Learned someting today

Wasps can sting even if they're cold. But the sting isn't as bad.

We had temperatures in the fifties here this morning. When I opened my door to leave for work, it was still dark (THANKS SO MUCH DAYLIGHT "SAVING") and I didn't see that a wasp of some kind (not sure what species; wasn't a hornet, I know that much) had crawled between my screen door and my front door. It was on the doorpost and I didn't see it (THANKS SO MUCH DAYLIGHT "SAVING") and I brushed against it and it stung me on the top of my index finger.

My first reaction was "shoot, there's something sharp on the door frame - would a bit of peeling paint be that sharp?" and then it was "OH CRAP COULD THAT HAVE BEEN A BLACK WIDOW" (I have had them on the door before). Then I saw the wasp.

My next thought was: "Lord, don't let my increased allergies in the past 10 years include a new bee-sting allergy" because those can be BAD. The last time I was stung by more than a little halictid bee, it was while doing my doctoral fieldwork - we got into a nest of hornets and I got stung 10 or 12 times on my arm. At that point, the only bad after reaction was that my arm was very sore the next day....

So anyway. I ran to run some cold water over the sting to try to make it hurt less, and decided to come on in to work - I wasn't having any breathing trouble, and anyway, if I developed it, there would be a better chance of there being another human around to help me.

I can see where the sting is - there's a little white spot on my finger with a tiny red pinprick in the center - but the finger doesn't seem to be swelling (which is a relief; my piano teacher is having to reschedule for this week depending on parent-teacher conferences, and today might be lesson day) and I don't seem to be having a bad reaction (though a quick check of Web, MD suggests they can happen up to a half hour after exposure....it's been about fifteen minutes at this point and I'm still okay).

But yeah. Not cool. Not cool in a lot of ways. I did make an "icepack" with ice from the ice machine and a baggie to try to keep the pain and swelling down.

But often, I find Tuesdays are more Monday than even Monday is.