Fly like a butterfly....

.... and sting like a blessed bee.

After the rains we had last week, the lawns around the house were getting a bit high in places, so we decided to cut the grass this morning. My husband used the riding mower (varooom, varoooom) and I used the smaller mower (push, push).  I usually do the small patches of grass where the riding mower just can't get to, and that's fine.  I put on my boots and off I go with that small mower, hoping that no one stops by and sees me actually mowing, taking care not to stop on the grass... the trick is to just keep going, going, going.

However.... the above method works fine with fire ants. The ants can't bite you if you keep moving.  When I was cutting the patch of grass near the red-tip bushes, I got stung by a bee.  I guess I got too close to the bushes, and that bee was just waiting there, and out he flew like a shot, stabbing me in the thigh.  Felt like a hypodermic needle went into me. And that bee was so quick..... he flew out of the bushes right into my leg, then propelled himself back into the bushes again. A definite hit and run.

The good news is that I'm not allergic to bee stings, as I am to wasp stings. (Found that out the hard way back at the other house in Clear Lake when I got stung by a wasp and within 60 seconds, I was sick, sick, sick.) 

I finished mowing that small patch of grass that I had started, and then I shut off the mower and went into the house to see the damage on my leg.  No screams, mind you.... although with the noise that riding mower makes, my husband wouldn't have heard me screaming anyway.

I have a tiny red sting-mark on my thigh, which is surrounded by a swollen red welt about three inches in diameter.  The swelling started quickly, and I put Neosporin on the sting, which helped ease the pain of the sting but didn't hold back the swelling.  Walking up and down the stairs during that first hour after getting stung was interesting.... it was hard to bend my leg, but it was manageable. 

Am I adapting to this country life? No, probably not.  After getting stung by the bee this morning, I told myself that it could have been worse... it could have been a wasp (and the hospital is 12 miles away).... or it could have been a scorpion...... or it could have been a snake (and the hospital is 12 miles away).

As for walking up and down the stairs with a swollen and painful bee sting, that wasn't a problem....I have shopped in a crowded SteinMart during their 12-Hour Sale Days while wearing three-inch heels, so a little bee sting (in flats) is a piece of cake.