Living the Idiom

The creatures "out there" are perfectly willing to make use of structures that humans have erected for their own use. Put up a shed anywhere on your property and some little creature is going to find a use for it. I sort of shrug this off because as long as it doesn't interfere with what I want to use the shed for, I don't care if a field mouse uses a shed corner for a winter condo.

Today, however, I ended up living an idiom I must have used hundreds of times in my lifetime, all thanks to a creature of the wild. Last Sunday my hubby discovered that hornets had built a nest in a corner of the shed where our garbage cans are stored. He took a hose and sprayed the nest out of existence, incurring a "little" bite along the way. A few days ago he found a stubborn group of hornets looking to rebuild that nest. Again he sprayed and carefully cleaned away the nest area.

Somewhere in my kesuba it states that I will produce the garbage in the kitchen and my husband will take it out to the cans (said only half in jest). Unfortunately, something really could not remain a whole day in the kitchen, so I headed down to the garbage shed with the offending item. I was bending over the can when disaster struck. A hornet somehow found its way back to the shed. It was irked with me for disturbing it. It came after me but somehow got entangled in the bill of the hat I was wearing. Maybe a little unwisely I tried to swat at it, and to get away from my hand it crawled under the brim of my hat.

I'll spare you a rehash of the histrionics here as hat (and thankfully also hornet) went sailing through the air. I'm a lot calmer now, in the safety of my house, and a few hours after the incident, and suddenly the absurdity of it all hit me. Today, I can truthfully say that I "had a bee in my bonnet." It's times like these that I wish that I taught math, not English. What's next? Am I going to "beard the lion in his den?"

Note: hubby just got home and eradicated the nest yet again. Maybe the third time will be lucky.