To any regular readers: I've been home since Tuesday with flu-like symptoms, though my doctor suspects it may be a bacterial infection.Before the flu symptoms began, I was attacked by a bee while working in the garden on Sunday and stung on the ear. I now realize that once a bee starts bothering you for more than a few seconds, it's better to get inside where the bees can't get to you. Once the bee is buzzing frantically all over you, it's probably inevitable that you are going to get stung.
Did you know, after being stung by a bee, you're NOT supposed to pull out the stinger with tweezers, as this can cause more venom to enter you body? Unfortunately, I asked my wife to pull out the stinger before I consulted the medical websites.
Also, bees don't like sweaty people. Although I think it defeats the purpose if you need to take a shower before going outside to work in the garden.
I'll be posting again after I get back to work and things settle down.
UPDATE (2006/05/18): I returned to work on Tuesday, though I'm still not at one hundred percent.
A contractor started working on our basement today, which has some water damage. When they removed an upstairs gutter, "about a million bees" came out, "and they weren't very happy," according to the construction supervisor. Now an exterminator has to come and destroy the bee colony before the exterior work can continue.
The work should be done on Saturday. The exterminator said he would apply some gas that is toxic to bees in the late evening, when most of the bees should be in the colony, and then add some chemicals to kill any bees that come back in the next couple of days.
He said to make sure that the construction crew removes the honeycombs, which can start to rot in the warm air, and can also attract rats.
I hope to be able to avoid any more problems with bee attacks through the summer.
UPDATE 2 (2006/05/24): The bee exterminator spent at least 45 minutes on Saturday evening, first gassing the bee nest, and then spreading toxic powder to kill any stragglers who were not there at the time. He told us that bees may continue to fly around the nest on Sunday and Monday, but by Tuesday, the bees should all be gone. He told us to wear shoes outside for the next two weeks, as we could still be stung by dead bees in the area.
He also said the bees' honeycomb was very large, about 5 feet by 2 feet, in the area underneath the balcony. He said we should have the construction crew remove the honeycomb, or, at the very least, seal up the hole so that other bees would not come and take over the nest.
Sure enough, all the bees were gone by Tuesday morning. As I was removing a tarp which protected the exposed area of the house, I found dozens and dozens of dead bees below the nest and in the tarp. I spoke to the construction supervisor by telephone during the day, and he said they had gone ahead and removed the honeycomb. But when I got home in the evening, I found one or two dozen bees flying around the nest area, and one bee trapped in the basement storage area.
The most likely explanation? 1) The queen bee had survived along with some worker bees, and they had managed to set up operations again. 2) The construction crew had not removed all of the honeycomb, and what had remained was attracting new bees. 3) Some combination of #2 and #3.
The bee exterminator will be returning this evening.
UPDATE 3 (July 2006):
A photo of a small part of the honeycomb that a different contractor took out of the ceiling:
