Those big, shiny black “borer” bees, the ones which are as big as your thumb and make nests in tree trunks, do not actually sting. In fact, they haven’t got any stingers. They can, however, bite.

Uncle Bronty hadn’t much opinion of bees, unlike Ma who carried on as if every bee in the world were Freddy Kruger. (Note: this was decades before the Africanized “killer bees” were even a gleam in a scientist’s eye.) Still, he was a good deal less than amused to have a couple of them bumbling around his head one day when he was out in the back yard painting his boat.

He shooed them away, but they aren’t exactly bright and didn’t get the message, and after a very little of this, Uncle Bronty, who was always short-suffering, lost his patience, and his temper, took his spray can and painted them blue.

Two big blue borer bees bumbled off down the driveway and were never seen again..