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Comic Info:
December 3, 2012 - 12:57am
It's really not that complicated: don't mess with bees!
Comments
It is possible to accidentally mess with bees. I did so in an orienteering session of PE way back in high school. Stupid bees putting their nest on the ground where it can be stepped on/near. I had enough stings from that they sent me to the "nurse's" office (or rather, first aide station with a full time attendant).
It's entirely possible you're just immune to stings. I've plucked bees off of me since that exposure and 1 bee sting just isn't enough to effect me anymore.
I think I'll go find my supersoaker and track down a grizz now.
Totally possible to never be stung. I'm 30 and I've never been bit or stung by anything save mosquitoes and once I think a house spider. My concern is that, with a grandfather allergic to bees and a mother allergic to yellowjackets, if I ever DO get stung, it's entirely possible that I *might* just DIE.
I *really* need to get tested sometime.
My point was that there are reasonable ways to get stung (even severely) without resorting to dynamiting a beehive or something similarly absurd.
And also that there are other ways to explain it than a great deal of luck. I've only noticed bee stings when I saw one sitting on my arm with its stinger in me at one point.
Of course it is! Stepping on a bee/wasp is one of the easiest and most unfortunate ways to accidentally get stung. I'm just saying that it's just as possible to avoid getting stung. I see people who swat around at bees like maniacs! Just chill, bees gotta bee.
True. The flailing method of bee avoidance is actually, if anything, more likely to get you stung. If you hit a bee without killing it, it gets ticked off. Assuming it's not stunned by the blow, it will immediately come back and sting you. Or, if the blow was significant enough to disorient, it will go after pretty much the first thing that moves. In short, that method not only endangers you, but everyone else around you...including the guy who's been warily eyeing it because he _is_ allergic and wants to keep track of where death incarnate is flying. (I've met people who that seems an accurate description of.)
One other thing before I forget. If your hubby is really reacting to those stings, there's a product called Sting Stop - I discovered it while being treated for an incident remarkably similar to that in the comic (except I was on foot), and it works quite well.
For what it's worth, you're never allergic to anything until you've been exposed, to my knowledge as an EMT.
With most things yes, but bee stings are actual poisons. They use a compound that's been developed specifically to cause adverse reactions in most animals. With something like that, it's quite reasonable to assume that some people will have more significant reactions than others...the extreme examples might even be bad enough to classify as allergic. (As you probably know, the term allergy is technically supposed to be limited to systemic stuff like anaphylaxis - my shellfish allergy is even considered merely an adverse reaction, since it's localized swelling...in the throat.)
And I can't be certain about other things - a cousin of mine had all kinds of really annoying allergies (peanuts, chocolate, wheat, milk, dust...) pretty much from birth, but then, the reason they're annoying allergies is because many of those things are rather difficult to avoid, so it's possible he just got his exposure early on and developed his allergic response very quickly. I'll certainly agree that it's far more common when it's something you've been exposed to (and often when you subsequently are not exposed to it for a long period of time)
It's also possible to be directly exposed to bees and not ever be stung. :) My grandfather was a beekeeper, and my sister and I used to play in his honey house and were facinated by the bees when we were little. Neither of us were ever stung by them. My sister has since been stung once (while playing softball) but I have not. *crosses fingers*
OH, God. BEES!
I've only been stung once. When a bee decided to hide in my pocket.
Yeah, you can make it to adulthood without ever being stung. Especially in the Pacific Northwest (or do you Canucks call it "Southwest"?)
Not that most people manage it, though. I managed to pick up several dozen hornet stings this past summer when I didn't notice they'd built a nice basketball-sized nest in the center of my apple tree (the fruiting branches conceal the main bole). Got too close to it while mowing. No allergic reaction (or even much reaction at all), thank goodness.
So, after that, I'd have to agree with Trev, and say they are a valid obstacle on any off-road activity.
We don't have grizzlies around here. Does it count if I super-soak two black bears, instead? I'm not going to do it to a cougar, I've dealt with house cats being sprayed or dunked, and that's bad enough.
Myself, I call it the Pacific Northwet Coast. Never heard it called the 'Southwest' before now.
Well, it *is*, after all, the southwestern coast of B.C. *grin*
British Columbians generally refer to it as "the coast" unless it's getting closer to Alaska than the rest of the states, in which case it's usually the North coast. I'm quite sure the rest of Canada just says either BC or "the west" (much like we refer to the "east"...conveniently ignoring the fact that there's a lot of stuff further east and that, since the planet is round, it's all further west too.)
I once accidentally messed with bees. Just walking along and suddenly getting stung all over. Had never been stung prior, to my memory. Good thing I turned out not to be allergic, I would've been so screwed.
When I got home I immediately took a shower. One of the buggers was still attached to his stinger.
MTB-ing here in the American South, we're attacked by wasps and hornets in certain seasons, even after dark! It seems that the rattle and bang of our passing sets them off, presumably from nests off the trail. Can't tell you how many times I've seen one emerge from the woods and chase the rider ahead of me. Usually they can't catch us, but sometimes you're zooming along and out of the blue KNIFE IN MY SIDE AAAAGGH!
I've never had bees on a ride, but there was a wasp nest on B-line a few years ago, and I took one to the back of the throat on my first ride of the day. It certainly makes it harder to get back down to the village when your uvula is the size of your tongue.