Friday the 13th

Friday the 13^th lived up to its reputation today. We went over to neighboring Strawberry Fields to get a hive out of a termite (also known as “duck ants” for some reason) nest up in a tree. We ended up just cutting the tree down, but that was a mistake. Or at least, it was a mistake to not be wearing any gear when we chopped the tree down. We’re getting lazy. Here's the video of the tree falling:

Anyway, the tree fell and the bees, which had been kind of outside of the entrance, started flying around. This is pretty normal behavior, so no one did anything special. That is, until I looked over to see everyone running away. I didn’t really understand at first but ran with them, and then I realized the bees were totally attacking. One got stuck in my hair and stung the back of my neck pretty good—admittedly not the place I would have guessed. Dee got a few stuck in her hair but avoided getting stung, and helped me get the stinger out later. Kwao got stung too, right on the top of his spine which apparently hurt pretty badly. We all ran back to the yard, but walked over and suited up (well away from the hive this time) a few minutes later.

It turns out the hive was full of honey, which is a first! That may have been a reason they were so eager to attack us, aside from being dropped out of a tree. The termite nest was tricky though, since it was full of crevices for the queen to hide in. Kwao found her, and she’s caged up right now inside the hive. We let her out the following evening to give the bees time to adjust to their new home, and so far they seem content with the hive.