I’ve often thought how lucky we are in
Hawaii that
we don’t have so many of the animals and bugs that can create havoc for
mainland dwellers. Bears immediately
come to mind as do snakes. What we do
share with our mainland friends though is, bees. Great swarms of the little suckers can find a
way to get into our homes and there set up camp.
My neighbor is having just such a
group of visitors rearranging their belongings inside her wall. I had the same problem a couple of years ago
and the drama that ensued was amazing to watch.
First, The Bee Man appeared on my
doorstep ready for battle. He was
delighted to tell me that he could hear the bees inside my wall and, if I
touched it, I would be able to feel the warmth of their presence. Well, wasn’t that just peachy?
He also told me that according to what
he could hear and feel, the size of the honeycomb was quite large. I really didn’t care…I’ve disliked honey all
my life, and a bunch of buzzy things creating the drippy stuff inside my house
wasn’t going to change my opinion.
With a sad sigh, The Bee Man proceeded
to puncture the wall with pinpricks into which he syringed some sort of
poisonous gas.
‘You won’t be able to eat the honey
now…so sorry...it would have been delicious.
Perhaps, for The Bee Man, but not for
me.
The next step in the bee removal saga
produced two gentlemen with enough equipment strapped around their waists to
build a complete house. Which to a
smaller degree they would need to do. A
huge chunk of wall was cut out and removed and there lying at the bottom of the
cut-out section were at least a gzillion dead bees with an enormous honeycomb,
about 3ft square rising above them.
By the end of the day, I had honey
smeared on my carpet, a gaping hole in my bedroom wall, a bagful of dead bees
and a sad looking Bee Man who I was convinced blamed me for the murder of his
little friends.
But then the construction guys set to
with their hammers and nails. A new
piece of drywall was attached and painted; the carpet was cleaned and the bag
of bees removed to wherever dead bees find their final rest.
I sincerely hope my neighbor’s bee
experience will be as easy to handle as mine was and that the little creatures
don’t bother either of us again.
On the other hand, I have noted with
some alarm that several big, black carpenter bees are circling around my lanai.
And, last week I watched as a couple,
complete with hand luggage, squeezed themselves behind the facia at the side of
my house. It seems that a visit from the
pest control gentleman is in my immediate future….again!
