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Mowing practice run


gwiseman

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Got a little tractoring in this weekend. Couple hundred bucks/mo water bill keeps the grass green but not much growth.


No need to get the Conquest w/bagger started - no baggin required.


And the 2nd part of the weekend started w/the bumble bee 10 & Colfax mower from SmilinSam. Only got it started in the undergrowth in the tree line around the house. Ran over a ground bee nest (I'm allergic) so after a trip to the ER for an IV refill I moved them back inside till cooler weather.
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The cutter looks dangerous, but who knew a guy could get into that kind of trouble without leaving the seat! Glad you made it...and had at least a little fun before hand sm00 Nice equipment you got there!
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I had a ground wasp close call - but fortunately, :O ,for me, it was discovered by a neighbour - the hard way. OO Can't recall, I think it was partly concealed beneath some wood or something like that. I had mowed close to it. But the neighbour moved the cover. I guess the neighbour got stung a bunch of times. Scary stuff. But that destroyed the nest; and they moved on. The neighbour was ok - amazing. The good news - I learned that ground wasps in a nest are the only ones in the area - no others will nest close to them. I am not sure what kind of distance that involves; but I was told it was significantly large. Bees/wasps are social insects - or antisocial, or territorial, in this case. These wasps looked like bees - I am guessing what you encountered were ground wasps. Please note there is no guarantee on the accuracy of this info. :D I have a lot of what I think are mud wasps (?), larger, brown gangly ones - around my house and shed - there are several paper nests over my shed door. I just ignore them; and they ignore me. It's very interesting; kinda like having respect for privacy and personal space. Those wasps are content to peacefully coexist. Sometimes when I walk outside, I collide with one, and no problem. I just walk away. But if one happens to come in my house, it's war. On cold days, in the fall, they are nowhere to be seen; except tending to nests. I peel the paper nests off in late fall or early spring - but they just rebuild next season. The yellow ones are the ones I worry about; but tend to just ignore them too. If one of them gets a little too 'social', I use a flyswatter; but only if there's no others watching, and I can make a quick getaway into the house. sm01 At a golf course where I worked, there was one guy who used a propane torch w a flame spreader, to deal with nesting in irrigation system control boxes. He would just flame the nest and walk away, leaving the torch to finish the job. I have been stung in the past; but always by accident. I would be sitting and move my arm in such a way to trap a bee or wasp between my arm and leg or something like that - so the sting was pure defence, just an accident. I suppose your incident was just an accident also; only worse. I hate the feeling after being stung. Kinda shocked, dizzy, sick. That's worse than the initial sharp pain. Is that what the allergy feels like too? Maybe worse. I guess it's almost life-threatening for some people. I would not want to go there. Rattle can from 20 feet is very effective at killing entire nest. Good aim and steady hand helps. I spray more than needed probably; then run. sm04 But they don't seem to catch on to what's happening, or where it's coming from. Strange. Same with the propane torch idea. They seem to sense fear - much of there behaviour and communication is pheromone based. Be cool. 8D I think beekeepers use some kind of smoke to calm them, when tending to hives. That's a whole other world. "Colfax mower" ? That "Colfax mower" is very unusual - I don't think I have seen that before. What's the bars on the right side for?? It looks like a mowing deck with no sides. Does it have one large blade?
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Here is a picture and a little story of a ground bee encounter that should give you and everyone else a smile. The picture will be in your minds eye and thats all your getting.:O:O I was mowing an old driveway into the woods at a brothers house. There was a small clearing at the end, about 40' wide but no matter. i made a half circle in the clearing, and since it was way back in the woods with no one around, I stepped off the tractor to....get rid of some coffee. I just stepped a couple feet away from the still running tractor to do my business. Just as I got "started" I was swarmed by dozens of angry bee's. I did the natural thing and just ran a ways up the driveway away from the swarm. In my haste, I "neglected" to put things away so to speak.:I:I:I There's your picture. ;) I'm sure glad no one was around to see. Once I had composed myself, no stings, just a few scary landings sm01 I'm not allergic. Apparently, I had stopped the tractor with the front tire half way covering the nest hole. they really did not like the vibration of the tractor running. LOL And for those of you wondering how I got my tractor back,,,you can slap a B into gear at a dead run and it will drive itself away }:)}:)
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quote:
Originally posted by rokon2813
Here is a picture and a little story of a ground bee encounter that should give you and everyone else a smile. The picture will be in your minds eye and thats all your getting.:O:O I was mowing an old driveway into the woods at a brothers house. There was a small clearing at the end, about 40' wide but no matter. i made a half circle in the clearing, and since it was way back in the woods with no one around, I stepped off the tractor to....get rid of some coffee. I just stepped a couple feet away from the still running tractor to do my business. Just as I got "started" I was swarmed by dozens of angry bee's. I did the natural thing and just ran a ways up the driveway away from the swarm. In my haste, I "neglected" to put things away so to speak.:I:I:I There's your picture. ;) I'm sure glad no one was around to see. Once I had composed myself, no stings, just a few scary landings sm01 I'm not allergic. Apparently, I had stopped the tractor with the front tire half way covering the nest hole. they really did not like the vibration of the tractor running. LOL And for those of you wondering how I got my tractor back,,,you can slap a B into gear at a dead run and it will drive itself away }:)}:)
ha~ha~ha~ha~ha I think I saw a glimpse DanOO LOL Thanks for the good reviews everyone!
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quote:
Originally posted by gwiseman Couple hundred bucks/mo water bill keeps the grass green . . .
Wow. I can't afford that. I have to just let mine go until the rains come back.
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