This will wake you up in a hurry

[Aspen500]

In my den, there's one of those post lamps with the 3 cans on it. It's plugged into a switched outlet with the switch being around the corner in the hall. Flipped the switch to turn the light on and sounded like someone fired up one of those electric arc steel mill furnaces or something. Whole room turned blue, red and orange and that smoke,,,,,,,,,,,you know that burnt electrical smoke smell? Got the switched flipped back off and thankfully no fire.
Got to say, I think I skipped a few heartbeats

Reminds me of the time my small shop vac I use in the house lit up. Bunch of flashing blue and red arcs. Quick as I could, unplugged it and it was on fire. Good thing I was in the utility room off the entry way and kitchen and there's a door out the back. Kicked it out onto the back driveway and evacuated the premises. After the smoke cleared it still stunk like burned insulation and plastic in the house for a week.

Just a couple more reasons I have an extinguisher in the kitchen, utility room, upstairs, the attached garage, 2 in the shop out back and one in the shed,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,just in case.

 

[Justwondering]

Yikes.

 

[F body Deconstructor Jim]

Ouch...right next to the paneling too...bet that woulda caught fire pretty quickly!
You dodged one...now go buy a lottery ticket!

 

[Jack Meoff]

Yikes!
I've had a few 1930's radios go thermonuclear......not fun.

 

[Aspen500]

...........and then last night I walked into the living room and out of the corner of my eye I see something not right. Hanging from the trim on the pass through to the kitchen,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,a freakin' bat More like a flying rat. The trim board is 4" wide and it covered the whole thing. Hmmmm, now what? Think, think, think.......Grabbed a coffee can sized container and the cardboard off the back of a notebook. It must have been sleeping because it never even flinched. Put the can over the bat (quickly) and NOW it's awake, screech, screech, screech...... Slid the cardboard in and headed out the back door. It took off like, well,,,,,like a bat out of hell.
How did it get in the house in the first place and why did it come in? Talk about the heebie-jeebies. Filthy flying rats,,,,,,stay outdoors

Yeah, no pics it didn't happen but was afraid the flash would wake it up and it'd start flying all over the house which would have been a bad thing.

 

[Justwondering]

And yet I have put up 2 bat houses trying to encourage them to set up shop here.

 

[Aspen500]

There's plenty of those things around here and that's fine as long as they DON'T COME IN THE HOUSE!
Have a feeling the bats are one reason there's basically no mosquito's. So far this year I've maybe seen 2 in total and there's nothing wrong with that Come to think of it, there aren't a whole lot of bugs of any kind period. Eat away bats!

 

[Justwondering]

I agree with that. I don't like the bats in the house.
My heartburn comes from scorpions in the house.
I hated Aliens and scorpions remind me of that, their sting hurts like acid, and they are dang aggressive for such a little critter.
In May, there was one hanging out in the vent for the a/c. I got a bottle of bleach water and sprayed it. It curled up and died, thankfully.

 

[Aspen500]

Depending on where you are and where the insect or any other type of bug is, brake cleaner drops them instantly. Obviously, in the house or near your car is a bad idea. Works excellent at killing bees in a pinch. Downside is you have to be fairly close so only works on a single bee, NOT a hive. Bee stings will put me down for half a day or at the very least, make me feel all punky for a few hours. Stupid friggin' bees.

 

[Justwondering]

You won't believe this, but I'm a bee keeper.
Have 21 hives down at my dad's, although I am losing some this year due to age and heat.

We sling honey twice a year. Bee stings are like mosquito bites for me except for one hive. That one hive has bees with venom that will turn my bites beet red and about 2 inches across.

Course, I now remember to put on my bee suit for that hive. Most of them you can work with smoke and long sleeve shirt.

 

[BudW]

Check, don't call her honey. She will sick her bees after ya.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Depending on where you are and where the insect or any other type of bug is, brake cleaner drops them instantly. Obviously, in the house or near your car is a bad idea. Works excellent at killing bees in a pinch. Downside is you have to be fairly close so only works on a single bee, NOT a hive. Bee stings will put me down for half a day or at the very least, make me feel all punky for a few hours. Stupid friggin' bees.

Now do you mean bees or wasps?
Bees don't seem to bother me that much. Wasps are ornery little bastards. Although their sting doesn’t swell up too badly they hurt. I've had to deal with more than a few nests up north. One in particular was under the edge of my land on the waterfront. Had to get in the lake at night with a buddy holding a flashlight. That was easily the biggest nest I've ever seen.

This is why I love the foam stuff. As soon as it hits them it encases them in foam so they can't move. That nest was so big I hit it with a full can the night before and one more full can in the morning to finish the job.......damn wasps.

 

[Justwondering]

Agreed - I don't like wasps near the house.
Like the honey that bees make.

 

[Aspen500]

Yeah, wasps and hornets mainly. Either of those get me and I may as well figure the next 5 or 6 hours is going to be a waste and lay down. They usually show up towards fall. Those mean ones with the rear legs that hang down when they fly,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,give me the willies (see photo below). They'll sting you just because they can. Honey bees and even the bumble bees seem to go about their business and will leave you alone unless you deliberately or accidentally piss them off.

I've got these flowering shrubs out back and in the spring they hum and buzz with a crap load of bees. Mostly some big fuzzy yellow and black ones but they don't pay any attention to anything except collecting nectar.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Bees are friendly. Wasps are pricks.

 

[7T8 Custom]

And hornets are worse. I found that out the hard way.

 

[Jack Meoff]

And hornets are worse. I found that out the hard way.

Agreed.

 

[Dr Lebaron]

I've never had an electrical thermonuclear moment and never been stung.
I must live in a bubble.

Green Hornets are OK.

 

[Aspen500]

I've never had an electrical thermonuclear moment and never been stung.
I must live in a bubble.

Green Hornets are OK.

We all pretty much figured THAT out!

 

[kkritsilas]

I've never had an electrical thermonuclear moment and never been stung.
I must live in a bubble.

Green Hornets are OK.

Kato was far cooler, though (and I know he was Bruce Lee).