Monday, November 26, 2012

Bees & Boats

Bunches of Bees on the shrubs in our marina.
I don't know if the bees have always been there and, living in a house, we just don't SEE them...  But it seems as if there are an increasing number of bees in my life since moving aboard Dos Libras.

I'm not afraid of bees and am not particularly "allergic".  I do have a healthy respect for them however and like to keep them happy.  I've had several encounters with bees beginning with nearly slurping one down as it hid inside the bottle of wine cooler I was enjoying on the veranda (back deck) a few weeks ago.  That ended with a mouthful of bee and Sangria being spit all over the deck!  No sting though... I was lucky.

I haven't been quite so lucky since then... My next encounter was catching a bee between my thighs which ended in a nasty whelp that lasted for weeks.  My most recent was today... I felt something on the back of my neck and absentmindedly swiped at it which caused a sting.

Now I am no Physician and make no claim to medical advice whatsoever... but I think that my daily dose of Zyrtec (antihistamine) keeps the majority of the reaction down.  I also use a spritz or two of Lanacane which seems to stop the pain INSTANTLY!  I keep it on the boat for just such an event.  It also works on Jellyfish stings.

All of this bee action reminds me of a post I read by one of my favorite Bloggers, The Boat Galley, about bees on boats. If you have a boat with water tank vents and you notice a bunch of bees buzzing around... you might want to click on that and read Carolyn's article.  Maybe they are buzzing around looking for a water supply... so what's that Wine Cooler Bee's excuse?!!