Big Bee Battle

Okay, so I have a story to tell.  Truthfully it is a terrifying story, but I have decided to spin it in the most comical of lights.  Why?  Because no one was horribly hurt, there were no hospitals involved and now looking back, the story is, well, just funny.

Since I have moved out of the Flying E Ranch, miscellaneous creatures have taken up residence with my parents.  First it was Grandma Fran (probably the best inhabitant ever), then there was Oreo and and Skittles, followed by the kitties, massive amounts of hummingbirds (seriously, like a 1000) and so on.  Oddly, the Eckels have also given sanctuary to all sorts of creepy crawling creatures including but not limited to mice, flies, spiders and bees.  While I don't think they advertised vacancy to these creatures, they have also been the most giving, good samaritan people and not expressly (via fumigation) asked them to leave.  I think their philosophy has been, "well, they don't bother us, why bother them?" So kind, so thoughtful.  To give you an idea of how gracious a host my parents are here is exhibit a:

So now that you have thrown up your cookies and are officially shivering in creepy crawlies, let me introduce you to one of the residents of the Flying E long stay motel.  This is a Bola Spider.  Now this little creature, lets call him Phil, has built and elaborate web in the corner of the window.  It has anchor points on the house, in the window sill and stretching all the way down to a patio chair sitting below.  Yes, you did hear me right.  It's attached to a PATIO chair, one that without warning anyone would sit in to enjoy the beautiful, relaxing mountains.  Here is the best part, Phil catches his prey by sitting at the top of his web with his 8 legs attached to different points on the web.  When prey gets caught or "jiggles" his web he literally dive bombs out of his layer to capture them.  Now remember, his web is attached to a PATIO chair!  "Okay guests, sit in this chair, but "jiggle" at your own risk." Um, thanks, but no thanks. (For those sitting in fear, the spider was evicted, eventhough Mom wanted to keep him around for bug eating).

So onto the bees.

The old hot tub that is almost as old as me is now a non-functioning porch decoration and has become the private suite for the community of wasps in the area.  They come, they go, you see one fly here and there, but no big deal, you stay away from them.  You don't go by the hot tub without a white flag of utter surrender.  They really are generally peaceful pests.  Lily and her cousins Mckenna and Kennleigh  were having a ball chasing each other around the house and giggling uncontrollably when they would catch each other.  They wanted to go out on the porch, so we closed the gate to the stairs and let them play (the porch is long and NONE of us even considered the bees, after all, no stings yet).  The three were out by themselves and Bob (being a great Dad) decided that he didn't want them out there alone, so decided to go and check on them.  Not but 1 minute later all I see is Bob flailing and moving faster than I have ever seen him move.  In 2 seconds it dawns on me, BEES.  The girls were chasing each other around the hot tub without said surrender flag, and the bees amassed to fight the invading girlies.

All craziness broke loose.  By the time all of the adults (there were 10 of us) got it in gear, the bees were ANGRY and stinging with a vengeance.  We grabbed the little girls and raced inside.  Now at this point we discovered that the girls had been stung repeatedly.  Here we were with screaming children, throwing clothes off only to discover that bees were in their clothes and now they were in the house.  Bob was the great bee hero and killed all the bees that started flying inside.  Just when we thought we were out of trouble another bee popped out of somewhere.  Now not only were the girls screaming because of the pain, but they had classified them in the same category as Monster of the deep.  Every time they saw another one, the blood curdling screams amplified.

 Baking soda and water paste is a great bee sting pain reducer so here we were rushing between children, our paste primed wiping it on every place they pointed to.  We were covered, they were covered and the tears flowed freely. It was crazy, scary and now comical.  What a sight.  All of the girls survived with no less than 3 stings a piece, but thankfully no one had any allergic reactions.

Later that night I encouraged the swift eviction of all creepy crawlies inhabiting the porch, including Phil, or else I was going to bring up a roll of caution tape.  You can keep Grandma Fran guys, but the "bungs" gotta go!