It is about an hour before dawn, and I am sleeping peacefully. A shout from the night guard outside the house awakens me. What's the problem? Not a intruder--a swarm of bees. In America you have "Africanized bees" but here we have real African bees. Those who know me may recall I hate/fear bees, my fear goes all the way back to a time early in childhood when I stepped on a bee. I've gotten better about my fears, but can still be sent into a panic by a bee if surprised.
I unbarr the door, dashing (bravely for me!) outside to bring my dog inside to safety. Here bees may kill dogs. Fortunately the bees are swarming on a different corner of the house. In the meantime, my guard has gotten the sprayer filled with a chemical called "Ambush" and is attacking the bees. My hero! (My guard is Thomas, a brave man.) He is stung just once, but wisely doesn't swat at the bee that gets him--other bees can smell the chemicals if you do and may attack in mass.
Inside the main room, I wait rather fearfully. The buzzing of the bees is amazing, like something out of a Hitchock movie, and I can see them pressing up against the screens. About 5 bees manage to make there way inside. I grab an aerosol can of bug spray, mist the room and retreat to a room at the back of the house. I'm as far as I can retreat, fearing the bees, fearing for brave Thomas, fearing the chemicals of the cloud of insecticide taking over the house, and worrying that all the stuff in the air will trigger an asthma attack. Then the power goes out, so I get to do all this in the dark!
Fortunately, the chemicals do there work and dissipate. Thomas is unscathed except for one sting which doesn't even swell much--obviously he is not allergic or even very sensitive to the bees. I come out from my retreat, and see that dead bees have fallen like rain around the house. Yes, I know there is a place for bees and all the good they do, but when they try to move into my house I am not sorry for them. This is not the first time, either--they have tried to move into this house a number of times now though this was the first attempt in the dark. We also have to fight off masses of bad ants which have painful bites and come in huge numbers. In some ways this is like frontier living. Between the malarial mosquitoes, biting ants and bees the insects here can really get to you!
1 comment:
With me it is the yelow jackets. I was young and walked on a pathway not knowing that the yellow jackets could still sting! Here I have rosemary and hollyhocks & raspberries that attract bees. When the raspberries were being pick I talked to the bees--they could & would follow me as the berries were picked. They wanted the sweet juice that was remaining after the berry was picked. There are traps for the yellow jackets --the bees seem to stay away from me. 2 miles away at the ranch there is a beekeeper who gives me interesting honeys-- Vetch, Starthistle & Wildflower.
Knowing you , sounds like you did an excellent job in ruining the bees inside invasion. Love always
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