Yellow Jackets

As I was standing in their garage, asking our (former) beekeeper neighbors to borrow this bee suit, I have to admit... I was thinking blog entry the whole time. Ha ha. Now, on to the story.

Every now and then I like to play Paul Bunyan; and so when I came across a dead branch on a dogwood tree by the house, I was happy to go grab an axe.

Swoosh. The axe hit the tree, and the branch hit the ground with a thud.  And less than 2 seconds later, Justin and I learned (the hard way) that yellow jackets build their nests underground.  In this case, underground meant in the exact spot where the branch happened to hit the ground.  We may have well hit a switch that said Attack Mode. I heard the buzzing sound, but I never thought to look down; and they swarmed so fast that I never saw it coming.

I got stung on the eyelid.  A half centimeter up, and it would've been a bull's-eye to the pupil. Strike one.  Justin turned and ran, but he still caught one in the back of the head, right where the neck meets the back of the ear.  Strike two. But I hereby declare, there shall be no strike three.