Finally, warm weather has come and so with it hanging
laundry outside. I love the fresh sunshine and warm breezes on the towels and
blankets. Every once in a while I forget about the laundry, especially at the beginning
of the season. It was almost dark when I remembered the towels I had hanging
outside. Not wanting them to blow off the line (the wind had picked up and 2
were already down) or be all wet in the morning from the dew, I went out to
quickly get them. When I grabbed the first towel, I heard the loudest buzzing
around me, ever! It stopped and I looked around and saw nothing. As I was
taking down the towels I kept trying to figure out what that sound could have
been. Laundry off the line, I went inside the house. Laying the towels down to
fold, I soon found the source of the buzzing…an absolutely humongous bumble bee
started flying around the kitchen!
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| No, he wasn't cute like this! |
Kids started running and screaming and I looked frantically
for the fly swatter. I didn’t find it, which is probably best as this bee
seemed to be the size of a hummingbird and a fly swatter wasn’t going to do
anything to it. So I grabbed the broom. I try swatting at this thing thinking,
“I must kill this and not get it angry. I cannot allow this bee flying around
my house stinging the children.” Meanwhile the kids are yelling, “That must be
the queen bee! It is so big.”
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| Attack bee is what we saw. |
I swat and miss, bee changes direction and so do I. Swat
again, another miss, another change in direction. This seems to go on forever, although I’m sure
it was only seconds. Swatting again, the kitchen door opens and there stands 19
yo, door open, looking at his mom with a broom in the air, hearing his siblings
screaming. Since he opened the door in mid-swat, I yell, “Look out!” I actually
hit the bee and it falls at my son’s feet. I see it start to move and yell.
“Step on it!” His size 10.5 shoe calmly steps on the bee and suddenly the
bumble bee didn’t look as big. We swept it outside and pushed it through a
crack in the deck to make sure no one stepped on it. Especially 22 yo who is
VERY allergic to bees.
Kids still yelling that it must have been a queen bee, I
start to relax knowing this momma bear was able to protect her cubs and not get
stung in the process.
And I have decided that all laundry will be taken down while
light enough to see clearly, or they can blow away and get wet. I never want to
see a bumble bee in the house again!
