A BEE IN MY BONNET...ER...UH...BLOOMERS

Here she is sunning herself on my Snowball tree . Innocent looking little thing if you don't notice the wicked stinger.
I have a lot of stories about these little honeybugs, but one in particular stands out.


My son made me a lovely clothesline several years ago. He attached it to my back porch with a pulley and then climbed high up a Maple tree and secured it there. Oh how I loved that clothesline. I could stand on my porch and hang all my laundry out to dry and never have to go wading in the snakes.


One day when removing dry, fragrant clothes from the line, I was in a bit of a hurry so didn't shake them out as I usually did but quickly folded them and put them all away, including my 'unmentionables.' The next morning I had put on my panties and jeans (hadn't dressed my top half yet) then bent over to put on my shoes when I had the most horrifying pain on my bottom. It had me hopping all over my bedroom like an overgrown grasshopper. It took a minute before I realized that I had been stung. I ripped off my jeans and panties, and sure enough, the little beastie was still clinging to them. I quickly slapped it onto the floor and sent it to bee-heaven.


When the shock of being stung had worn off, I pulled a bra out of the drawer and carefully inspected it. I didn't see anything inside so flipped it over to check the other side. Nothing there either but I thought if there was a bee it may have quickly crawled to the other side. So there I was for several minutes, standing half dressed flipping the bra from one side to the next trying to find another bee that I just knew was hiding so it could sting me. I didn't wear a bra that day, but spent quite a while carefully unfolding and searching all the laundry. I was always very careful to shake out and investigate my dry laundry after this.

I don't have that lovely clothesline now, but I remember the slapping sound the sheets made as the wind blew them dry, and I also remember climbing into a freshly made bed with those fragrant sheets hugging me goodnight.

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