I was so lucky...

Phew, so lucky!

One Lucky lady! Your guardian angel must've been on duty! ??
I had this happen to me years ago with a hedgecutter, I'd been cutting half the hedge and was about to swipe downward when I was alerted by a few wasps coming out. Dangerous business, gardening!

...And that's the truth!
two summers ago the wasps found a spot in the soffit above our backdoor. One went down the back of my shirt! Talk about a quick-step! funny now...not so funny then. I have wasp killer in a huge spray cylinder but I'm loath to use it. If I hadn't started messing around out there I'd never have known they were there... but having said that I did an inspection cruise and found that there are two more nests..one near the front door and another in the (dry) stream bank beside the (dried up) waterfall. We have had rain and the stream beside the road is rushing along but the little stream down the valley is still dry! There are lots of bumble and honeybees this year...the hollyhocks and echinops are abuzz and the front bed (near the hornet's nest) is alive with honeybees so I'm not going to use any insecticides. Nature does have her checks and balances and in my tour I found three more inground wasp/hornet nests, near the pond, that had been raided by a raccoon...the nest comb was demolished and it's contents consumed. For the time being, I'm staying out of the drama. LOL...

We had a hornest nest in france, I found them much less of a bother than wasps though, less aggressive. Sounds like your garden is an insect paradise, as you say your garden is large enough to give nature a change to balance the situation. You have racoons, we have jesse to deal with the hornets, although we've never seen any here lol, she still tries the wasps and bees but as she's virtually blind now, that does present problems as far as her accuracy goes, she's still pretty fast though! I use killer beer for the slugs but no chemicals....sofar!

LoL... our old Mandy loved to chomp a bee, every now and then. there was that look of concentration on her face as she followed the bee from flower to flower...and when it was properly aligned "CHOMP!"... then some fancy chewing...and gulp..one less bee. Never understood that! warnings and scoldings never deterred her.
Also funny about the slugs and the beer... the very definition of dying happy! does Jesse ever try to sample the beer?
I was chased by some wasps yesterday. I managed to avoid stings but I had to move quickly. (I was regrading the banks of the little stream, while the water is low.) it's time to get off my chair and out to the never ending job, again.

We do create an awful lot of work for ourselves, the bigger the garden..the bigger the projects! I often wonder if I would have been as happy (utterly exhausted) in my last garden if I had just gone for wild seed mixes and live n let live attitude with paths mown through using a ride-on mower ?
Only one problem with that, I wouldnt be able to stop myself taking out things I really don't want like bindweed etc. And of course...where do I put that rose cutting I am growing?.....and there i would go again. Back to start.
Oh well, we are gardeners!

I like to look at the wild seed mixes as a first step in a long process... I wish I had a ride on mower, though. Most of the terrain that is hard work to cut must be done with the weed eater, and that is punishing. I think I've started to subdue the field, have kept the golden rod out of flower all summer and cut away most of the tall hay to allow the sensitive fern some light but I still haven't tackled the half-acre of clematis virginiana! There is another tree to remove in that area and it has to be an autumn job..too much rampant growing going on now! The drought took care of most of the bindweed but I'm keeping what is left cut...and the second crop of alfalfa is growing... took out the first one with the weed eater! No wonder I never get to the fun stuff...!

Lucky you didn't get stung Lori. Years ago I trimmed a bush and suddenly loads of wasps came at me then I ran inside and left them pinging on the door. The nest died out over the winter. Wasps don't store food like bees do so over the winter it's mostly the queens that survive.

Every spring we see the huge queens buzzing about the yard seeking out the best nesting sites and when they come near the house I get out the swatter with a very long handle. I won't use the insecticide anymore. At present they are looking very dozy so they're easy targets. I still have more digging to do down near the pond (dried up pond ... X-( .) and the nest in the cedar appears empty. Walnuts are falling...thump, thump, thump, and it's time to do a tour of the forest and mark the trees for removal before the snow comes. so much work to do and I'm still working to replace the ceiling after the roof work. It never ends and I feel guilty that I'm sitting here enjoying GoY when I have so much stuff to do! at least I'm not a wasp, I get to start again next spring.

Sounds like your life is very full Lori.