BEE NICE

Once as a five year old, I was stung badly by wasps. They had built a nest I discovered by accident in a swing set I was using.

And that's about it. For the most part, I've been stung-free. Except when mowing.

In Southern Illinois it rains. And then it quits. It's too wet, then too dry. Which may be why yellow jackets flourish in ground nests or hives. And on more than one occasion, I've found them while mowing. There's never a doubt about what has stung you. Only the yellow jacket has the deep needle burning sting. And seldom are you tagged by only one. I once observed them striking my mower 1 1/2 hours after I had mowed over them and left my mower right where I was injured.

But one Summer I had a relationship with yellow jackets. I saw their entry into the ground. I didn't pour gasoline in the hole near nightfall as I had done on other occasions. Especially when they were near our garden. Nothing was to get in the way of my tomato plants.

But this nest was visible and I would mow closer and closer to it without disturbing the bees. Each time I mowed, I got closer, yet even when there was activity, then never bothered me on my yellow Gravely rider. I knew my distance, and after awhile I think they knew I wasn't going to disturb them.

My final mow of the season got to within inches of their abode. But they allowed. It was the strangest thing.

But years later, their offspring didn't have that same relationship with our older grandson. A few of them left their marks on him. He retaliated the next morning by plugging up their entrance with a stick or two. Fortunately, he wasn't harmed any more.

It was the end of a bee-autiful relationship borne from an unspoken pact years prior by his grandfather.