Stinger of a Week

Writing was immediately hindered this week by yet another Windows Vista problem. I doubt anyone wants to know what happened so I won't drag it out in long-winded detail, but I will tell you I had to spend the rest of Monday (after the doctor appointment) and most of Tuesday fiddling around with my computer just so I could log onto the Internet.

The visit to the pulmonologist's office went smoothly and I'm scheduled for a new sleep study on Monday the 4th of August. Now that we are using the Handi-Van, I can schedule a ride that evening to the hospital rather than taking the last bus there and waiting four hours. After hours, Handi-Van contracts with Transport Plus and, while you can't use your bus pass, it's only $2 each way, which isn't horrible. I also learned I was eligible for a new C-PAP machine which would be nice. Mine is rather old and the new models have added features that I'd like to try. Apparently, Medicare will allow for a new one every five years.

Monday evening, while my computer was inaccessible due to a virus program running, I decided to do some much-needed watering of the flowers, shrubs, and vegetables. Because mosquitoes and flies seem to crave my blood, I sprayed myself liberally with some good-smelling repellent before venturing into the yard.

After watering, I thought I'd take care of another task I'd been avoiding, so I dragged the last bag of cedar mulch around the yard and filled in around the most recently planted flowers. While I was under the crab apple tree with the mulch I suddenly felt a sharp stinging pain on my upper left arm on the underside. I assumed it was a sliver from a piece of mulch. The stinging wasn't going away, so I finished and went inside to wash up. Looking in the mirror at my arm I could see it was becoming a dime-sized red welt. There wasn't a sliver (or a stinger) to be found, so I cleaned it, and put on an anti-itch lotion. After about half an hour, it was still stinging so I took another look at it; it had quadrupled in size! Tom suggested I take a Benedryl, which I did, and within an hour it was starting to calm down and by morning it wasn't as angry-looking, although you could still tell the location of the swelling. Tom asked me if it was any consolation that the bee died stinging me. I had to admit that yes, it was (they have short lives anyway).

The next afternoon I decided to put into the ground three plants a neighbor had given me. I selected my spots out under the crab apple tree and went to work with the shovel. As I was finishing up with the last plant, I reached over to the privacy fence that runs along the side of the yard to keep my balance. I immediately felt a stinging sensation that was now familiar to me. I quickly took my hand off the fence and looked up and saw a wasp crawling around where my hand had just been. Yipes! That was no bee! Wasps don't die when they sting you and this one had been trying to land on me the entire time I was putting out those plants. Based on the fact they felt and responded the same, I upgraded the previous day's incident to a wasp sting.

Back into the apartment I went; this time I knew the routine. Wash up, anti-itch lotion, Benedryl. Within an hour or so it didn't even hurt any longer.

Anyone want to take bets on who took care of watering last night? I hated to ask Tom as it was his birthday and I wanted to give him a day-off from nagging (I know, I'm just an old softy), but I really, really didn't want to tangle with another wasp. For some reason, insects don't enjoy Tom nearly as much as they do me.

Obviously, my insect repellent is good for flies and mosquitoes, but doesn't seem to cover stinging insects. Maybe I need to get a beekeeper's outfit for gardening.

Doesn't that sound comfortable?

I didn't think so, either.