“The universe is made of stories, not atoms.”
- Muriel Rukeyser
Moving from Florida to North Carolina we discovered an amazing insect. At the time, we had no idea what it was: large, black and yellow, three times the size of a bumble bee, hovering, and not easily shooed away from public vicinity. A young playmate from church taught my son how to gently capture and handle these monster bees without being hurt. As a family joke, we named the bee, “Bob”. He was our sons first live catch and release prize.
For this original and particular bee friend, we soon realized that the reason he was hanging around was because he liked our cabin-style house. Actually, he liked it so much he decided to chew a hole through the side of the deck rail on our upper level sun porch and to move right in; at this point in time, we became obviously concerned and after a bit of local mountain inquiry determined we “had ourselves a carpenter bee”.
Being emotionally attached to having our pet friend Bob around when we were on the porch sunning or dining al fresco, we opted to do the only logical thing a good carpenter bee tender could do: we plugged up the hole and proceeded to place softer wood samples around the deck until our happy little houseguest found himself a more comfortable and less destructive way to call our deck his family home.
“Home”, according to poet Robert Frost, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they let you in.” Year after year, a new Bob arrived to make himself at home at our humble abode, followed in secondary and tertiary years by the future bee couples “Dick and Jane” and “Ralph and Alice”. This process we welcomed and allowed. Once “Spots”, “Wally” and “the Beaver” came around, too, we had to be more aggressive about protecting our property, though. After all, what is man if not king and keeper of his own castle?
[Carpenter bees have powerful jaws and tunnel their way through hard wood. You can see evidence of perfectly round holes (which they will occasionally emerge from), but you will also be able to observe their handiwork while they chew. If you see one of these little round holes followed by a plethora of what looks like sawdust or wood shavings emerging then you know a carpenter bee has chosen to eat your house in order to call it his, and that your resident houseguest is probably still at home.]
Carpenter bees, though entertaining, are not allies of human property. Plug their drill holes, shoo them away, and reclaim what wooden areas you would like to call your own: protect yourself. Just make sure to encourage the wee ones to be gentle and kind, have some fun, and by all means—remember to say hello each summer to Bob for us if he visits you. Life with these little creatures created some of our more special lifetime memories, and I wish the same silly joys in every day for all the goodwill members here on 43.
With a friendly smile, I’ll say, “That’s the buzz”.
TTFN
