Pam,
Well, in recent years it is me vs. them. But when eight of us are walking up a street after a baseball game and a bumblebee not only picks me out of the crowd, but continues to chase and sting me after knocking it off more than three times, I take it personal.
We always had to fight them on the farm. They loved to build nests in piles of tobacco sticks. We learned to drop something heavy on the sticks, listen for a hum that gets lounder and if we heard one, run - real, real fast.
We also had to clean out an old barn, one that had straw stored in it for who knows how many years. Talk about nests of bumblebees - they were everywhere. I would have to go over each night, after it was dark, locate a nest and pour kerosene on it. Hundreds of bees at a time.
Another time, they built a nest in a grain wagon. When it came time to pull the thing out of the barn so we could house tobacco, I hitched it up to a tractor my younger brother was driving. The tractor wasn't big enough to pull it without the tires slipping so I jumped on the drawbar for added weight. A couple of tugs and it started moving. I felt a strong prick on my leg and thinking it was just a burr from a weed, I thought I knocked it off. Then I felt another one, and another one. The bees had been riled and were attacking me enmasse. In my shorts, shorts, on my arms, legs, head - anyplace the could poke there stinger. I counted at least 32 bee stings. Mark, just a couple of feet in front of me, got stung just a couple of times.
I don't have a problem with honeybees, the ones who build hives and produce something useful. The only times I have been stung by them was when I would step on one while running around barefoot or similar. Though one time, I was pulling a rope out of swimming pool and a bee was on it. As I pulled it through my fingers, it stung me. Linda thought she would help and remove the stinger - all she did was squeeze the venom out of the stinger. Talk about an awful itch for a few days.
My brother use to be super allergic to honeybees - one sting and his hand or arm would swell to 2-3 times its normal size.
Besides, from what I read, bumblebees are not that great at pollenating - the only way they help tomatoes is by beating their wings close to the bloom (sonicating) that causes pollen to fall.
Mike
Well, in recent years it is me vs. them. But when eight of us are walking up a street after a baseball game and a bumblebee not only picks me out of the crowd, but continues to chase and sting me after knocking it off more than three times, I take it personal.
We always had to fight them on the farm. They loved to build nests in piles of tobacco sticks. We learned to drop something heavy on the sticks, listen for a hum that gets lounder and if we heard one, run - real, real fast.
We also had to clean out an old barn, one that had straw stored in it for who knows how many years. Talk about nests of bumblebees - they were everywhere. I would have to go over each night, after it was dark, locate a nest and pour kerosene on it. Hundreds of bees at a time.
Another time, they built a nest in a grain wagon. When it came time to pull the thing out of the barn so we could house tobacco, I hitched it up to a tractor my younger brother was driving. The tractor wasn't big enough to pull it without the tires slipping so I jumped on the drawbar for added weight. A couple of tugs and it started moving. I felt a strong prick on my leg and thinking it was just a burr from a weed, I thought I knocked it off. Then I felt another one, and another one. The bees had been riled and were attacking me enmasse. In my shorts, shorts, on my arms, legs, head - anyplace the could poke there stinger. I counted at least 32 bee stings. Mark, just a couple of feet in front of me, got stung just a couple of times.
I don't have a problem with honeybees, the ones who build hives and produce something useful. The only times I have been stung by them was when I would step on one while running around barefoot or similar. Though one time, I was pulling a rope out of swimming pool and a bee was on it. As I pulled it through my fingers, it stung me. Linda thought she would help and remove the stinger - all she did was squeeze the venom out of the stinger. Talk about an awful itch for a few days.
My brother use to be super allergic to honeybees - one sting and his hand or arm would swell to 2-3 times its normal size.
Besides, from what I read, bumblebees are not that great at pollenating - the only way they help tomatoes is by beating their wings close to the bloom (sonicating) that causes pollen to fall.
Mike
