Bites painful, recovery a pleasure
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- July 19, 2022
- 672
Working in our gardens is a very satisfying way to spend a pretty day. However, gardening is not without its dangers. There are bees that sting and spiders that bite, and both of those hurt.
Yellow jackets are the worst. Their nests are in the ground. Taller Half had an unfortunate experience with some yellow jackets a while back. Not knowing it was there, he stepped on a rather big nest, provoking a huge swarm of jackets to attack him. I will say he ran out of those woods faster than I had ever seen him run. He did end up with several painful stings, causing him a couple of days of discomfort. The next day he bought a big container of insecticide, and soon our entire lawn was insect free, at least for a couple of weeks.
Spiders are our current problem — the yard is evidently an eight-legged haven. We usually coexist peacefully, but yesterday that peaceful coexistence came to a painful end. While pulling up weeds, I must have offended a spider. The results were a couple of bites on my exposed wrist and arms, and I must admit spider bites can be nasty and painful. Taller Half applied first aid to my wounds with instructions to avoid further contact with those creepy crawlies.
By early afternoon those bite sites were swollen, red and itching, which gave me an excellent excuse to retire to our porch, have a cold drink and avoid doing anything but sitting for the rest of the day. Taller Half even fixed supper. Being wounded in the line of gardening happens sometimes, but my recovery was a pure pleasure.