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Trouble with bees
By Michael Kaufman
Every summer at the house nature plays some crazy dirty trick on us. A tornado blew off the top of our barn, a deer fell into our swimming pool, flying bats (not to be confused with baseball bats) chased me around my bedroom, and this summer our kitchen got infested with yellow jacket bees.
About six weeks ago I heard something scratching in the corner of our kitchen near the ceiling. It sounded like branches scraping the roof. I went out to take a look and I saw bees going in and out from under the roof. I really didn't think it was such a big deal because we have literally had thousands of beehives on the property. As a city boy I would never have believed that I would admit this, but I am no longer afraid of them. I am not allergic to bees, so when I get stung it hurts for a while and then it goes away. It is less annoying than a mosquito bite.
I figured that the scratching I heard was just the sound of their wings scraping the inside of the walls and that, as with all our other beehives, winter would be the natural remedy to the problem. So I just ignored it. Eventually I even stopped hearing the scratching. I planned that sometime before next spring I would plug up the hole with filler and that would be the end of that.
Then one morning I went down to the kitchen and there were hundreds of bees in the house. I thought that I may have left a door open the night before, so I opened a few more doors and windows and hoped that they would fly away on their own. I went back to check out the situation a few hours later and there was no change. But this second visit alerted me to the problem: The bees had scratched a hole through the dry wall and they were going in and out of the house on their own. They actually had made a hole the size of a penny in the wall
As usual when these events occur, my first call was to my insurance company who made it clear that I was not covered for bee damage. I then called a local contractor, Evan Race, who had done some work on the kitchen. He told me to put duct tape over the hole and he would come by later with an exterminator. Well, that was easier said than done.
First I had to find tape. My wife has been on a mission lately to rid the house of clutter. She accomplishes this by immediately hiding anything I put down anywhere in the house. Like everything else she puts her mind to she is amazingly efficient at this. It is almost as if she has every item monitored so she will know exactly when I move it. The result of this is that I can't find a thing.
Over the years I have bought at least 10 rolls of duct tape and maybe used a total of three feet off the rolls. Now when I really needed some, there was none to be found. Miraculously I found some electric tape that she somehow overlooked. I put on a long sleeve shirt and my barbecue gloves and did my best to close up the hole.
I was going to leave to go back to the city in a few hours anyway so I decided to push up my schedule and make a “bee line” out of “beeville.” I may no longer be afraid of bees to the point that I faint, but this situation was so startling that it was definitely time for me to go back to the safety of a more urban environment.
Evan called later to tell me that I had done a good job taping up the hole but the bees had dug a second hole. He also had met with the exterminator who told him that this has been a common occurrence this summer because of all the rain. As he said it, “the bees don't like playing in the rain so they have decided to have fun indoors.” Whatever the reason, the bee infestation has been eliminated. Now I just have to find the duct tape.
***
Read more of Michael Kaufman’s columns at www.upstatetales.com
About six weeks ago I heard something scratching in the corner of our kitchen near the ceiling. It sounded like branches scraping the roof. I went out to take a look and I saw bees going in and out from under the roof. I really didn't think it was such a big deal because we have literally had thousands of beehives on the property. As a city boy I would never have believed that I would admit this, but I am no longer afraid of them. I am not allergic to bees, so when I get stung it hurts for a while and then it goes away. It is less annoying than a mosquito bite.
I figured that the scratching I heard was just the sound of their wings scraping the inside of the walls and that, as with all our other beehives, winter would be the natural remedy to the problem. So I just ignored it. Eventually I even stopped hearing the scratching. I planned that sometime before next spring I would plug up the hole with filler and that would be the end of that.
Then one morning I went down to the kitchen and there were hundreds of bees in the house. I thought that I may have left a door open the night before, so I opened a few more doors and windows and hoped that they would fly away on their own. I went back to check out the situation a few hours later and there was no change. But this second visit alerted me to the problem: The bees had scratched a hole through the dry wall and they were going in and out of the house on their own. They actually had made a hole the size of a penny in the wall
As usual when these events occur, my first call was to my insurance company who made it clear that I was not covered for bee damage. I then called a local contractor, Evan Race, who had done some work on the kitchen. He told me to put duct tape over the hole and he would come by later with an exterminator. Well, that was easier said than done.
First I had to find tape. My wife has been on a mission lately to rid the house of clutter. She accomplishes this by immediately hiding anything I put down anywhere in the house. Like everything else she puts her mind to she is amazingly efficient at this. It is almost as if she has every item monitored so she will know exactly when I move it. The result of this is that I can't find a thing.
Over the years I have bought at least 10 rolls of duct tape and maybe used a total of three feet off the rolls. Now when I really needed some, there was none to be found. Miraculously I found some electric tape that she somehow overlooked. I put on a long sleeve shirt and my barbecue gloves and did my best to close up the hole.
I was going to leave to go back to the city in a few hours anyway so I decided to push up my schedule and make a “bee line” out of “beeville.” I may no longer be afraid of bees to the point that I faint, but this situation was so startling that it was definitely time for me to go back to the safety of a more urban environment.
Evan called later to tell me that I had done a good job taping up the hole but the bees had dug a second hole. He also had met with the exterminator who told him that this has been a common occurrence this summer because of all the rain. As he said it, “the bees don't like playing in the rain so they have decided to have fun indoors.” Whatever the reason, the bee infestation has been eliminated. Now I just have to find the duct tape.
***
Read more of Michael Kaufman’s columns at www.upstatetales.com
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