Plan Bee

Did you know that most bees do not lose their stingers when stinging other insects, but will lose them when stinging large mammals? It’s something to do with responding appropriately to the threat. Other insects can be repelled, but a large mammal can cause real destruction to the hive, so the stinger is instinctively driven so deep it’s barb breaks off as deeply into the invader’s hide as possible and all the venom is injected into the perceived threat.

Damn bees.

It isn’t just that I fear getting stung. Okay, it is that I fear getting stung. But I can visit a phlebotomist just fine, roll up the sleeve, let ’em find the vein, stick in the needle. The thing is, I sign up for it, I know when it will start and happen and when it is over.

When there are thousands of little phlebotomists flying around with needles poised and I don’t know when they are going to alight, it’s not the same thing.

The missus tells me these are nice bees. Not Africanized. More docile, less likely to sting.  Here’s what the hive looks like in the afternoon sun:

 

 

I do not intend to test their temperaments.