Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Bee Blog

I saw this story in the Union-Tribune a week ago.

It was about brothers in Los Angeles that had a bees’ nest in their backyard. They decided the nest should be removed from their shed and that the best way to do this would be using an illegal firecracker they had.

The explosion blew out a window in their house, which cut one of them up. He needed medical attention, so off to the car they went.

But the glass cutting him wasn’t the only problem. Three angry bees flying around outside, decided to get some revenge. They stung him in the driveway. Not a big deal for most people, but it turns out he was allergic to bee venom and died of asphyxiation on the way to the emergency room.

I’m guessing that will make News of the Weird at some point.

When I was five, I found that paper wasps had a huge nest in our garage in Mira Mesa. For years I had seen wasps fly into our garage and head for the rafters. One day, I decided to watch where one flew.

Once I found the nest, I called the older brothers in for reinforcement.

It was so high, they weren’t sure what to do. I got on a ladder and used a chopstick. Nobody ever said 5-year-old make the best decisions.

I stuck the stick into the nest, and a wasp came out. It walked up the chopstick, as I slowly walked down the ladder. My brother held an empty jar for us to keep it.

I’m not sure why I didn’t drop the chopstick, but I was scared. It climbed onto my hand and promptly stung my pinky.

I ran screaming, and my mom came outside. All she kept saying as she looked at it was “I don’t see a stinger. Are you sure you were stung?”

I found out later that wasps don’t lose their stinger and die the way bees do.

My older brother than grabbed a garden house. We turned it on, and climbed into the small Ford Pinto my mom had in the garage. We rolled down the window just enough, and aimed the hose.

The nest came down and wasps were everywhere.

We waited for almost half an hour before the garage cleared out. And the nest (made from chewed up wood) was beautiful to look at and study (it still had a few eggs inside).

I’d occasionally see wasps for the next few days, fly up and look for their home. I would’ve felt bad. But I was five. And one of those little bast***s had stung me. I considered it war.

Now, I haven’t heard anything on the Killer Bees. Weren’t they supposed to be here by now?

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

I saw this story in the Union-Tribune a week ago.

It was about brothers in Los Angeles that had a bees’ nest in their backyard. They decided the nest should be removed from their shed and that the best way to do this would be using an illegal firecracker they had.

The explosion blew out a window in their house, which cut one of them up. He needed medical attention, so off to the car they went.

But the glass cutting him wasn’t the only problem. Three angry bees flying around outside, decided to get some revenge. They stung him in the driveway. Not a big deal for most people, but it turns out he was allergic to bee venom and died of asphyxiation on the way to the emergency room.

I’m guessing that will make News of the Weird at some point.

When I was five, I found that paper wasps had a huge nest in our garage in Mira Mesa. For years I had seen wasps fly into our garage and head for the rafters. One day, I decided to watch where one flew.

Once I found the nest, I called the older brothers in for reinforcement.

It was so high, they weren’t sure what to do. I got on a ladder and used a chopstick. Nobody ever said 5-year-old make the best decisions.

I stuck the stick into the nest, and a wasp came out. It walked up the chopstick, as I slowly walked down the ladder. My brother held an empty jar for us to keep it.

I’m not sure why I didn’t drop the chopstick, but I was scared. It climbed onto my hand and promptly stung my pinky.

I ran screaming, and my mom came outside. All she kept saying as she looked at it was “I don’t see a stinger. Are you sure you were stung?”

I found out later that wasps don’t lose their stinger and die the way bees do.

My older brother than grabbed a garden house. We turned it on, and climbed into the small Ford Pinto my mom had in the garage. We rolled down the window just enough, and aimed the hose.

The nest came down and wasps were everywhere.

We waited for almost half an hour before the garage cleared out. And the nest (made from chewed up wood) was beautiful to look at and study (it still had a few eggs inside).

I’d occasionally see wasps for the next few days, fly up and look for their home. I would’ve felt bad. But I was five. And one of those little bast***s had stung me. I considered it war.

Now, I haven’t heard anything on the Killer Bees. Weren’t they supposed to be here by now?

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.