Friday, May 23, 2008

What to do when you're chased by bees


I've been doing a bit of research on writing good headlines, so hopefully I'll start improving.... what do you think of this one? Catchy?

This week I spoke with CBS42 (KEYE) about bees after a man was attacked by a swarm of bees while mowing his lawn. To see the story you can try this link:



So what can you do to reduce your chance of being stung?

- avoid areas that have lots of bees or a colony
- look around your yard and get rid of any bee colonies you may find before using lawn equipment; the vibrations produced by lawn mowers, etc. tend to upset bees
- wear light colored clothing
- avoid using/wearing flowery or citrusy shampoo, lotion, perfume, aftershave, etc.
- if bees come after you, RUN! as fast as possible away from the bees
- try to cover your face as you run away since bees often try to attack that area
- find a sheltered spot as quickly as possible (inside a building, vehicle, etc.)
- do not try to hide under water or in shrubs

If you are stung what should you do? Remove the stinger as soon as possible. Bee stingers are barbed, like the end of a fish hook, so bees can only sting you once. As the bee flies away, it leaves the stinger stuck into your skin. The stinger should be scraped off, not plucked out with tweezers or your fingers (plucking will push in more venom). Try using a fingernail, credit card, knife edge, etc. to scrape the stinger off. If you are stung numerous times or begin to have any problems other than local pain and swelling, contact a physician immediately.

Another bee story this week is in the form of a "bee rescue" service- Central Texas Bee Rescue & Preserve. They will come out and for a fee, remove bees from the area. The bees will then be placed into hives instead of being exterminated. You can read more about this story here:


On a lighter note....BB's update:

Well, of course after posting that we hadn't felt any movement, BB decided to make his/her presence known. I'm now regularly enjoying pokes, prods, kicks, etc. It's a bit weird since it's a new sensation, but it's also really cool and reassures me that BB's in there swimming around doing his/her thing. So this week BB is about 5 1/2-6 inches long and developing fat layers on the body as well as myelin over the nerve cells. At this point, BB has active & rest periods. It seems one of the favorite times to be active is between 3-5 a.m. which is becoming interesting. If I look tired, you'll now know why. As for me, the belly is still growing and things that used to be simple are becoming increasingly difficult such as getting up off the floor or putting on my shoes and socks. I just can't quite bend like I used to.....

Have a great holiday weekend and be safe!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I always thought that jumping in a pool would be a good plan if attacked by bees. I have actually done this when attached by yellowjackets.

Wizzie Brown said...

When you try to escape in water, often bees will wait for you to come up for air and then attack you.