—A little story—

I was about 8 1/2 months pregnant with my son (our first child) when my huband and I were driving down Ventura Blvd. that one cold November day. My husband was driving and I was in the passangers seat leafing through a catalog for baby stuff when all of a sudden something goes buzzing past our faces (inside the car). I let out a little yelp, startled and fearful that this insect too shall get caught in my hair; when all of a sudden my husband stops the car, puts it in park, proceeds to get out of the car and go running down the street! Leaving me in the car in the middle of the road looking astonished.

That is how I found out my husband's utter fear of bees. He walked back to the car only when I parked and assured him that it was nothing but a harmless little ole lady bug!

So, last month when his birthday came around and my son came running in the house as I was getting ready to leave and pick up my husband's cake, screaming, "We can't leave! We can NEVER leave! We're being attacked by BEES!" I quickly recognized the fear on my husband's face.

That's right, outside the front door, a swarm of bees were infact flying about the house. My son was excited, I was fascinated and my husband was on the phone to 911. no, really.

By the time the fire department arrived (one sargeant walked over from the firehouse up the street) he chuckled a bit as my husband answered the door like this:

I quickly shoo'd my husband and son away from the door and talked to the nice gentleman with the pretty badge..outside..with the bees. To my husband's utter horror I stayed outside to snap a few pics.

The bees had "clumped" in our bush and he assured me that this was not a case for the fire department as the clump was no larger than a football and he was sure they weren't "killer bees" as my husband had assured him they were earlier on the phone.

So, we called in Beekeeper Don to the rescue. Don showed up all in white, apparently bees are programmed not to attack white but dark. For a fee of $99 dollars he removed the bees with a little smoke, a box with a hole in it and some duct tape. He assured my son that they would get sold to a good home in the valley to populate the alphalfa fields. (Don makes a tidy profit all around)

Once the bees were contained, my husband said that for $99 he thought that BeeKeeper Don had been stung one too many times, but Don assured us that he got the queen and that he didn't expect us to have any further problems.... Unless there was a second swarm.

That's right, often times bees split their hive in 3's! When the hive gets too big a new queen is born and she stays with half the hive and the other half follow the old queen to a new home. BUT, sometimes the hive is so large that it splits in thirds. Don said he'd come out and take care of the second swarm for free should we have any problem.

All in all it was quite an experience. Robert said it was actually worth the money to've seen the phenomenon occur and he had an interesting birthday. As I write this it's been a month since his "B" Day, there hasn't been a second swarm, but Robert's wearing white shirts...pants...hats, you know, just in case.

Incidentally, my husband's never been stung...but he's certain he's allergic none the less.