Like all young boys, Tim and I loved to torment bees and wasps and tear out their nests. This, no doubt, was due to testosterone, resulting in the feeling of invincibleness of young guys and the urge to wreck things.  I’m basing my testosterone theory on the fact that NOW when I see a bees nest that is too close to the house or barn, I shutter that I have to remove it. In such cases when I have no choice but to get rid of the nest, I use the long-squirting bee spray and don’t enjoy the process at all! Since at my age I’m just about totally drained of testosterone, the results show! Maybe the next time I have to get rid of a bee’s nest, I can go to my doctor for a shot of testosterone! Knowing him, he would probably say, “So, you must have a hot date! Hubba Hubba”! Then I would reply, “No, I have a bee’s nest near my house to get rid of.” Then, if he refused to give me the “wasted treatment,” I would ask for a prescription for Viagra. (If that didn’t work, at least I wouldn’t roll out of bed for ONE night, anyway)!  I can recall a few experiences of exterminating bee’s nests when we were kids, and REALLY enjoying it!  At our neighbor Len’s, there was a BIG hornet’s nest in their old milk house and one day, when we wanted some excitement, due no doubt to our testosterone overload, we decided to exterminate or at least to ruin their day! We came up with an ingenious way to deal with the hornets that tried to sting us. After throwing rocks, water, and other sundry objects within our reach at the outside wall, the hornets would angrily fly at us to sting us. We took 2 pieces of old wooden roof shingles, and as one would fly toward us, we would “clap” the pieces together and squash the angry, aggravated hornet! We didn’t get stung too much and had loads of fun! We got very good at squashing hornets, and when they would fly at us in great numbers, we would clap away as fast as we could, squashing several at a time. In no time, we were all “Aces”! As soon as we let the hornets all settle down back in their nest, we would start the process all over again! By the end of the day, there were numerous squashed hornet corpses all over the ground around the milk house! If the military Air Forces had heard of our exploit, they would have recruited us immediately! Just think, we ALL became Aces using just “shingle” shot weapons! Another incident was at our place. Our Aunt Lou had an old Chaise Lounge that was worn out and had subsequently gotten infested with a bumblebee nest. Since this was sometime after the milk house incident, we found some more old wooden shingles to “exterminate” (i.e. to have more fun) this nest too. Apparently, bumblebees are either more intelligent than hornets, or have a shorter temper, because we got stung too many times this time. Since our “Ace,” titles were in serious jeopardy, we get some gas and torched up the entire nest! One notable thing we STILL vividly remember was some of the bumblebees were instinctively returning to their nest, and as they flew through the flames, they would crash right into the ground on the other side of the fire since the fire instantly burned off their wings! We watched this in fascination! (Maybe bumblebees aren’t so smart after all)!  On another occasion, when we were in grade school, there was a BIG hornet’s nest high up in a large maple tree right in front of the school. Kid after kid (us too) would throw rocks at the nest and stir it up. This went on for several days resulting in the nest getting smaller and smaller as chunks of it were torn off from all the rock hits. One day we  witnessed some kid’s “lucky hit” and the whole nest came down! We all scattered as fast as our legs would carry us! Another theory I’ve entertained is that after generations of kids aggravating bees nests, that eventually the present strain of “killer” bees has developed. This is the result of each new generation of bees getting more upset at having their homes destroyed. Therefore, the present strain of “killer” bees are just normal bees that are extremely “urinated” off and have an “attitude”! Hey, you never know…