Easy-going Bees

Today had the hint of summer in it, so I went to the state park to enjoy the beach. I was there a couple days ago too, but I consider this my first official day at the beach because I actually wore my bathing suit and put on suntan lotion! The water is still freezing, but it is perfect for sitting on the beach and looking at it. I took the short trail that goes straight down to the beach (as opposed to winding all over the place before depositing you onto the shoreline) because I prefer the more secluded spots. Too many people ruins the effect, unless you are yourself going with a group. I like to take the trail down also because it gets me in the right frame of mind for beach enjoying. My cares and distractions slowly peel away with every step closer to the gentle, pounding surf.

I brought along Ted Dekker's thriller Thr3e to read. It's insanely good, I can hardly put it down. (I had to force myself to finally turn out the lights in the wee hours of this morning). I was engrossed in the growing web of evil with the warm sun on my back and the pound of the waves in my ear, when I was accosted by a huge bumblebee. This freaked me out a bit, but I managed to go back to my reading with a partial eye out for bumblebees. My next visitor, however, was much stranger. He looked like a black wasp and had the uncanny ability to fold his tail end up so he looked something like a scorpion. I was thoroughly disgusted and yet intrigued by his strange nature. He left, but returned sometime later and pestered me until put Dekker's novel to good use. It took only...three hits or so to make sure he was good and dead!

Upon arriving home, I engaged in conversation with my brother Dave (which is always a mental adventure). I told him about the strange creature that seemed to be a bee, but not be a bee. He knew exactly what I was talking about from his landscaping days. In his experience of them, they are not as easily agravated as wasps, although they do have stingers (which I had noticed). They are, in his words, like easy-going bees.

If you see any easy-going bees this summer, know you can shoo them and kill them a little easier, but they have the capacity to sting!