Murder on the Clothesline Express

I have a delima. Not major, but still a delima. To kill or not to kill. Carpenter bees. A few summers ago, I started noticing some holes appearing in the clothesline, and every once in a while I would see a large, fuzzy black bee go buzzing by. No problem. I don't mind bees. I've always had a "I don't bother you - you don't bother me" kind of relationship with them. Having been stung a couple of times, I've done my best to just leave them alone. After helping Christopher through a couple of years of bug collecting for 4-H, I learned that carpenter bees are pretty harmless. The males aren't equipped with a stinger, and the female are generally too docile to use theirs. However, the carpenter bees that have invited themselves to use my clothesline for their home have lately become quite aggresive in their quest to keep me from using my clothesline! Usually, when I go out to hang clothes, there is a male warrior out there in seconds defending his territory. He likes to do dive bombing fly-by's right about head level, and then he sits there hovering and buzzing at me in an attempt to drive me away. Well, today it was a different story. In the past when he gets all huffy with me, I swipe at him with whatever piece of wet laundry I have in my hand, and he backs off and hovers at a respectable distance. Today, he wouldn't give up, and when I let him know this was MY clothesline and I wasn't going away, he went for reinforcements. Do you know what it like to have two big, hairy bees ganging up on you? One went for the back of my head and one went for my face. Yes, I know they can't sting, but it was a bit of a heart-pounder. I swiped. They flew off a short distance, did a little war dance and came right back for round two. I quickly hung the last of the socks, and headed into the house. My only thought was "Where's the RAID?" I guess my delima isn't really a delima, because I'm going to win this one, even if it means killing the little pollenators of the back yard. I realize they serve their purpose by helping the green things to grow, but it's my clotheline, and I intend to use it. So, now that the next load is done washing, I'm off to do battle with the carpenter bees. Onward, clothesline soldier!

Bee Battle follow-up

The little buzzers were waiting for me! One at the back door as soon as I opened it, and the other waiting at the clothesline. This time, I started at the far end and all was happy until I got to the other side. Then the fly-by's commenced and the battle was on. I'm still alive and so are they. But guess what? The Orkin guy will be here Friday for his bi-monthly service, so enjoy life while you can, you little buzzy sqatters!