Robert Mitchum in the movie Night of the Hunter, playing a religious fanatic, had "love" and "hate" tattooed on his fingers, love on one hand and hate on the other.
I have, temporarily, hands demonstrating "wasp-stung" and "not-wasp-stung" without any tattoo. This is the second time this summer that I have been stung by the more aggressive sort of paper wasp. The swelling goes away, well it did last time anyway, in a day or three.
RANDOM STORY
Back in the early 70s, maybe 71, I lived in Fortuna in Humboldt county in northern California. I moved there from San Francisco and had good friends to visit in the city. I would leave my house at 8 AM and hitchhike to SF, usually arriving in 6 or 7 hours. Almost as fast as if I had driven myself. After a few days I'd hitch back north. One of those trips found me somewhere a bit north of Ukiah at the end of one ride with my thumb out for another. In the way of things back then it wasn't long till a van pulled over, stopped about fifty feet away, and the rear door swung open. I trotted over and jumped from the bright sunlight into the dark back of a windowless van. No fewer than three voices welcomed me with "Hi Roger." Neighbors and friends from Humboldt. I was dropped off in Fortuna and enjoyed a leisurely 10 minute stroll home.
I hate seeing your hands like that, Roger. Sure hope it calms down as quickly as the last time.
ReplyDeleteLove the random story idea. Our ancient pasts awaken.
were these paper wasps around a nest? how did you offend them? it looks painful.
ReplyDeleteYou have great stories...this one is a good one too. You've had some pretty wonderful experiences all over the world. You might think about starting a regular post of your most wild stories. Could be quite entertaining....
Funny you should mention "regular post" because we're thinking about doing just that. Random stories from our pasts. Isn't that what old people do? LOL!
Deletewe toned it down a bit to random stories. i'm used to native non-aggressive paper wasps.
DeleteI second that!
Deleteouchy, roger! hope that swelling goes down quickly.
ReplyDeleteback in the 70's, i was pretty much convinced that hitchhiking meant i'd be killed by psychopaths and left by the side of the road. might have been a slight exaggeration, but it seemed like a better idea not to experiment. cheers! xoxo
On September 17, 1970 I hitchhiked to work and had an experience that changed my life. I was raped by the man who picked me up when I hitched a ride up Topanga Canyon. Your sense of hitchhiking was absolutely correct, kathy a.
DeleteI did a post about my experience many years ago. Here's a link.
http://newdharmabums.blogspot.com/2005/09/anniversary-of-worst-day-of-my-life.html
This post had more comments than almost any other that we had done. Unfortunately Haloscan ate all of them.
Robin, I had no idea - had never seen the post. I was always much too afraid to hitch anywhere. It hurts my heart that you had to go through this, both the attack by the rapist and following that, the "attack" by the jury. I hope everyone who served on that jury eventually saw media coverage of his later admission of guilt and conviction, and that he served a long, long time for his crimes.
DeleteThank you, Sky for your words and compassion. I would like to tell the whole story of the encounter some time. I have forgotten much, but there are things I remember that are important to me. I was brave and tried to defend myself. I also leaped out of his car and ran down the middle of the canyon road, hoping someone would pick me up before he turned his car around and tried to kill me. Fortunately, two women stopped and took me straight to the police department. He changed my life that day.
DeleteYikes. That looks painful. I like the hitchhiker story, although I would have been afraid to do it.
ReplyDeletethere were a lot of hippies driving up and down why 101 then. and also i'm guy.
DeleteRoger, KJ was stung by swarming yellow jackets a while back leaving him swollen for days and in moderate pain. I hope you are not hurting and the swelling subsides quickly. Benadryl, an OTC anti-histamine, helped. It's something I keep in my purse for any such occasion of potential allergic response. (Some can be deadly.) Looking forward to more random stories!
ReplyDeletethe swelling is going down. mostly i don't even feel it. the itching is annoying.
DeleteRoger, I always Prep-H on bee and wasp bites---also for poison Oak.It works! :-)
DeleteThat hand reminds me of your last post on what you do with your tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteI'm used to having wasps and yellowjackets around here, and mostly leave them alone. If one stings, it's usually a yellowjacket. One got under my shirt last year when I was cutting some trees. It stung me three times before I could get the shirt off.
we have all sorts of bees and wasps here. i have lived with them here and elsewhere and haven't been stung since i don't know when. the newcomers do seem very aggressive.
DeleteI seem to swell-up more every time I'm stung. Fortunately, it doesn't happen often. I had an EpiPen in the closet but it's expired; I probably ought to get a new one.
ReplyDeleteOne of my employees got stung several times and clearly was in distress. I gave him a Benadryl and asked if he was OK; he said he was, but he didn't look good, so I drove him to the emergency room. The doctors there said it was a good thing I had brought him in because he was going into anaphalaxis and he could have suffocated. Yikes!
i paid a lot of attention to the extent of swelling. it has receded a bit.
ReplyDeleteOuch, that looks painful. I remember that movie and it scared me silly. What a spooky guy he was.
ReplyDeleteLike you I hate that itching and will resort to Benadryl which does help a lot.
it went away in 3 days.
Deletei believe you moved to fortuna in 72 because i met gary that year and you were still living in sf...those were our courting/dating days and we had fun at your house in the big city
ReplyDeleteah well, i've never been good with dates. and it all happened so long ago.
DeleteLove hearing old stories. Watch where you put your hands. :)
ReplyDeleteNasty looking swelling from the sting. I managed to get stung several times by yellow-jacket wasps last year and it took months for the pain to completely go away. Hope you have better luck!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, Ouch! About two years ago, I accidentally disturbed a nest of these things. In about 10 seconds I had 8 stings on my face and neck. I feel your pain!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I lived in southern California for most of my life. I used to drive or hitch hike up to Humboldt County all the time. This was the late 60's and early 70's and once I got out of So Cal, it was pretty easy to get rides. I always felt safe because I knew that most people who looked like me (long hair, etc), would give me a ride. When I was driving, I'd always do the same. I'm familiar with knew all those towns you spoke of. I had several friends in Eureka. I was a little bit sad when I recently heard that the Vista Del Mar (in Eureka) had closed many years ago. You've got me going through my memory banks...
oh yeah... the VD. it was the downfall of many a good man...... perhaps i'll remember a story about it. ever get to the boot in arcata?
DeleteI'm sure it part of my downfall as well. The only place I really remember in Arcata was The Keg. That place was pretty wild.
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Edith Malaterre
OLANSI FACTORY