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Swarming…

Hallway

We had a small attack this morning. As we stumbled out of bed and down the stairs, grumbling about coffee and aching joints (we’re not even 30 – why so much aching?), we noticed 4 honey bees bouncing around on the stairwell window.

Still half-asleep, I grabbed a magazine and whacked one. Then another. I was just about to kill #4 when bees started coming in from all directions. Dozens and dozens of bees just multiplying before our eyes. Visions of little Thomas J. covered in bee stings in a little white coffin flashed through my head, and I freaked. I ran to the bathroom and shut the door, yelling for Teague to get in with me before they killed him. Instead, he ran to the craft room WHICH HAS NO DOOR and no good escape route. Lesson learned – in case of emergency, do not follow Teague.

We freaked out in our respective hiding places for a good 15 minutes, watching the bees take over the upstairs. A very loud buzzing could be heard through the closed door, and every time I peeked out there were more. When we realized they weren’t going away anytime soon, we decided to make a run for it. Trying not to disturb them too much, we both ran gently down the stairs through the cloud of buzzing bodies and arrived at the bottom of the stairs unharmed.

DSC_0244

Using my handy-dandy zoom lens, I snapped a few photos. They don’t really look that scary, but let me tell you – I was totally freaking out imagining that the rest of the swarm would be at our house shortly to rescue their buddies and punish me for the death count.

We called a friend who used to harvest honey, and he calmed me down. Apparently bees follow their queen blindly, and that’s their goal in life. If she wasn’t in the house, the swarm wouldn’t be either. So these 50 or so bees had somehow gotten confused and lost, and they were just trying to find their queen. They would wander off if we just opened the window and left them alone.

About 30 minutes later, we were down to about ten bees. We shut the window and killed those last few stragglers, and have been bee-free ever since. Big relief! The next time I go to smack a bee with a rolled up This Old House, I’ll definitely think twice.

(ps – The window is disgustingly dirty because this hallway was gutted and we’re still working on it… never bothered to clean it. Not because we’re that disgusting. Although we are pretty close to that disgusting.)

Comments, Thoughts, and Feedback

April had this to say on 06.28.07:

Arrrgh!!!!!!!! I hate bugs with a passion…….especially ones that buzz and fly…….bees are only 2nd to junebugs…..ick. I share your freak out on this one!

Racheal had this to say on 06.28.07:

Hi, how scarey, I know just what it feels like, we had a swarm outside of our house just a few weeks ago and they settled in a big group on next doors chimney. There is a photo on my blog if you want to look.

Racheal x

TB had this to say on 06.28.07:

Is there anything Donnie K. hasn’t done?

Kristin had this to say on 06.28.07:

I see I’m not the only one scarred for life by My Girl! :)

Katherine had this to say on 06.28.07:

Glad you survived the bee takeover, that is scary!
“He can’t see without his glasses!” RIP Thomas J.

Poppy had this to say on 07.04.07:

I’m allergic to bees…if that had happened in my house I’d still be cowering in the bathroom!

Leah had this to say on 07.09.07:

haha! what a great story – i especially like the line about teague running into the doorless craft room and him not being the one to follow in an emergency. hah! smart girl. seems i’m not the only “my girl” lover – i remember doing a class skit about it with my friends in 6th grade. but mostly i decided to comment to let you know you don’t have to apologize for your dirty window! isn’t it funny how we housebloggers always feel the need to take the best pictures possible of our spaces, instead of taking pictures of how they actually look on a daily basis or as they’re being worked on? just earlier today, i wanted to take a picture of our kitchen cabinet hardware (yay! it only took 2 years!) but i stopped myself when i realized the kitchen needed to be cleaned first. how silly! but i’m still gonna clean the kitchen first ;)

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