Stinging Catarpillars Hurt!

And if you don't believe me, ask my brother. This afternoon we took our dogs to a big field near our house to let them get rid of some energy. Aidan ( my brother ) was climbing a big oak tree in the middle of the field. While he was up there, a stinging caterpillar fell on his foot and rolled off to the ground, stinging his foot the whole way down. He didn't notice he had gotten stung until he got into the car. It only hurt a little at first, but then began to increase in pain as we drove home. By the time we were at the last stop light before we got home, he was screaming! When we finally got home, he was panting and sweating like crazy and ran inside as soon as the car stopped even though his foot was on fire! Mom got the door open and he ran inside, flopped onto the couch and couldn't stay still. You know how if you get hurt or you're in pain and you feel like you can't stop moving or the pain will increase? Now you know how he felt. Luckily my mom knew how to treat stinging caterpillar stings. Vanilla extract made it feel better immediately even though he yelped when she dabbed it on. When we ran out of vanilla,  mom had to look for some other meds. He was "death screaming"  (yes that's what I call it ) while she was looking. Eventually she found something and it helped. Aidan used to love stinging caterpillars. The other night he was holding nine on his body at the same time! I bet he won't be holding one for a long time.





                                                                                                 Jordan