How I know?

At a recent playgroup/picnic a fellow mom stepped on a bee. She couldn't get the stinger out and was in a lot of pain. I'm good at crisis (just not the hello and how are you part). What did we have on hand to help? I had nail clippers and lemon juice and ice (I bring that for Lil'Bug and me to drink instead of plain water).

So after introducing myself through performing stinger extraction on a stranger's foot, someone asked, "How did you know that would help?"

Well, it's a long story. Most if it is common sense: ice reduces swelling, reduced swelling makes the stinger easier to get out. Lemon juice is a natural astringent and would soften the spot by moisture. I did use tweezers that someone brought and not the nail clippers for the final bit.

But I have removed many burs and slivers from farm animals. That's really it. I've been thinking about this over the weekend. I know most of what I do about life from the summers on my aunt's ranch. I studied her EMT manuals because I wanted to be a trauma surgeon. EMT's do basic field triage. The animals would be freaked out when you were treating them, extracting a tick or splinter, etc.

But everyday learning was more diverse than just that. My uncle taught me about engine repair and chemistry. Over dinner we'd discuss world history and politics. My aunt was a collector of many things and the history of things often made them more valuable. She also collected acres. I would spend the mornings after chicken chores exploring those woods, gullies, and pastures. I found a petrified stump once and upon returning to school the science teacher informed me that I could not have found such a thing in rural eastern Colorado. He called me a liar. It's not like I could even lift the thing to bring it out of the woods. My family knew it was there. They verified what it was. That was enough, but it was also enough to squelch my enthusiasm for science classes and teachers. Later I learned that it was likely a petrified palm tree. Another farmer found it (or one near it) and hauled it in to the Natural History Museum in Denver.

But really, how do I know what I know? I retain a lot of what seem like useless trivia but I can't for the life of me remember the names of most of the new people I met. What good outside of academia is knowing the bazillion proper uses for commas? (Oh, not in my own writing of course...my brain shuts off grammar when I am writing; gah.)

But when asked the question...I shrugged my shoulders and mumbled something about animals on the farm.

Think that's the end of it? Oh no, my friends, I spent the next couple weeks studying the life cycle of the Iowa wasps. How to control them, kill them, what makes them tick, what the chemistry is behind their stings, even wasp anthropology (though I think that's the wrong term).

Now I know these additional things: any meat tenderizing agent (vinegar, lemon juice, orange juice, etc.....oh, and meat tenderizer) will neutralize the sting venom; aggressive male drones will all die with the winter freeze (read, do not feel guilty killing them unless you plan to use poison); and smoke will stun/daze them. I also now know that if one demonstrates sufficient interest in such a small matter as keeping park day wasp free, one gets designated official beekeeper and must dig out the smoker from the apiary supplies. So much for social skills, eh?