The Buzz on the Bee Sting

So, it turns out that being stung in the forehead isn't pleasant.  There's nowhere for the swelling to go, so if you're prone to swelling, your face takes the brunt of it.  This is from the next day (2018-05-06):

If it "may" cause drowsiness, I'm done.

Thanks, babe!

After a six-hour over-the-counter drug-induced nap, a second dose of the stuff, and several more hours in my recliner with a cold rag on my face, I woke up looking like this:

I told the hubs that, though I felt fine and was having no issues with breathing or anything else, if I didn't look better in the morning, I wanted him to take me to the hospital.  The next morning (2018-05-07), I looked like this:

For what it's worth, I am using every bit of eyelid strength available to me in that photo.  That is as far as they would open.  So, I knew driving was out of the question.  The hospital beckoned.  The siren call of its effective medication and amazingly soothing ice packs was too strong to resist.

 

Later that day, after being released to go home, I could open my eyes again.  In fact, that ability increased throughout the day.  The hubs even took me to dinner to celebrate.

 

I was so much better that I went back to work the next day (2018-05-08), even though that morning I looked like I could be tapped to make a remake of "Mask."

By Wednesday (2018-05-09), I almost looked normal again, though you can still clearly see where I was stung.

But here we are a couple of days later, and the swelling is all but gone.  Whew!

In answer of the question I know you're all asking (or most of you anyway), yes, we're still going to keep bees.  However, the hubs is going to be a more active participant in the process, and he's bought me a netted hat. (;

Swelling's all gone!  Back to buzz-iness! (=

Bee Boxes

For as long as I can remember, until the day he passed away, my grandfather kept bees.  When I went for visits, he let me help him with honey collection.  It was fascinating.  Now that I have a large enough piece of property, we've decided we're going to do the same.  The plan is to put the boxes along the property line at the back part of the yard.  Since the back portion of the property is surrounded by farmland, there's no one to bother, and the bees will help with pollination.  So, today, we went and got bee boxes, enough for two hives.

We then went to the home of a master beekeeper to ask him questions and to find out about procuring some bees.  It was marvelous.  He showed us around, letting us peek into some of his boxes, and even letting us sample some fresh honey right from the comb.  Mmmmmm ...

We then walked over to a section of the property away from the bee boxes to get out of the sun and talk some more about what we would need to get started.  That's when it happened.  A lone bee on a mission flew right into my forehead - BAM! - and then either thought she got tangled in a few strands of my hair or actually did, so she stung me.  Owwie!  We don't even have our own bees yet!

It smarted like the dickens for a few minutes, but it subsided.  Once we got home, I took this picture and then splashed some cold water on my face.  Glad that's out of the way!