A Raindance and a Buzzing Surprise

It was a beautiful evening. The clouds were rolling in. The storm was fast approching. As a family we went out on our deck to welcome the rain.

The kids did a rain dance. The oldest one even sang a song to encourage the rain to fall. Midway through the song, it did indeed start to rain. To which she exclaimed for the whole neighborhood to hear, "It worked! I can't believe I made it rain!"

What was to later turn into a storm, began as a drizzle. We continued to dance in the rain. The deck got slippery and the littlest one slipped and fell flat on his back. Boy, did he cry! We whisked him inside and set him on his changing table to figure out the extend of his injuries.

As we hugged him and checked his body for injury, he kept trying to say something. In between tears, he would blurt out "eeeeeee!" We thought he was saying "me," in response to our question of what hurts. Finally, he trust his clenched fist up towards my face and said it again. As I opened his fist, I learned that it wasn't the "m" that was missing in "eeee;" it was a "b" as in B-E-E!!!

He had a honkin' big Carpenter Bee clutched in his palm!!! It was still ALIVE. His fall and our search for injury had hindered him from showing off his precious treasure! That's why he was crying. He wasn't hurting at all. He was simply proud to share his find with us and we weren't letting him.

Thankfully, male Carpenter Bees do not have a stinger and the females only sting if provoked. I'm pretty sure this was a male since the bee was all squished up in my little guys hand. The bee was still a-buzzin' and the kiddo didn't get stung. Whew!