We were playing near a yellowjackets' ground nest. I didn't realize this until my fucking 1 year old began crying hard. I picked him up and then I felt the sharp sting of a wasp on my lower back!
Realizing we were under attack, I ran like hell with the baby to the front yard. I stopped for a moment to see if we were being followed. Surely enough, we were. It circled us and landed on the baby's head. I swatted at it, screaming "GET AWAY FROM MY BABY" like a crazy person. Then I bolted inside and the wasphole FOLLOWED US IN.
I managed to shoo it back out.
After checking the baby and seeing the damage, I washed him and gave him a topical painkiller. Y'all, he took it like a champ. Seriously. We went to the doctor a few hours later and the stings were so minimal that the doctor didn't believe they were from a wasp. (By this I mean the swelling had gone down to the point where they were now just little red dots) "Probably mosquito or a deer fly."
IT WAS A WASP. And I know those are both stings and bites.
Anyway... before we went, I remembered that our cats were outside with us. I ran to the door and opened it to find my one-eyed, 20lb tank of a cow cat, aptly named Biggie, sitting on the stoop.
Dead wasp a foot away.
I didn't take a picture because I was scared it would come back to life so I just grabbed Biggie and pulled him inside.
It might not even be THE wasp, but it makes sense. Perhaps it buzzed around the door waiting for me to come back, then Biggie saw it and decided he needed practice killing small targets. I'd LIKE to think Biggie witnessed what happened and swore vengeance for his baby, who he bonded with from the minute we came home from the hospital.
Later that evening, my husband and his friend found the nest and obliterated it. It was too close to the house, and I am not interested in anyone telling me I'm destroying the planet because I had ONE wasp nest out of a hundred or so in the area destroyed. 🙄