North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ray Kaminski <rjkaminski@charter.net>]

  When I was a young boy, working on the farm, it was haying time and was 
pitching the hay away from the hay loader on the wagon.   All of a sudden 
the hay loader picked up a swarm of honey bees and they attacked me, cause 
we suspect the queen bee came after me.   My dad was on the front of the 
wagon and never got a bite.  I  jumped from the wagon and ran for dear life 
to a near-by pond across the field ,hopped over a fence and dove into the 
water.  As I ran, I was scooping hand full of bees from my head and face 
and got bit all over my head.  When I got back to the house my mother 
immediately grabbed a jug of vinegar and doused my head, hair, face and all 
exposed areas where I was bit.  It was painful from the start in the tight 
skin on the top of the head but the vinegar makes it burn momentarily and 
in a few minutes the pain is gone and the swelling never occurs.
  We raised four children and often would get stung by wasps or bees 
and  the effects were always the same.  It feels just like a mosquito bite 
in a few minutes.   I have a small bottle of white vinegar in the shed and 
garage for that reason.  Also have a small vial of it in my golf bag and 
last year had the occasion to use some, got a nice phone call thanking me 
for a painless bite he had received on the course.  About as week ago was 
picking some blackberries and got stung by a wasp and with the same 
results. It really is a simple stopper for those nasty bites.