodness me, Elizabeth, that doesn’t sound nice at all. I remember reading about yellow jackets in Little house in the big woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We don’t get them here in South Africa.
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I forgot they figured in that book. But you have snakes, don’t you?
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That’s unfortunate Elizabeth. Be well.
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Thanks.
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Ouch! To have a bite sounds particularly painful. Over here we have our annual battle with hornets – larger than yellow jackets/wasps and generally less aggressive. They fly at night and we often have to eject several at bedtime. Last night Bernie was bitten by one for the first time at which point the hornet went berserk and I thought we’d both end up bitten. Thankfully that didn’t happen. I’ll be glad to see them vanish again though – it won’t be much longer before it will be too cold for them.
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Egads. That sounds awful. My husband did discover they had a nest in the strawberry bed. No fools they!
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It sounds like the invader got you good. It’s true about the pain and then the itch that follows. Everyone in my family got stung this year, including my two year-old grandson, who got stung on the cheek last week. You are now an honorary member of the club! I’m glad you’re not allergic and hope you finally got a good night’s sleep.
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I thought of your earlier post about these vermin when I got stung. I hadn’t had a bite in at least 30 years. I hope I never get another.
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Oh man – I was literally squirming in my seat as I read this. Wasps, bees, and yellowjackets are probably the only thing that approaches a phobia for me and this sounds positively awful! Glad you figured out the source!
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They are awful, I agree. It had been at least 30 years since I had a bite, and I hadn’t missed it at all.
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Same here – just as long for me. Today I was helping out at an event centred around making cider (from apples grown throughout our city!) and as I was helping clean up, moving bins full of apple mash, there were several of them and I thought for sure that I was going to break my 30 year streak. So glad I didn’t.
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They are awful around apple leavings.
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Ouch!!! How long did the pain last? Hope you are okay now❤😍
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The pain went away after 24 hours. The itching is mostly gone. Thanks.
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You have my sympathy! My Mom just had her first allergic reaction to a yellow jacket sting, and she is very itchy too. Don’t forget witch hazel. It helps!
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I never knew that. I even have witch hazel. I will remember that if I get another sting. Love to your mom.
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