The Birds and the Bees

So life hasn't exactly been boring the last few days...yesterday, I almost ran over a young bear that darted out in front of my truck while I was driving through the forest. Laurie about had a heart attack. Today, I literally almost had a heart attack. I went out to survey on my own this morning, which I actually kind of enjoyed (the peacefulness of nature without conversation, plus I get to sing as loud as I want to the tunes on the truck radio). Anyway, I was climbing down a steep hill after finishing with a survey point when all of a sudden I felt a stinging sensation on my left hand. I looked down to see a yellow jacket on me. Now let me back up a bit...the first thing that my colleagues here told me when I moved out here is that I can forget about the black bears and mountain lions; the biggest threats to my safety are the yellow jackets and injury sustained from a fall in the forest (they are very steep slopes). Well, today, both came to pass. As I've been told, once you step on a yellow jacket nest, they go after you, so your only choice is to run. That left me with two options: run down a steep slope and risk breaking my neck, or walk down carefully (and slowly) and get ravaged by a swarm of angry yellow jackets. I chose the former. I hadn't run 10 feet before I got caught on a dip in the ground and went flying. I went tumbling probably about 10-15 feet downhill, and landed facedown in the vegetation. Oh yeah, the ground cover here is thistle and blackberry, both of which have nasty thorns and prickles. Well, that's what my face and body landed in, but the story goes on. I could still hear the yellow jackets buzzing around me, so I had to get myself up and take off again. I fell a second time, but only to my knees, and this time I realized I had lost the bees. They usually give chase for about 100 feet or so, but I guess these bees spared my pathetic self. In any case, I arrived at the truck breathless, a little wigged out, and stinging all over. I kept finding thorns and prickly needles in my hands, arms and face. I kept watching the hand that was stung to see how it swelled (it only swelled a little) and monitored my breathing for any allergic reactions. After about 5 minutes, I realized I was fine, and decided to carry on with the rest of my surveys for the day. I must admit, I feel just a little bit rugged today :-) Luckily, however, there were no other dramas today, other than missing Adam's phone call for the 3rd straight day. That has bummed me even more than almost hurting life and limb. Today would have been a good day to get a little Adam sympathy...