The farm wagon frame had a pole maybe 3" or 4” diameter that ran the length of it. When Dad had the box top on, that pole stuck out a couple of feet behind. When he had the hay bed on that frame, that pole was covered. With that box top, that pole was a great place for kids to hitch a ride. We often had three kids holding on back there. Pure case of child endangerment.
One day Dad was taking the wagon out of the tobacco barn where it was stored in the dry, and I was riding on that pole. Dad drove over a yellow jacket nest. The horses walked over that nest and did not get stung. The front wheels of the wagon rolled over it. The yellow jackets did not find Dad riding up front on the wagon. But by the time the back wheels rolled over the nest they were really mad. And there I was, riding barefoot real close to ground level on the back of that monster threatening their nest. Let’s just say they found me.
Another time, a different tobacco barn and I was a lot older. A neighbor broke his leg logging in the middle of the season to put the tobacco in the barn. This was burley tobacco, not dark-fired for those that may know the difference. You hang the burley in a tall barn to dry. Anyway, the neighbors and his relatives met the next Saturday and we put his tobacco crop in the barn for him. I was in the peak of that barn hanging the top row. We dealt with wasps all the time up there. Well, this one time one got me right on the back of the neck.
It’s surprising how fast you can get down out of the top of a tobacco barn if you are properly motivated. One of the neighbors took an old dried up tobacco leaf from the last year’s harvest, one of the tips that were particularly strong, chewed it up to a pulp, then put that on the sting. They made me set in the shade while thy finished unloading that load, but I went with them to the field for the next load and was back in the top of the barn to unload that load.
We had apple trees that would have rotting apples under them late summer. Yellow jackets loved those rotting apples. For entertainment and because I did not particularly like yellow jackets, if it was dry enough where the ground was dust, I’d coat my hands with dust, take a handful of dust and throw it on a yellow jacket, catch the yellow jacket and pull its stinger out. I’m sure I’d go to jail today or at least be evaluated as a sociopath.
I guess one last one, again in a tobacco barn. When cleaning out the barn getting ready for the harvest, we found a bumblebee nest in there. Dad put some gasoline in a sprayer and started digging the nest out. When the bumblebees came out, he’d spray them with the gasoline. That kills them. Needless to say, they were soon buzzing all over the place, both coming in from the fields and just coming out of the nest. A couple of us kids were standing back, watching. When we saw one Dad did not see, we’d yell “There’s one!” Since this is a family forum, I’ll paraphrase. Dad turned to us and said something like “I don’t know where
there is. Could you please be more specific?”
Yeah, I really feel sorry for the poor neglected children.
