Busy bees

Came within 3 or 4 ft of distance to a beehive today. This is technically the closest I've ever been. Admittedly, it was rather frightful.

I am in deep awe of bees, they are a majesty of species, organization, functionality and effectiveness, especially under improvisation. But they can also be as scary as fuck. Even though the General is fully clad in expensive beekeeper gear, they ALWAYS find a way to get him. Got him in the lower tummy the other day, because the belt zipper was just a bit undone the previous time. They stung him in the only microscopic spot he had today: a little bit of where the trousers met the shoe. At the start, they didn't mind us, but once he kept checking the honeycombs closer and closer to the queen, and we're talking honeycombs so covered in worker bees that when he took them out bees literally oozed off, the bodyguards have had it and then were hitting me like pellets. I could feel them coming at my head at full speed. Those that landed on the veil in front of my face were viciously trying to sting me. I had to go stand in the tree and bush branches several times, but I was already marked, so every time I came out, the guards were on me again. After a few minutes of being too nervous, I decided this was enough of a lesson for one day, and left. To think that once you're marked the guards would follow you until they got to you, at times for half a mile, the idea of not wearing protective gear is absurd. I don't know how some people simply don't find them problematic and dare approach. You can see when the guards become alert. Not right away, they 're just bothered at the start, and we fume them, so they're calm. But once the guards think you're pushing your luck, trying to rob them, the whole sound of the hive changes. It's surreal. It's one of those 'don't fuck with tiny fuzz-balls. They are so smart it's scary.'