"There's a random painted highway and a muzzle of bees...."

Yesterday's weather was unequivocally gorgeous. Cloudless skies, warm--but not hot--temperatures, and clear air. We got a new swingset for the girls on Tuesday, so while they were fully entertained by new swings, bars, and rings, I set to work on random yard work that was long overdue. (It's a sign of maturity [old age?] when you receive a hedge trimmer for you anniversary and love it.) We have six overgrown evergreen shrubs along the front of our house, and they desperately needing trimming.


After the trimming, I had to rake the clippings out of the landscaping stones which is never easy and always curse-inducing. To make matters worse, we never take the time in late fall to rake the dried leaves out, so now I was wrestling to rake multiple layers out of a space much too narrow for my lawn rake. When all else fails, use your hands! After scooching a rather large mass of leaves out of the shrubs (and thinking, "Wow, they're still quite heavy; they must retain moisture really well"), I noticed a couple of bees buzzing around. Make that 10 bees. No, no... make it 15. You know, there have to be at least 20. And they appear to be pretty pisssed off. Shit.

The heavy bunch of leaves? The top of their nest. (Reminder: I moved it with my hands.) On the underside of that bunch of leaves? Bees and larvae. Lots of larvae. Left behind between the shrubs? A hole about 5" across and 4" deep, and the bees were in and out of it, frantically searching for their queen, their babies--their home.

I called a local beekeeper who confirmed they were bumble bees (which can, in fact, sting repeatedly), and our best bet was probably to "smoke them out" which I quickly learned is doublespeak for "kill them." She recommended we do it in the evening, when they're not busy bees. I've been using the pronoun "we" because it sounds nice, but in reality my husband was working so it was more of a you/me situation. But that will never do, so I called my dad over who helped me spray the mass of leaves (which is when we discovered all the larvae). Tonight, when hubby is home, we'll spray the hole in the ground. However, it appears the bees have left once they discovered life as they knew it was over.

I feel guilty for uprooting an entire colony of bumble bees who were simply making hay out of my laziness (old leaves = great hive material). Sorry, bees. It wasn't personal, it's just that I have these sweet girls...