Every so often we have moments of spontaneous comedy here at the homestead. Serious comedy. No, really, you don’t want to have a mouthful of coffee while reading.

This is a two part bee story. Part one. Last week I was out to feed the bees on one of our kinda warm days. I went out with the jar of sugar water but no gloves or head gear. I’d done this before but in the early spring bees tend to be a bit more aggressive. I remove the entrance cleat (a piece of wood that keeps out mice and cold air) and put the feeder in place. A couple bees popped out and I backed up a bit. No problem. Except that one of them continued to buzz me. I backed up more… another 15 feet. Still buzzing so I backed up further. At this point I was a bit puzzled because I could not find him and the buzzing was pretty loud. So I start with my shirt and sweatshirt. Yes, I took them off. Still the buzzing. Then the shoes quickly followed by the sweat pants. Still the buzzing. At this point I’m a little freaked out and jumping around a bit looking for this very angry bee. I’m wearing socks and boxing shorts and jumping around in the woods, hands flailing through the air. Then I realize where my little friend is. The beard. So now I’m pulling at my beard trying to comb him out with my fingers. Still angry buzzing. More frantic pulling at the beard to which turns into a kind of squeezing of the beard and then smacking of the beard. Yes, mostly naked, jumping around and smacking myself in the face.

Just another picturesque morning in the country.

Okay. Ready for part two? Tonight I go out to gather up the empty sugar water jar. Yes, I’m wearing the gloves and head gear. I pull the feeder and slide the entrance cleat over. A few bees come out. All done I turn and walk away. Buzzz. Buzzzzzzz. I keep walking, not too worried as I know my beard is safe. Then I realize a bee had somehow made it into my boot. Okay buzzing getting angrier and I move more quickly towards the cedar bench over by the chicken coop. I plop down quickly to take my boots off and yes, I, along with the bench, tip right over. So now I’m on my back trying to kick my boots off.

After a few minutes I get them off and push myself and the bench up off the ground. For a brief moment I and bench almost fall back over but I make the save. The bee is gone and I retrieve the boots. End scene.

All that said, I do love my fuzzy little buzzing friends and am looking forward to the summer honey harvest!


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