Just a Little Blue House

So, bees were not my friends this week. Maybe if they make me some honey sometime we’d be best buds again. However when they crawl on my ankles and hands, arms, legs, neck…. well… we’re not exactly best buds.

** Just a disclaimer: I love having bees. The bees are really awesome. I think their biology and behavior is simply amazing, and plus they are known to make lovely honey. SO, I do like the bees, this just might be a particularly bitter post.**

Well it all started, Kellan’s parents decided to buy a hive that me and Kellan are going to take care of. And its really cool, right now we have a top bar hive, and this hive is an established langstroth of about 50,000 hard working little lady bees. Well we are excited about having another hive, but it meant that Kellan had to drive to San Marcos to get them. He drove down about 5 in the afternoon because you have to wait till darkish to move the bees. Thats because they’re all back in their cozy hive for the night. Anyway, he didn’t get back to his parents till about 9 which meant we had to move the hive down the driveway, across the creek bed, up the creek bank (which was muddy), down the trail (also possibly muddy), up a step, and across a paddock…. ALL IN THE DARK.

Well, we jumped into our lovely matching bee suits, got the smoker going, and started carrying the hive. We made it across the creek bed ok, regardless of not being able to see. Uh. huh. Sad to say, it goes downhill (yeah you didn’t see that coming) and we slip in the muddy creek bank, and although we never dropped the hive completely, we rattled it pretty good…. and the bees poured out….

After that, there was nothing Kellan could have said to talk sense into my panicked head. I had felt bees ALL over my ankle and buzzing all around me. Right after we rattled the hive Kellan tells me, “Hey, you might feel some bees crawling on you”, while I’m thinking, “NO, really?!” (in a completely facetious manner). Well I got stung a few times on the ankle and after that I don’t remember getting back across the creek bed lol. Well we ended up swatting the bees off of each other and finally running into the house.

All that to say, my ankle had a lot of stings and one sting on my neck. Kellan had at least three on different parts of his body, but probably more he didn’t find. My ankle looks quite lovely now… its all puffy and I actually couldn’t even walk on it the next day. Therefore, I promise never to silently giggle and women whose ankles get swollen when they are pregnant, its seriously painful.

**Side note: Bee stings are actually very beneficial in alleviating arthritis! Its well known around beekeepers that beekeepers never get arthritis. One guy we know just treated his shoulder by grabbing bees in tweezers and sticking them on his shoulder. He got a lot more movement out of it! (Only took 20 stings….) Therefore, I’m hoping my ankle is good for awhile!**

Well, the bees are all safe now with only little harm done. My ankle will not fall off and we will both live to see another day.