by Keith Cantrell

Created on: March 01, 2010   Last Updated: March 10, 2010

I really wasn't much of a gardner until I met my current partner three years ago.  Immediately after moving into her house I discovered that she had quite a green thumb.  Her front yard was a beautiful flower garden with roses, rhododendrons, bulbs of all kinds and even a wildflower mix.  Her back yard was an active and constantly growing vegetable garden.

Needless to say, it wasn't long before I was coerced into helping with the gardening chores.  At first I hesitated but when her mother came over to help I felt I couldn't leave the two women out in the dirt by themselves so I eagerly joined in.  I actually discovered I loved gardening especially in the late summer when we were able to harvest the fruits of our labor.

The funniest moment came one bright, warm spring morning last year.  It was one of those moments that wasn't funny at the time, but now we laugh about it often.

We were weeding the front flower beds.  I was on my knees under the blueberries and she was inching her way across the lawn towards the large hydrangea that grew under the living room window.  The covered porch made a sheltered corner where the water spicket was as well as many, many weeds and dandelions.

Earlier in the day I had noticed a lot of bee activity coming and going from that corner of the house.  I never really thought about it because it was a nice, warm day and I was certain the bees were just getting an early start at collecting nectar.

My partner inched her way closer to this secluded spot on her bottom, pulling weeds as she went.  I was content to dig around under the blueberry bushes and feel the spring sun on my back.

Suddenly, I heard her scream.  I looked in her direction and saw her swatting the air madly.

"What's wrong?" I shouted.

"BEES!  I'M GETTING STUNG BY BEES!" she yelled back.

I jumped to my feet and raced in her direction.  However, she was much faster than I was and before I got there she reached down, grabbed the bottom edge of her sweatshirt and peeled it off over her head.  She wasn't wearing a bra or anything else under the sweatshirt but that didn't seem to matter to her.  She leaped topless to her feet and ran across the yard to the sidewalk still swatting the air wildly.  Several cars drove by and I'm sure they got an eyeful.

I retrieved her sweatshirt where she had dropped it on the ground, shook it out and double-checked to make sure no bees were hiding in it.  When it was safe I gave it back to her to cover herself with.  I didn't get stung myself at all.

Further investigation revealed a yellow jacket's nest under the siding of the house.  No wonder they were so aggressive.  Honeybees rarely act that way, but yellow jackets are fierce and territorial and will defend their nest at the slightest provocation.

We managed to get my partner covered and into the house where we discovered at least six stings on her upper chest and arms.  Luckily she had no allergy to the stings and recovered just fine.  However, the humor of seeing her topless and running across the lawn took awhile for us to appreciate.

Now, every year when we get ready go out to weed, we smile and wink at each other and always, always look for bees before we go too deeply into the garden.

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