The dangers of gardening

Photo by Seattle Poppy

Seattle Poppy found this sign and hive in a Shoreline garden and commented that it's the season.

I can attest to that. My grandsons were weeding my yard and one pulled out a particularly large weed, which disrupted an underground nest of wasps. 

He ran into the house, followed by a cloud of wasps who proceeded to explore my house. One was in his hair and stung him on the scalp.

My daughter, who was also stung when one got caught in her sleeve, got a flyswatter and got every wasp in the house.

I am allergic to stings, so I sat very quietly and tried to look like someone who would never invade a hive.

I keep meat tenderizer on hand for medicinal purposes, so we made a paste of tenderizer and water and covered the swollen areas. After it dried and started to crumble off, we applied hot pads.

Both are completely recovered and the hive is still buzzing.

--Diane Hettrick