What a way to get woken up! I love bumble bees, but I would have reacted the same way.

I did a quick search for your answer (since I wasn't sure), and found out that a bumble bee's stinger is not barbed, like a honey bee's, and they don't lose it (or die) after a sting. Unless, of course, their "stingee" is within reach of a fly swatter!

I also just found out that drones (the smaller, male bees that hatch in mid summer) don't have stingers at all. I never knew that!

Sharon, I hope your stings are not too painful. I can't imagine how the poor thing got under the covers.

A few nights ago, I woke up to make a trip to the washroom. Our bathroom window was open (it's crank operated, and swings open at the bottom), and there was a bumble bee flying around between it and the screen. I thought all bumble bees went into their nests at night.

Ouch, Sharon! I had the unfortunate experience of being bit by a spider under my covers one night. It travelled diagonally across my body from one armpit to the hip on the other side. I had about 15 bites in between and didn't feel anything until the next day. The itching was almost unbearable. But, I think I would take that anytime to a bee sting.

Shauna

Not ten minutes ago I was putting away the tools in the shed and passed by the Evans cherry trees, blooming away and full of bees. One got mad at my hair, I think, and was really intent on trying to attack my head. There I was, whapping at my head with shovel in one hand and rake in the other. Darn bee. I never got stung, thankfully, but I'm going to be a little more cautious passing by those cherry trees for a while.

A bee under the covers, jumpinjudy that would freak me out. Aren't you on your month's vacation now, Sharon? What a way to start it! I hope the stings don't hurt or didn't swell too bad.

Thanks gals, they are not painful, but swollen and itchy.
On top of that the mosquitoes are real bad right now, somehow one managed to get a bite on my cheek, now it looks like I have a big pimple!

Doris, thatÂs interesting, thanks for your research, now I know why I got bite twice. Here is a link below that may interest you too.

Yes Pudge, I'm on my annual month long vacation, started yesterday. It's day 2 and I'm already exhausted being on holidays! ;)
I can just picture you Pudge whapping your head, too funny! LOL

I hate spider bites Shauna, have had a few of those in my lifetime. IÂm allergic to those too, swell right up from their bites.

Life is full of dangers ;)

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: Bumblebee

Danger in the garden! LOL We could have a whole thread on that, couldn't we?

I wonder how the bee got in there, Sharon? Had your sheets been on the line maybe? I'm glad you're not allergic. My son is and i'm always afraid he'll get stung again, but he hasn't since we found out he was allergic, over 10 years ago.

Right now our major danger is wood ticks. They were really bad for a while there, but seem to be slowing down. The dogs have been full of them in spite of tick collars and strong tick-repellent. I get crawly just thinking about them!

Danger in the garden, for sure Marcia, remember that time a wasp was hiding in my garden glove, got stung that time too!

Fell of the 5-gallon bucket trying to balance myself on top of it to hang a basket in the greenhouse.

Rock thrown in the side of my leg while riding the lawn mower, what else, oh yes, broke my right hand slipping on a frosty rock, was off work for 8 weeks for that one!

No, I don't have a clothes line outside, I want one, just haven't gone to that chore# yet.

I'm thinking he got in the back screen door, I'm in and out of the door a million times a day.

I don't think we have wood ticks here, I'm not sure? I hope not!
Sharon

Ouch, Sharon. I hate having one bee sting let alone 2. Have you heard about using toothpaste with fluoride in for bee stings? Putting it on the area is supposed to draw the poison out. I haven't tied it, but some swear by it. I believe it is the fluoride that does it.
My middle daughter Chanae had quite severe reactions to mosquitoes when she was younger. One of her worst times was when a single bite on her calf made her leg swell from her knee to the bottom of her foot. They still bother her more than the average person, but has out grown the worst. My grandson has the same problem. We're still waiting for him to out grow it. So we always have antihistamine and mosquito spray on hand.
Glad to here that you are on holidays. Nothing better than to have some extra time for planting.
I've enjoyed the last 3 weeks off. I've puttered like I've never puttered before. Except for today. Most of my annuals were put out today. The mad race was on- it is supposed to rain tomorrow. And now I can hardly walk. Oh the joys of gardening.

Shelley

I get just like that too Shelley, even if I walked out to the greenhouse for something, I have to remember to put some skitter spray on, otherwise one bite and I swell right up. And here my DH, puts on spray maybe once a year, they don't seem to bother him much.

Thanks for the tip, going to put paste on my stings now.

Sharon

I don't suppose you have any "Mrs. Stewart's Bluing" around, do you? LOL My mother used to swear by it for bee stings. I remember having a wasp sting on my foot as a kid and I walked around with a big blue dot on the top of my foot for quite a few days. I don't remember whether it worked well or not - just the staining. But, look what I found . . . : )

Shauna

Here is a link that might be useful: Other uses for Mrs. Stewart's Bluing

I'm going to see if I can find some of that. One thing I've used for mosquito bites on the girls is a muscle relief product. I think it's called icy hot. It goes on cold and then heats up. It'll burn like crazy if you use it after you have scratched the skin off.
And once they have scratched the bites open they use a wonderful product for bites -polysporin for bites. They are healed up in no time.

Shelley

Sorry to hear about everyone's adventures. As beneficial as bees and wasps are, I feel sorry for people who suffer extreme allergic reactions.

A few years ago I had a wasp nest under the carport. Being a "live and let live" sort of person, I was prepared to leave them be. Then, I got stung while hanging a hanging basket on a bracket hook on the side of the carport. The next evening they were evicted. There definitely is a sharp burning/stinging sensation, but to me the worst part is the non-stop itching for 3 days after.

This year I bought something from T&T seeds called "The waspinator". It's an artificial wasp nest. The theory being that a wasp is territorial and won't built a nest if another one is in the area. Anyways, it's sort of an experiment and we'll see. I don't think it stops them from flying around, maybe they just won't build a nest.

Not to make light of insect bites, but it's sort of interesting having people over when the wasps are bad out. People I thought who would be afraid of wasps weren't and vice-versa.

Regards,
Glen

Ouch, Sharon. One of my boys got stung three times on the leg once, when a bee went down his boot. Lucky child, last time he got stung - by bee or wasp, we're not sure - he had a horrible reaction and he has to carry an epipen. Poor child got stung on the ear, and within 10 minutes, he was breaking out in hives on his legs. Things went downhill from there, and we spent several hours at the hospital. I react to bee and wasp stings, but not nearly that badly. On the good side, mosquitoes only liked me when I was pregnant - I guess maybe I gave off more heat or something - and I never react to the bites.
I've never had more than the occasional bruise or serious cut from gardening fortunately. I reserve the right to suffer my serious injuries as a result of cattle.

Connie

It must have been some bad carma, talking about this. Last night, the top of my foot started to itch. I thought it was just a mosquito bite and didn't pay too much attention to it. After an hour or so of itching, I looked at it and I've got "sausage toes". Plus, I got congested and sneezy. Spider bite. The whole top of my foot is swollen. So, I downed 2 Benadryls and went to bed. This morning, it's still very swollen and now it just plain hurts. : (

BTW, I'll have some Zinfandel with my Havarti. : )

Shauna

Shauna

Sausage toes, I hope you painted them at least!

Ouch, not a good feeling, eh!

Oh btw, I did try the toothpaste tip, it felt good for the first 10 minutes, cooling effect, must be the menthol but then the toothpaste stuck to my socks and jeans. LOL!

Mrs. Stewart's Bluing, is that the same stuff the very mature ladies dye their grey hair with ;)

Years ago a friend of mine was riding his Harley and a bee flew in his mouth, go figure....anyways, he got stung in the throat, his throat was so swollen that he could only breath threw his nose.

Well, I better get off the computer and get to work. I have to tackle that darn Hops, its outta here!

Sharon

Sharon, what a rude awakening you had there! Hopefully the stings are just a bad memory now, and not painful anymore. Did anyone get an email that went around awhile ago about putting a penny on a bee sting? Apparently it's the copper in it, so you'd have to keep an older penny around just for stings. But, a couple of weeks ago my youngest son came into the house and then grabbed his back side and said something stung him. Well sure enough, in his pants I found one of those tiny bees, maybe 1/8 of an inch or so. I remembered the email and taped a penny to his butt, and after 15 minutes there was no swelling at all or redness. It'd be interesting to see if works on a larger bee or wasp sting. Btw, that was his first ever bee sting......what place for it to happen!LOL

Not a bee sting this time but now I got myself into something (poison ivy, gas plant, cow parsley) something that I touched that I got this terrible rash on my forearm and knee area. It's blistering, itchy, burning and driving me nuts. Went to emergency yesterday and was prescribed an antihistamine and steroid topical cream, hope this clears up fast because IÂm having a party this Friday and don't want to look or feel like crap.

Ahhh, the tribulations of gardening!

Sharon

Oh dear Pudge, hope you're feeling better yourself.

I remember when my sister and I were kids doing cart-wheels on a strip of fiberglass installation. I'm sure you'll figure out the rest of the story ;)

Sharon

OMG girls you be careful!! Ditto the deer fly allergy, I was working in sandals a couple of weeks ago and I looked down just in time to see one of the lil buggers biting my big toe. I swear my toe looked like it was going to rot off, all blistered and swollen for over a week.

I also jumped on fibreglass insulation when I was little - had to have an oatmeal bath. It looks so soft and fluffy. I can't believe some people can just handle it with bare skin and it doesn't make them itch!

Apart from the deer fly, I haven't been bothered or stung by anything this year... oh except the militant peony ants got me a couple of times.

Pudged 2b- Thank you for telling ur experience because I literally just got stung by either a wasp or a honey bee(idk which one cuz we have both flying around here and 1 of each was dead on the ground after I got stung, I only got stung once tho) anyways, that was about 5 hours ago, same exact spot that u mentioned, Achilles tendon, my foot is swollen, Idk if the stinger is still in or not, I'm getting those sharp stinging burning pains shooting up my leg and now my ankle is starting to burn and sting as well. I hope it subsides but since urs took allday to finally subside then I'm hoping mine will also. I'm wondering when I should worry or if I should worry at all.

I'm