Here’s a seasonal safety message from Bathtub Safety Officer Rafferty.
At Ease, Civilians! But don’t be TOO easy.
I’m here to remind you that this is the week before Labor Day, so there’s lots of traveling going on and picnics are happening everywhere. People are in their relaxed, summertime frame of mind. It may seem like fun to you, but from my perspective that’s a dangerous combination, especially compared to wintertime when you just assume that something bad involving extreme cold or loss of traction is going to happen to you in the next ten minutes.
Winter is harsh and difficult by nature. Summer is soft and easy. And you’ve had so much of it leading up to the last day of August, your guard could very well be down. I’m here to tell you, just like our nation’s military, you should always be trying to re-up your guard! You never know when you might have to re-deploy to respond to a new threat!
Why, you ask? What could happen?
Bees! Bees could happen to you at the end of summer. Wasps, yellow jackets, bumble bees, all creatures with pointy back ends are of great concern to me, and they should be to you as well! Some specific advice:
– Always remember to look INSIDE the open pop can before you take a great big drink out of it. Because you don’t want to have a bee in your mouth anymore than a bee wants to be in there! A human mouth is a gross, scary place to be, and if you were caught inside one, you’d panic and would do anything to get out.
– If you decide to go rolling down a grassy hill in celebration of the end of summer, be sure to conduct a careful survey of the terrain. Ground nests, once disturbed, are like those clown cars at the circus – there seems to be no end to the number of scary individuals who come pouring out. And why shouldn’t they? If a huge fleshy thing rolled over your house, you’d be upset too!
– Some people roll on the ground or jump in a lake when under attack by bees. This is NOT a good escape strategy. Rolling on the ground is what you do when you’re on fire. Jumping in the lake also works to resolve a flaming-clothes situation. But bees can find you in either of these scenarios, and will simply wait for an opportunity to inflict their portion of pain. The best approach is to run like crazy, pulling your shirt over your head to keep them away from your eyes. If you do this, the bees will get tired of chasing you, and they’ll also become helpless with laughter. But it is always a good idea to have your bee attack escape route mapped out at all times. Make sure your intended path doesn’t cross a major thoroughfare or a scenic overlook.
Even a single angry bee can set off a disastrous chain of events! The bee in the shirt of the bus driver, the bee in the hair of the horsewoman, and the bee up the pants leg of the construction worker have caused far too much havoc and heartbreak. So never, ever stop thinking about your next random encounter with our tiny, stingered citizens. Give them the space and respect they need!
Securely Yours,
Bathtub Safety Officer Rafferty
This strikes close to home for me, since I was put in the hospital by a few bee stings when I was ten years old. I have been known to do a vigorous but spastic “bee dance” whenever one is nearby – an upsetting scene for everyone, bees included.
Got bees?
Trail Baboon 
Among the unwanted close encounters I have had with animals this summer was a collision between me and a bee on the bike trails of Lake Calhoun. I received a nasty sting, but it can’t have been good for the bee either. Last night a large moth or butterfly flew into my face while I was biking. Hopefully that will be the last of this type of contact this summer!
Good morning, all. 🙂
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can’t you watch where you are going elinor, for crying out loud?
i had one fly into my shirt while i was driving down the road with my arm hanging out the window. damn.. unexpected for both of us. he lost his stinger and died, i got a nasty welt that burned like hell for the rest of the day and i came to the realazation that bees will likely sting trees if the tree is driving down the road in the fornt seat of a car at 60 mph
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i am mildly alergic to bees and when i get stung it takes 3 or 4 days for the swelling to go down. that added to the fact that it is one of those truely unpleasant feelings in life cause me to take oyur warning seriously. i received the advice i go with years ago and that is: ” move like a tree” bees are not searching the planet for someone to sting , they are generally on work detail collecting nectar and then they come across a chance meeting with someone or something. my cats bat at them, my dogs try to eat them as the fly by their noses, i try to observe them like a science experiment and if they land on me i realize it is because i should have been more vigilant about cleaning the jelly form those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches i served on the deck of form my arm. they will get their dose of raspberry preserves and be on their way. as for the tree movements, trees do move in the wind at times but the way they move is slowly swaying not jerking and thrashing like a mosh pit dancer. the bees will allow for a bit of gentle manipulation if they are on your hair or your nose but a swat will get them in the defense mode and out come the stingers. jsut chill and be at one with the busy little fellows, they are our brothers and they have to live here too.
by the way jacques vodka raspberries were picked up last night and the possibilities at this point are endless, on ice cream was jacques suggestion, i am in favor of handfuls directly to the mouth, peanut butter and vodka soaked raspberries could quiet the kids down for a while. raspberries instead of olives in my vodka martini is an option i have not tried before that wil get the experimental once over later in the week. any further ideas? drunken hummingbirds could be fun…
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Hi tim– looking forward to hearing more options for the vodka rasperries…
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Me, too. I have another quart brewing that I will keep, so tim, I’m watching for more ideas.
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i will report in
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I propose that we fashion tiny crash helmets for tim’s drunken hummingbirds.
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Or a hummingbird drunk tank for those caught trying to navigate.
A knothole somewhere should do.
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bathtub officer rafferty has got too much time on his hands. he must have been at the fair next to one of those trash cans near the water rides in the kids ride areas. the motorized bumping water rides is right next to the trash barrel where the kids have to discrd their state fair treats before they get on the ride. well b the end of the day the can is filled with half eaten everything, snow cones, little donuts, cotton candy… the bees love the trash cans near the kids rides, especially the water rides where the wet sticky little mutts come off the rides flailing and laughing.
officer rafferty has curbed the abuse of reckless bathtub dancing for the most part but now he is off to bigger and better things. bless you officer rafferty for keeping our world safe.
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It’s also fun to hear from him. He reminds me of someone from work, who will remain unnamed…
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I had an encounter with bees many years ago when I was young and indiscreet. A number of us decided to climb a mountain near Thunder Bay, Ontario, after a long night of indiscretion. We were not in peak athletic form when we took on the mountain the next day. I remember getting to the peak toward dusk, looking down at an airplane flying far lower than we were. As the sun set we realized we had a long way to go to get home, and nobody had thought to bring a flashlight. The trip down the mountain was complicated when someone stumbled into a large hive of ground-nesting bees. My clearest memory is of running down the mountain in the dark, dodging trees, while being pursued by clouds of stinging insects I could feel but not see. That whole escapade was the kind of thing that, if you’ve done it once, you’ve done it too often. I make better decisions these days. Much better.
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Great image- Thanks Steve!
And good on you for the ‘better decisions’ these days… you’ve learned well however, it all has to balance on those past decisions doesn’t it?
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Thanks, Ben. I find bad decisions really interesting. It makes sense to think that someone growing up will make bad decisions and learn by the consequences to not repeat the silliness. But I’m not sure that is the real dynamic. A lot of people I know who used to make bad decisions still grin at the memory, and you get the impression that they’ve learned their bodies aren’t up to all that youthful foolishness anymore. So . . . have they “learned their lesson?” Or have they just been gleefully indiscreet so often that they can pretend to be wiser now when they really are just treasuring the memories of being a bad boy?
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that was lucky, i had a friend step on an inground bees nest and get stung 50 times before he got his leg out then 200 more before he was able to be wisked away by the other buddies who were getting stung getting him the heck outof there. he went into shock and had to be hospitalized. that would be difficult to do in the dark on the downhill slope of a mountain with a bunch of tired out of shape youth.
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Tim: not “out of shape.” Hung over.
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When I worked in OB there was the oft told tale of the pregnant woman who while drinking pop at a LAbor Day picnic swallowed a bee. The internal stinging was misinterpreted as a serious complication of pregnancy. Careful when you sip!
OT I finally saw “Wicked” this past weekend. Are babooners aware that there is a significant goat sub-plot in the show?
Have a great day!
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Haven’t seen the show (yet) – the book, however, is hilarious.
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Ah, yes… forgot about all the goat bits… Did you enjoy it?
The book didn’t do anything for me… just had a conversation with a student yesterday who also saw the show and commented that they took all the best parts of the book to make the musical.
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The book put me to sleep but the show was fun. The staging made all the difference. How can you go wrong with flying monkeys, et al?
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Have not seen wicked, but we saw Scottsboro Boys last Saturday. It was both superb and fascinating.
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agreed on scotsboro boys. excellent
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I have a healthy fear of bees, being somewhat allergic (like tim). I just try to stay out of their way and let them live their lives without me being around.
Had a dog that got stung inside her mouth after biting on a bee. Poor dear had a swollen snout and had a hard time eating. Drove her to the vet whimpering all the way where, insult to injury, she had to get poked and prodded in the already sore snout. She recovered, but was very cautious about all bugs after that.
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Oh, dogs and critters of any sort is very interesting. While living at the N. MN. camp both our dogs discovered porcupines! They returned home with snouts full of spines. BSOR would have been appalled. We had to remove the spines, and thought the dogs might need the vet, but they both recovered. Both encountered skunks, as well.
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One of the worst weekends of my life was punctuated by a porky hit on my dog. Even the memory of that gives me the heebie-jeebies. That did take a vet’s attention to fix.
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for future reference when removing the quills, take a scissors and cut the end off the quill before you pull it out with ht e pliers. it deflated the quill and makes it come out less painfully and much more easily.
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We had another dog who was quite fond of taking herself for walks around Lake Harriet (back before there were leash laws in Mpls, or at least laws that were heavily enforced). Her favorite trick was to find the deadest, stinkiest fish and roll around in it. There were days when a skunk would have been a more pleasant smell than the aromas she brought home.
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Just got to thinking, too, about the day my previous basset hound ate a small frog by mistake. I think she meant to lick it to see what it tasted like, but the frog was so small and her tongue was so big, in went the frog. I’m guessing both were more than a little surprised.
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Rise and Storm Babooners:
I was up in the night with the storm-panicky dog, so I stayed in bed when I awoke at 5:50 a.m., dozing until 7:00a.m. My rain gauge has 3/8″ of rain and a dead bug (not a bee).
Well, BSOR, what an appropriate topic. You have been silent for awhile so I wondered what you have been up to lately. One cannot be too safe and you are always so EARNEST about safety. Just Sunday I was stung on my leg while working in the garden , but I had not noticed until I came inside. This summer the bees (and other varieties of bugs and wasps) have been attracted to the raspberry crop. Some bugs I flick off, but the bees and wasps, I leave alone. They get their raspberries. During the earlier peonie season several sluggish bees rode into the house on the flower, falling off the flower onto the floor and just laying there buzzing. Quite weird I thought. Is this a manifestation of the strange bee illness out there?
In my young adulthood while living on a camp in N. MN, I peaked under the well cover disturbing a hive. Then ran like the wind, trailed by angry bees. I had only three hard earned stings to show for the encounter.
Off to the day! Storm on.
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Morning–
None in my family are allergic to bees… however that never stopped my Dad from swatting at them with his seed corn cap.
I agree with tim’s ‘tree’ position on them; just give them time and space and they’ll generally move away.
However… once upon a time…. I was trying to avoid a traveling salesman by pulling weeds out behind the barn until he left. And I disturbed a yellow Jacket nest in the ground. Got stung 14 times, knocked my glasses off as I was running away… the salesman said it looked like I was having a bad day. I told him he wasn’t helping.
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there is a moral in there somewhere ben
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Ben: if it had been me, I would have taken a big run right toward the salesman. Share the fun.
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So Ben, were you already out behind the barn working when the salesman arrived, or did you go out there to give yourself a good reason to avoid him?
I know people who just hide out in the house in a situation like that, but it sounds like you need to have an alibi.
No need to answer this question if you are busy pulling weeds!
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I was on my way home from the pasture when I saw him arrive… so I just loitered… like tim said, there’s definitely a moral there.
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We had a welsh terrier who loved chasing and eating bees, especially bumble bees. She liked the way they buzzed in her beard. Once she went into shock and we had to rush her to the vet for a shot. Another time she ate so many she got a throat infection from the tings as they went down her gullet. She lived to be 15.
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My dog boots ate bees too bu tthat did work with wasps. He learned to dsicriminate.
Bees and wasps and I seem to have signed a mutal disarmament pact.
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good policy
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This was the dog who ate all the sugar out of a rather large sugar bowl one Sunday morning when we were at church. My, did she get sick. She was shaking so badly we had to take her to the vet. She also liked to steal my 3 year old son’s socks and eat them whole. They would stay in her stomach a week or so, then she would hurl them up. Gross! Stealing socks was one of her favorite games and she would sneak up behind me during my son’s bath time and try to run off with them before I noticed. She also downed a a pair of panty hose but I managed to pull them out before they got all the way down.
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Pantyhose. I don’t even like them the way they are suppose to go on to the body, much less into it. What a dog!
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Vignette of the Day: Rode around the MSUM campus under a scintillating double rainbow. Inner ring very bright and complete; outer ring bright on the feet and absent on the top; all against a background of steel blue-gray swirling clouds. The students and staff who were about did not notice, except for one janitor and an instructor.
I pointed it out to a few students, whose response, whether just gestures or also including words, and only a few words, with barely a look up, really said, “Look, fat old geezer on a bicycle, I am 19 years old and I have seen it ALL. NOTHING will ever interest me again, especially on a weekday early morning heading to class. End of story.”
One young lady after I pointed it out took out her blackberry, or whatever fruit she carries. I assume she typed, “OMG!!! OMG!!! som ol SC on a bcy wntd me to lk at rnbw!!! CNYBI!!!!”
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OMG. Was her fruit soaked in vodka?
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This is just for you, Jacque, so nobody else notice:
So I cut off their heads.
When do you go to Bayfield? I look at Bayfield every day on a webcam. My wife and I collect cemeteries. One of our favorites is Bayfield’s up on the hill among the pines.
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Going tomorrow a.m. through Friday. Love it there. Will check out the cemetery.
If you collect cemeteries, try the one in Nevada Iowa where my people are buried (as will be my ashes someday–but not too soon I hope). It is the loveliest of all I have seen. The row of flags under the shady oaks is a stunning visual. Memorial Day we always decorate and tell the family stories. We did this with our great aunts when they were alive. They would point to the corner and say, “That’s where Mama had the picnic with us and her Mama, too. She made the best biscuits.”
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thanks for the laugh, Clyde
and i like the mutual disarmament plan; we do that also. we have lots of bumble bees, but also a good number of wasps, hornets too. Dreamy was eating raspberry bushes a couple summers ago and got stung on her lip. a couple days later she got pinkeye (i’m sure that infection was a result of the sting) so she was double-punished for accidentally biting that wasp.
thanks for the heads-up on “Wicked” also!
ha det bra
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…still trying to figure out “CNYBI”?
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Does that stand for “can you believe it”?
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I know nothing about texting, now against my religious principles don’t you know, so I made things up excpet of course for OMG, but yes Can you Believe It was my invcntion.
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i thnk we shd b txtg al the tim. cld cn led splchkr
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barb, a story above re pantyhose, reminded me of a goat story in James Herriot, about a goat who swallowed some long johns. Herriot had lots of good goat stories, more in the books than the TV show. My father’s old age was greatly brightened by the TV show “All Creatures Great and Small.” He laughed at the grumpy taciturn old Yorkshire farmers, not seeming to connect that he was much like them. His memorial money went to SF’s PTV as a result. Would love to buy the series but it is several hundred dollars, like all BBC shows.
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Texting–as a hide-bound old Engoish teacher and therefore self-appointed protector of the Mother Tongue in all her glory and as former stiff-collared Lutheran pastor, I am doubly opposed to the evils of texting and especially now that I saw the light through my borken screen door.
But run-on sentences are all right.
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Clyde: I share your love of those shows. ACG&S was a wonderful series. Top quality acting, and I just grinned at the sight of those cute sedans churning up those lovely muddy roads. If there ever was a storyteller to match Tolkien it was Herriott.
Or how about Ballykissangel? Great series. I guess this is a good reason to have a library card since we can’t afford to own these.
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I love Ballykissangel until “she” dies (what was her lovely name?) and the priest leaves. My wife and I are now in love with Doc Martin on Sunday nights filmed in Cronwall. My daughter and I have together purchased the whole Cadfael and Vicar of Dibley series.
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Another BBC series from 20 years ago I would like to buy is actually called “Fat Man on a Bicycle.”
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‘Ballykissangle’… I was just thinking of that show the other day.
Assumpta, was her name; however that is actually spelled… yes, what a fun bunch of characters…
There was a comedy ‘super hero’ show on BBC… can’t remember that title. His strength was his ability to blow very hard.
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I’ve had very few bad encounters with the little guys. I stepped on one at camp when I was in third grade and was pretty sick with it for a few days, so I adopt the “tree movement” technique and we all seem to get on fine. The bees in the berries are so happy to be there, they don’t much notice me-my thought is that they are after the blossoms not the berries which result from their activity, so we all get what we want.
We did have a nearly dead bee as you described, Jacque and that one got the toddler edition of the s&h. We slapped on some baking soda made into a paste with water and it went away in no time. Calmed down the howling toddler pretty quickly too.
No idea if baking soda would work on dogs. I see there are no stories of cats being stung here. It has never happened to mine either. Draw your own conclusions.
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Oh, cats can run into trouble, too. Our largest cat, Albert, was “playing” with a wasp that had made it into the house and and got his front paw stung. It swelled up twice its normal size and we had to take him to the vet.
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Good Morning and Bee Good,
Did you know that if you work fast you can reduce the effect of a bee sting by scraping away the part of the stinger on the surface of your body that has a sack of the poison attached to it. If do this in time most or all of the poison will not be injected and you will not have a bad sting. This only works for bees. Other stinging insects do not leave their stinger in your body. Bees can only string once due to leaving their stinger behind in your body.
I try to encourage people to not be afraid of insects, but there certainly are some that can create problems. They called me the Bug Man when I was a crop consultant and one of my duties was collecting bugs with an insect net. I was trying to help farmers reduce their use of insecticides. I no longer do any checking for farmers and only use organic pesticides in my garden.
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Speaking of wild life I have a Dilemma:
This morning I noticed a shed snake skin hanging out of one of the little holes in our retaining wall.
I’m sure it’s just a garter snake or something smallish like that… however my dilemma now is, if I tell her about the snake skin she’ll know there are snakes in the wall; ten feet from the house. Does she want to know that? Even if it’s a small one?
Opinions please, Thanks.
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Who is “her”? Wife, I assume. According to Genesis, you should not tell any “her” because God put enmity between women and snakes.
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enmity – Definition of enmity at YourDictionary.com
the bitter attitude or feelings of an enemy or of mutual enemies; hostility; antagonism. Origin:
great nw word for me clyde. great reference to the garden of eden tale.
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Clyde: I have a major beef with Genesis on that issue, but I’m too Midwestern to start a fight on religion here. If I ever meet God at Lunds or some cocktail party, we’re gonna have words about the whole snake and apple thing.
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Sorry, Steve, was not really being religious; just having fun.
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Clyde: hey, no problem. I have no beef with you. Just the Big Guy.
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steve god doesn’t shop at lunds. he’s a cub guy
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Oops, got carried away in my editing… yes, ‘Her’ would be my lovely wife.
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Speaking for myself (and I am unanimous in this-how I love that line), I would rather know there MIGHT be a snake about than suddenly come upon on it unawares.
Have already done that twice this summer in the local backyards, where we seldom see snakes. One a little bit of a thing that slithered out of my way in my yard and one that took off from a perfectly good session of sun-bathing in the neighbor’s yard where I have the use of the clothesline-that thing was mightly big for Minnesota snake.
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Tim: Cub? Oh, I doubt it. I was just bein’ silly. What I hear, God only goes to Farmer’s Markets.
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saw one 10 feet long out in teddy roosevelt park in no dk on my way home form the spokane trip. very cool the way they slither out of that thing. i have cleaner shrimp in my salt water aquarium that peel their skin every couple of weeks too
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People here make a point of stopping their vehicles and running over any rattle snake they find on the pavement. I have never encountered one on the road.
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Tee Jay would be very upset about that, Renee.
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I know! People out here really appreciate bull snakes since they eat rodents, but they haven’t warmed up to rattlers just yet.
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I was once visiting my uncle’s farm at Pipestone and was walking around the yard and barn with several of my younger cousins when we stepped on a ground nest of some bee-like insects. I remember they had lots of red on them, and I ran away really fast and didn’t get stung, but my younger cousins couldn’t run as fast as I could and they all got stung badly. Another uncle (who was also my godfather) saw what happened and scolded me for not heping the younger ones get away. Its hard to think altruistically when a swarm of bees are after you. I still feel guilty when I think about it.
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Renee: Good one! I can’t resist telling the famous bear joke. Two guys are camping in the wilderness country of Yellowstone when they encounter a large grizzly bear. The bear rises up and begins to make huffy noises. The first guy points out the bear and says he will shuck his pack to run faster. “You’re crazy,” says the second guy, “even without a pack you can’t outrun a bear.” First guy says, “I don’t have to outrun a bear. I just have to outrun you.”
Your story exactly!
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Hymenoptera–been trying to think fo that word all morning. So much for my old near BS in biochemistry.
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Hail, Babooners! Worked for an orthopedic doc once who had a Yorkshire terrier named Moose. Moose also tried eating a bumblebee and went into cardiac arrest. Doc saw her drop -he didn’t know what caused it, but realized the dog had no heart beat and was not breathing. He began CPR and had another family member drive them to the vet’s (Imagine an adult male doing CPR on an animal about the size of small tennis shoe). Ran into vet’s office thinking to self, “I am not the doctor here, but I am going to start shouting orders to all the staff if the vet doesn’t do something right away!” Vet did. Vet also found the bumble bee in Moose’s mouth, thus explaining the mystery of Moose’s sudden collapse. Moose enjoyed a long life – no further encounters with bees have been recorded.
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You all live — or make up — such interesting lives. I am going to go away for a while and think about bees and see if I can come up with something.
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it is amazing isn’t it whatever the topic
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Pippin eats everything. He tried to eat a yellow jacket yesterday. I was trying to see what he had in his mouth and out it flew! It must have been confused because it landed on the sidewalk and sat there just long enough for me to put it out of our misery.
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Still laughing about the well-placed “our”…!
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I have been naughty.
Every morning at this time I have a four block trip to the PO to get the daily mail, of which there has been none for many days. I usually ride a mile or so instead of walking the four blocks. But it is a perfect morning to ride, so I extended my ride to four miles up among Mankato’s gorgeous painted ladies and by the Betsy-Tacey houses. Not a call while I was gone, so I was safe.
Maybe I am not really “plowing to the end of the row” on this job.
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Test – tried to post twice, but nothing has shown up on the TB blog.
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you’re here…
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Thanks, Tim! Appreciate your reply. I thought maybe I got voted off the island or something.
I wonder if I breached security by trying to include a snip-url link to illustrate something in my post.
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don’t know
cmon dale what gives
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thyrkas and tim,
The post now appears a few comments above. The wordpress programming blocked it because it didn’t like the link. I don’t know why, but I had to remove the link to get it to post properly.
Sorry about that thyrkas!
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I must have been 12 or 13 when I stepped barefoot on some sort of stinging creature by a swimming pool. I wasn’t wearing my glasses at the time so the world will never know what sort of creature it was. Felt different from fire-ant bites though.
Even prior to that I was wary of buzzing things, particularly the angry-sounding black wasps you find in the tropics that are nearly the size of a hummingbird. So it was just “one of those things”. Didn’t have to go to a hospital, fortunately.
On a different note, I was reading that honeybees are declining in record numbers for the fourth or fifth straight year, and nobody really knows why. Apparently this is threatening enough to agriculture that a company like Haagen-Daz launched a Help the Bees campaign (having not lived in a house with a TV set since 2005, I was not aware of the ads).
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I saw a rainbow this morning, too. I did think to myself that it was a shame that the other people on the street were walking with their heads down, looking at their feet. I was so tempted to point it out to someone but everyone seemed kind of grumpy so i didn’t.
I have some dvds of hugh laurie (House) when he was Bertie in the Wodehouse series on PBS. I like them almost as much as All Things Bright and Beautiful.
My last not very deep thought for the day is that I bet that poor stupid Eve really did meet a real live utterly charming but totally nasty snake-and even though it doesnt seem at all likely I bet there really was an apple involved in it all, too.
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Someone else (or maybe it was you) from this gang recommended the Wooster and Jeeves DVDs. Have been going through all of them with my husband (thank you library!). They’re fabulous.
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twas i
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Greetings! Finally getting around to posting here today — took karate class early this afternoon and sparring tonight — wow, TIRED.
As for bees, I just avoid them generally. I may have gotten stung once by stepping on one as a child, but that’s it.
Now this whole business with snakes — I love snakes! We used to have snakes for pets many years ago. We had a little ecosystem going. We raised the little white mice to feed the snakes. Once a batch was born though, I didn’t have the heart to kill them — so I made Jim do it. Then we’d keep the mice in freezer, thaw one out for snake dinner and then gather around to watch the snake eat it. Fascinating process, actually.
A funny story with that. My sister-in-law was at our house for something and went into the freezer to get something, and found the ziplock bags full of little white mice and absolutely freaked. I guess it didn’t occur to me that someone would find that unnerving.
I’ve always liked snakes and never really understood why gals are so squeamish about them. But spiders — now those are creepy and give me the willies.
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Good blog day, been snickering for the last half hour. Grandkids just left this evening, miss ’em. These girls seem unafraid of anything until it comes to bees: like so many of you above, they stepped on a nest while tromping around in some woods. But we come to find out their dad (my step-son) had led them off trail… live and learn! BSOR would have plenty to say, I’ll bet, about leaving the trail!
I once put my boot on at work (can’t remember why it was off) – it had been sitting in a sunny window and the bee inside was not happy, so neither was I.
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