YAY Got Stung By A Bee!!

Today, Sis tells me, "I heard the bees are gathering over at neighbour's place, they will swarm, you might wanna go take a look." (I thought another neighbour told her that, turned out Dad did.)

And they did!

It was soo much FUN watching them (better than TV!), watching what the neighbour will do, getting bits of his wisdom and experience...
(His son and the family were just planning a barbecue, both son and grandson are allergic to bees and can't come near.. so they weren't too thrilled you can imagine.)

I just went there in short sleeves and wooden clogs lol - no headcovering or gloves - wasn't sure what was happening or if the neighbour would let me watch or help.. Mostly I kept safe distance anyway..

Neighbour let me watch and it was highly fascinating! They gathered on the vine and for a while we just watched if they would settle and where the queen bee could be. (They only settle if the queen bee is there.) He used some smoke to get them in a wooden small hive or back to their original hive and to 'calm' them, and then took the rest like a 'grape' over a plastic bucket - and that's when I got stung by a bee who probably thought she's had enough of it all! (probably didn't keep enough safety distance either!:)

I think I probably need to write it down or record it, for future references! :)
Even Dad was fascinated with it all, over lunch - it's good to have some fascinating topics to discuss at lunch lol!

I did get stung by a bee, but this is actually a GOOD thing (not for the poor bee). At least now I know I'm truly not allergic (was a bit scared after all the scary tales of people being allergic.. I only got stung 2x before, and was always more sorry for the poor bee than for myself.) Also, bee venom is supposed to be healthy, so YAY!

Neighbour suggested rubbing it with onion. He doesn't get any reaction, after so many years with the bees - they mostly don't sting him either! (His family members are not so safe though!)

It almost didn't hurt, and after Mum's instructions I put it under VERY hot water (such that you almost can't stand it and put the arm in and out from the tap intermittently - Dad did this with his finger and had no effects at all!)
My arm was a bit red, this almost went away after the wonderful walk I took!
(I hadn't been on a walk for 2+ weeks, being ill and in the house= one cranky Layla! No wonder my blog post yesterday was soo miserable! Must go for a walk EVERY day now!! Even if it rains cats or dogs or caterpillars!!)
I had much worse reactions the previous times when I didn't use hot water and only put vinegar on the stings.. I may experiment with onion next time too.. (I'd LOVE to learn beekeeping without bee stings but I'm being realistic here!)

I googled and found bee sting cures include heat (water or heat from cigarette butt) OR cold (?), OR onion, or some other vegetables - I think tomato was mentioned? (probably would need to check still..)
Grandma says their Mum just told them to put cold knife blade over it, or just dig up some cold earth, if they were outside.. I think some plant leaves were mentioned too.. Hm, this could be a whole separate blog post (or article?) lol!

Apparently, some people are still allergic, it's good to know many can minimize effects with natural means!
I only have the area slightly red - So YAY!! :)

To the Recycling Bin On Rollerblades!

.. & it's great exercise too!! :)

I took the tins to the recycling bins (on rollerblades, lol!) & had a nice chat with one of the Mums from our street. She says her hubby likes to drink beer in cans, & then she fishes them out of the trash! The Grandma of the family LOVES to recycle the cans too, as she's heard or read somewhere AIRPLANES get made of them! :)

Not sure if it's true, but it's a lovely inspiration!

They don't wash & recycle the yogurt pots & such, I said we do wash them.. Maybe they'll get inspired too? hm, we'll see..
I did tell her that waste companies say yogurt pots & tetrapaks are recyclable & the other company says they don't take 'em.. not sure if this would inspire her, though.. Still not sure about all this & what would be best (except avoid all yogurt pots & tetrapaks too, as much as possible! I told her we get milk from a farmer & make our own sour milk/yogurt..)

There was too much plastic bottles to carry by rollerblades, we'll probably need the car (the bags are too big & too full!!) We almost don't buy new plastic bottles anymore, these are old ones or our relatives'!

Also carried two (quite heavy) boxes of paper to the neighbours! Who needs weight-lifting? ;)
They have a kid in primary school & next year the kids would collect paper at school, so they agreed to store the paper in their barn attic. (The paper recycling bin was quite full so this was an overall better solution!)
We were decluttering this week, & it was handy to get rid of the paper!

Dad & I had a huge row re: recyclables earlier this week - I demanded a CLEAN bag & CLEAN hands when sorting them, can you imagine?
I told him Mom & I would take over all dealing with recyclables (to prevent further misunderstandings or bad solutions) & now they need to be sorted more frequently, to avoid Dad's on-the-spot decisions of dubious nature & impatience, or misunderstandings.
If you take them to the bins more frequently, it's easier to carry them without a car!
I also put the 'questionable' recyclables in separate bags, so we can at least recycle more often what we know gets recycled for sure.

PS Still experimenting with blog layout, if I messed some things up I deeply apologize! (Had no idea changing the layout might cause some changes & stuff to disappear!) I may experiment with the layout some more, so that it's easy to comment even for friends with older computers! (Apparently some blogs are easier to read & comment on! If you know which, do tell!)