Long stories... Couple of years ago I was cutting firewood out in the country. There was a big pack rat nest in an metal box next to where I was cutting. I grabbed an ax and whacked the nest.... and a huge rat shot out of the pile of sticks and ran right up the tree I was getting ready to cut... it ran up the tree trunk and just as quick I swung the ax at it trying to kill it.... I missed. It ran up the trunk and out on a limb and disappeared into a big knot hole... me chopping with that ax right behind him all the way. Minutes later I cut that tree down... forgot about the rat. As I worked my way up the trunk with the chainsaw, I got near the knot hole... I was probably 3 foot away from the hole, leaned over sawing the tree sawing it off in 2 foot chunks as I went. I was watching the stream of yellow wood chips (hedge tree) fly out of the cut and all of a sudden the stream changed to brown fuzz... then red fuzz, then back to yellow. I was puzzled. As I cut that chunk off and it hit the ground.... I was greeted by the sight of a large rat cut in half .... still alive and very angry. He was pulling himself around with his front paws and gnashing his teeth~ you could hear them gritting together as he chomped!!!! As he struggled around he fell out the hole and onto the ground.. whereupon I despatched him to that big rat nest in the sky... with that ax. His hind end was in the other end of the log. Couldnt do that again if I tried. So, today.... I am cutting a hedge tree that is laying where it was bulldozed down.... it is in a pile.. I drag it out with the tractor to get a better working location. I am cutting along... the tree is about 2 foot diameter. Cut, cut, cut... kneeling on the ground as I go. In one place the saw dramatically drops down thru the wood.... drops about 5 inches ~ the log was hollow~ and then hits solid again and starts lugging down. I notice what I think are flying ants buzzing around above me... termites or something. I get that cut done and move on down to the next cut.... end up finishing the log and get ready to split what Ive got cut up. So, when I get to the part that was hollow I go to roll the log over towards the splitter and I see something fall out of the hollow in the trunk..... honeycomb~ with attendant honey bees!!! Oh, crap I thought to myself. I stepped away and the bees calmed right down.... then I went back up and looked closer. The bee hive/comb was about 4 inches wide and probably 2 foot long... and I cut it right in half crosswise... and full of bees. I hated to see the little fellers die, I know they are becoming endangered.... so I did some phone calling, looking for local bee keepers. I knew one. He was unavailable, but I got the number for another. He wanted to come look. Was the queen still in there.. alive I dont know, I didnt see any of them wearing a crown or holding a scepter... :) So, I stood the two halves of the hive upright and covered the hollow log with some tree bark and waited. Didnt want the cold air to affect them. The bee keeper shows up and looks. He looks in the first half.... Oh, there are a lot of bees! They are nice and calm... Lets look at the other half Well, we lift the cover off of that hole... and he immediately says Oh, the queens in this one.... look at how the bees are acting.... they are protecting her ... afraid we are going to harm her They were in a big swarm about the size of a softball... or two. A big, brown, buzzing boiling mass of bees. He didnt have to tell me... I knew... bees had flew out and lit in my hair and beard and proceeded to sting me! One of them right on the juglar vein!!!! I calmly walked away and smashed them against my skull and ended their attack.... We put some cloth over the holes in an attempt to calm them down... that worked. Then, he says I am going to go ahead and take these with me I thought maybe he was going to get his bee suit out and scoop them out of the hole manually.... Not even close ;) . He bends over and bear hugs that big, heavy hollow log and is going to put it in the back of his SUV!!!! I bet it weighs about 150 pounds I hop to it and bend over and help him lift... and we set the first one in the rear of the SUV.... bees are a buzzin a little under the cloth.... but that wasnt too bad. Then, he bends over to grab the second one... the one with the angry bees protecting the queen.... little different story there. They are really getting wound up under there.... we scoot right on over and stand that log up in the car.... then he shuts the hatch back real gently.... doesnt want to excite them any more than necessary... He asks if I got stung.. .and I say yeah, and he says he has got used to it over the years and it doesnt bother him much. Mine didnt really hurt... I am just glad it was anywhere but my face or eyes... had lots of clothes on so they werent gonna hit anywhere else. Later on, driving home... one crawled onto my earlobe.... I swatted him off... then I felt another going up my sleeve by my wrist... I flung him out the car window. They were probably really sluggish because of the temperature... so that probably saved us... A friend told me that some years ago he was down at Oakwood taking a walk. The city was down there cutting down a big tree. When it hit the ground it broke apart... and he said he never saw such a big bee hive,.,, all kinds of honeycomb... and honey running all over the ground. What a shame...
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 04:19:53 +0000