This is pretty odd, but I thought I would share a story about something that happened to a friend of mine very recently.

He was walking his dog in the "green belt" that runs behind our Ocotillo (Chandler) homes.  While he was innocently minding his own business he stepped on a "rain box."

I am not sure if rain box is the correct term; I can't remember where I heard that.  But he stepped onto one of those shoebox sized lids in the ground-- the ones that hold the sprinkler controls.

The lid of the rain box has a little half-moon sized hole at the edge, so that workers can stick a finger in and lift it out.  It also makes a great wasp nest, being completely sealed off with one entry and exit.

To make a long story short, my friend-- after stepping on the rain box-- and his dog were covered in a blanket of multi-stinging wasps and went through a pretty traumatic story.  He really believed he was going to die from Anaphylactic Shock.

The fire department came (Chandler has fantastic police and fire) and fogged the area where he was stung.

They also told him that swarming, stinging attacks aren't that unusual in Arizona.  "Common, in fact."

One reason this happens is because pretty much everyone in Arizona sprays for bugs.  We have scorpions and black widow spiders and it's just something that we do in Arizona.

The firefighters explained that the wasps will build a nest in somebody's backyard and when their nest is soaked in chemicals, they all leave and they leave in an angry homeless-wasp swarm, just looking for trouble.

I did not know this.

Since it happened, I have talked to several neighbors who had their own bee / wasp stories!  One neighbor's eight year old daughter was attacked and was almost killed.

Now this would be a really good post if I could tell you how to avoid this horrific experience...but I can't.  I Googled "personal sized" bee and wasp spray and couldn't find anything.

So I guess the only advice I have is DON'T STEP ON RAIN BOXES! 

Any more useful comments on how to avoid this would be greatly appreciated.