Didactic and Reactic

   The bees got me, accidentally of course.  It was still early-morning dark and once again they had drained the hummingbird feeder and it needed refilling; and being sensitive to both temperature and light the bees should have all be gone.  But one remained and as I went to wash the feeder in the sink; it sacrificed it life and stung the inside of my palm (honeybees, in their stinging, leave their stinger which also means a good portion of their innards...they do this knowing that stinging

My hand after 15 minutes

an invader will cost them their lives but videos show that there is no hesitation when defending a hive or something viewed as done for the common good of the colony).  I immediately made a baking soda rub, scraped out the stinger with a credit card (one never squeezes or pinches a honeybee sting to remove it since doing so will push more of the stinger sac's venom into the skin) and waited; but within 15 minutes, my outer palm was already swelling.  In an hour, any definition to my palm had disappeared (and it would remain this way for over three days despite antihistamines and such).

My hand after an hour

   Yes, as I've mentioned before, I have quite the allergic reaction to bee and wasp stings (the wasp is built differently than the honeybee and can sting repeatedly without any threat to its life).  For some people, such reactions can be caused by eating shellfish or another type of food or even something which might be occurring in the body itself such as asthma.  And the end results can be everything from splotches and hives to swelling and unconsciousness; indeed had I been stung in the throat or stung by multiple bees (as Africanized honeybees are known to do), I would likely "be" gone, even with the use of my adrenaline pen or pens.  But, like someone flirting with danger, I like the bees.

   A neighbor many blocks away raises honeybees, something we discovered one day as he sold his freshly bottled honey on a table from his driveway.  Wasps are the mortal enemies of bees, he told me, best to get rid of them as quickly as possible before they decimate the bees; and indeed several of my neighbors place wasp traps in their yards which leads to a slow starvation death for the wasps as they enter the one-way trap and find no escape (wasps tend to eat spiders and other "meat" but are often more prone to carbohydrates such as nectar and sugared water; says Wikipedia: Solitary wasps parasitize almost every pest insect, making wasps valuable in horticulture for biological pest control of species such as whitefly in tomatoes and other crops...there are over 20,000 species of wasps).  But I've found the opposite, the variety of wasps that arrive is as captivating as the bees (and for those of you experts out there, I'd love to know the species of wasp that is black and has those white dots on its "tail").  Some of them are big boys, as I call them, quite scary looking and definitely alone and dwarfing the smaller honeybees.  But they drink their share and fly off, never bothering any other bee or wasp, even if they land on or touch them.  It's an example of getting along.  Which is perhaps why I brave the close viewing.

   Of course, the thought of my throat closing up and also having me face a slow suffocation is an alarming (and perhaps not so wise) one.  Which also serves to remind me not to take this life for granted, that every single day is one to cherish; should I collapse unexpectedly and perhaps for good, I had better have all my ducks in a row, so to speak.  So that brings up the trust and will and handing over power.  Why do it now, why not wait until one is in such bad shape or on one's final days before making such moves; after all if someone can access your checking and whatever else then you had better be pretty sure that you trust them.  Which is the real question isn't it, not that we're eventually going to perish because we're all going to perish eventually, but is there someone that you trust so much that you'd be willing to hand over your finances, passwords, hiding places and well, your life.  But look it the other way, you experience something perhaps not fatal but debilitating, enough to put you in the hospital for a while and perhaps fighting for your life or just fighting to regain consciousness.  Now what?  Animals at home, bills piling up, medical decisions to make, people to notify?  Who's going to do that?  Let's say you're vacationing in Morocco and you trip on something, bang your head and after a headache and telling people that everything is fine, you black out.  Now what?  Where are you staying?  Where's your passport (at the hotel, in the safe?), are you allergic to anything, should they do emergency surgery if you somehow have an internal bleed?  Well, you chuckle, it won't happen, at least not to me and certainly not now for I'm young, and healthy, and a good person.  But it does happen, and did happen to a friend of mine, her mother hitting her head and being serious enough that she was held for observation in a hospital for several days, then released.  Scans showed nothing, just go home and don't do anything strenuous she was told.  In another two days, she was dead...a tiny internal bleed that somehow didn't show in the scans.

   In the U.S., many such forms (including what your health wishes are should such an accident happen -- whether you want extraordinary measures taken such as feeding tubes and artificial breathing tubes put in you or just want to let nature take its course but to manage your pain and anxiety) are available free online and generally issued by or specifically intended for your state of residence.  But they often need to be signed and officially stamped and witnessed (a notary or similar); having such documents filled out but not signed or so stamped is the same as not having them at all, at least to the banks and courts (otherwise anyone could fill such papers out and rob you blind).  And I've known family members who did everything except that, sign and notarize their wills...thus, no wills.  On the other hand as I watched my mother's mental ability diminish --to make big decisions or to even sign her name properly-- I was thankful that despite having to jump through the hoops with her insurance and banks and medical people, she had given me such power.  I could sell her house, pay her insurance, pay for her care, talk with her doctor, make decisions and carry out her wishes (she was coherent to the end but losing her short term memory, as in 30-minutes later, gone).  Had I tried to obtain those powers-of-attorney while she was losing her memory I would have likely been unable to do so and thus would have faced a slew of problems including what to do with her house which was out of state (there are many versions of POA in the U.S., some of which are very limited that only "spring" into action when you are comatose or in a serious accident, as well as those which you can "revoke" at any point).  But often it takes reaching a point in one's life for such trust and power-giving decisions to emerge -- age, relatives or friends suddenly passing, a book you've read, a tragedy, even something as small as a bee sting.

Photo from the National Geographic article

   National Geographic had an article on humming- birds about a year ago, how the 340 species of them are limited to the Americas and how they're the only birds that can hover in one spot or fly backwards and how the U.S. has only 27 of those birds but that 290 different types of hummingbirds reside in the northern Andes, perfectly happy in the rainforests and clouded mountain forests.  It takes a lot of energy, one reason why my three feeders need refilling about every other day or so; and now one is occupied by bees.  Here's one piece of the article: A 2013 University of Toronto study concluded that if hummingbirds were the size of an average human, they'd need to drink more than one 12-ounce can of soda for every minute they're hovering, because they burn sugar so fast.  Occasionally I'll spot a stray honeybee or two move to one of the other feeders and watch as the bees and hummingbirds make their dance negotiation then settle down at different spots to take in the sugared water, as if there is plenty for everyone.  And there is...and while a bee sting would easily kill a hummingbird, it too flirts with life and a will to survive, just as do the honeybees and wasps.  But perhaps more importantly to me, they're showing me on a daily basis that making mortal enemies might merely be a state of mind, that sharing might be more prevalent when there is enough to share.  The article was preceded by a story of Nepal's 57-year old wild honey hunter who climbs steep cliffs to capture pieces of honeycomb to sell to support his family; he gets stung 20-40 times each visit.  He is the last of his kind.