I been bee stung lots of times (as a kid, who wasn't?). I been stung by wasps (got swarmed, but only seven stings on my leg, thought I got snake bit again). I been stung by hornets (felt like someone swatted me in the head with a baseball bat - yes, I've been swatted several times in the head with a baseball bat, so I do have a basis for comparison). I'd say the wasps hurt the worst, then hornets, then bumble bees, then honey bees.
Snakes only hurt a little (been bit hundreds of times in a single day), but I've never been bit by a poison one, nor even a very big one (no longer than 3 ft or so) - come close, but never quite been bit by one.
I don't like being stung, but it's not any more annoying than watching Seinfeld. My youngest got attacked by some hornets at our house. I was mowing the lawn in the back and my oldest came running around the house screaming and absolutely terrified that "something's wrong with Anna!" I went around and it took me a few seconds to figure it out. I grabbed her up and took her in the house. "It's still in my hair!" she screamed. And I grabbed a lock and squeeze the little thing to death in my fist. I found their nest on the side of the house (apparently the sound of the mower had agitated them). Bought some poison and sprayed them that night as they slept (or whatever it is they do).
I must have missed a few. A few days later, they had reestablished in a small bush right next to my front door. I drenched the bush and that was the end of them. It was also the end of the bush - it died a few weeks later. And now, years later, the grass is only just beginning to grow on the spot.
I'm terrified by all manner of arachnid and numerous other crawling things. Wasps, though, just don't scare me personally. But I'll tell ya, when I heard my kid screaming like that it's got to have been one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. And we were dealing with a pretty small nest, no bigger than cantaloupe, say. No idea how many hornets it had it contained. Probably no more than 30 or 40 (wild guess), but when they were dive bombing it seemed a lot more.
Don't want to think about a really huge nest, but I can sympathize with just about anything somebody would do to get rid of such a horde of the surly, little devils, from the latest chemical poison to napalm.
I do wonder, though. I *thought* I read one time that honeybees were imported to the U.S. by early colonists. Is it true? (My memory's terrible and sometimes I unintentionally confabulate to fill in gaps on what I think I thought I read.) Regardless, is it true of NZ?
k
