Wow man, even after such an incident you still have such a positive and healthy attitude. I agree with everything you said above wholeheartedly. Many times the fear one can get after such events is worse than the risk of any such event happening.It's possible I might have found the nest on foot first, if I checked everything before mowing. Then again, I might have found it by falling into it. Then I would have been partly underground and surrounded by wasps. The main thing is whether you notice a few half-inch bugs buzzing by, when coming out of the bright sun into a shaded area under mossy tree boughs. If your vision adjusts miraculously quickly in this situation, you might see them first.
I guess in the future I could be suspicious of areas that transition between full sun and full shade. Trim the tree branches higher for better visibility. Eradicate all fern beds, since they hide ground nests apparently. Make the whole yard flat and uniform so that anything different stands out like a sore thumb. Maybe that's why we invented these silly uniform lawns with mowed grass in the first place... to make a large easy to understand space where something abnormal can be recognized at a glance.
I'll tell you... I went out today and trimmed some things, broke down rotted wood, eliminated some areas that could be future nests or that prevent me from nerfing the terrain. We're on a few acres, so there are lots of hiding places. Making those places less likely to grow wasps, or water moccasins, or whatever else might come, seems like a reasonable reaction to me. Well, it's my reaction anyway.
Still, sometimes there's nothing you can do. Things will take you by surprise. You will or won't survive. I think living in fear of random accidents would be foolish... there are things you can learn from, and things you can anticipate, but there are plenty of things you just have to live your life in spite of, and react as best you can when you encounter them.
@Creed mentioned to me that Hans Scheepmaker, a well known director in the Netherlands, just died as a result of falling into a wasp nest. He was not allergic. I empathize with the man, and I'm sorry to hear someone died this way so recently. I suspect there is no reasonable way he could have had foreknowledge that he would stumble into a nest. In hindsight maybe we could think up a plan to prevent this one thing, but every bad situation is different. React and learn as appropriate, but don't let the possibility of bad things prevent you from pursuing the good things.
Have you always had such an attitude towards things, or is it something you've worked at and developed over the years? Just asking because I find this admirable in you!
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