Janet wanted to have more light in the kitchen so we arranged to have the lower door panel replaced with glass and the upper panel replaced with mesh or screen. Of course, the guy who arranged the work didn't get something quite right and they could only put the glass in on Thursday. He said he'd do the screen part on Friday. This guy is a little more dependable that other people who do work for people, but he is imperfect as well. On Friday just after he finished he said something to Janet about some bees hanging around. Later in the afternoon Jim got a text message from the landlord saying that bees were building a nest on our balcony just outside the kitchen door that just had the screen installed and we should not go out there. They would send an exterminator in the morning. When Jim got home the mass was quite impressive and scarry considering only a thin plastic screen was
between us and the bees. When Janet got home she asked "why there was such a fuss about a few honey bees?" When she saw the mass she better understood. Our driver said there were "lakhs of bees". 1 lakh is 100,000.We don't know how many there were, but it was a lot. We got some plastic to cover the new screen so that when they sprayed the next day it would more likely stay outside. We went to bed with some concern about the bees breaking in, but they didn't. We took pictures in the morning and wondered how they would spray them. We pictured a couple guys coming in all suited up in the kinds of outfits beekeepers wear. We were told they would come at 10:30, then 1PM. A little past 1 a young guy came- could have been anywhere between 16 and 20 years old. Unfortunately we didn't take a picture, but he was barefoot and wearing a long sleeve shirt and long pants, a glove on one hand and a sort of scarf covering most of his head and face. Our driver acted as translator and also instructed the guy on what to do for parts of the job. He stood on a plastic stool and was not more than 4 feet from the mass of bees as he sprayed then with some insecticide. It also went all over the balcony and on him. It was certainly not an OSHA approved operation. Layers upon layers of bees fled and most were probably killed. At the center of the mass was the beginnings of a honeycomb about 4 inches by 4inchs by 1 inch. That was built in less than 24 hours of work. The kid cleaned up quite a bit after spraying and we thought he did an admirable job
considering what he had to work with. He told our driver that he was stung twice by bees- it is surprising it was not more like hundreds of times!We left the house to meet friends for lunch and when we returned a few hours later only a few bees were still flying around. We hated to see them killed, because honey bees are so beneficial, but we also could not imagine having a massive hive right outside our kitchen door. The balcony there is used everyday for laundry, cooking gas and as an outside area for Zoe and Ziggy.
Other events of the week included Zoe getting a little sick again. The vet had said that he thought her bladder felt odd and asked us to try to get a urine sample and he would prescribe an antibiotic if it was infected. She has had bladder infections in the past. On Monday she seemed very sluggish so we started giving an antibioitic even though we had not gotten a urine sample. She seemed better within a day and seems close to normal now.
Janet is getting over her cold or bronchitis or whatever it is, but Jim picked up a new upper respiratory illness. For those who are counting- that is the 3rd in 3 months. That is not a good recommendation for Bangalore. He is feeling better after 2 days of relative rest, but congested and coughing enough that another illness is a concern.
On Tuesday evening w ewent to a local hotel where we thought we had reservations for an inauguration party, but it turned out to be scheduled for the day AFTER. This seems odd, but maybe its in keeping with other things that go on here. We went to the restaurant in the hotel which has a good indian buffet as well as selections of western food from the menu and we had a pleasant meal. The restaurant had a 2 man band of Indian musician/singers. They actually started playing and singing country and western songs which we didn't care for like "I'm an Okie from Muskogee" (sung by two Indian guys). However they were actually quite good. They sang with little accent and played well. They did a variety of music and songs that were all good. Janet spoke to one of them during a break and he said he is a teacher in Bangalore schools. We went home and stayed up to watch the Inauguration ceremony on a CNN webcast before going to bed. (It was noon in Washington and 10:30PM in Bangalore). The Indian newspapers seem to express the same kinds of hopes that many Americans have, that this new administration will make big changes and the world will become a better place. Zoe and Ziggy want to write a little bit more.
What happened to that purring sound? They locked us up in a room for what seems like days and then come back and the purring is gone! And we didn't get to find out whether it was friend or foe! And when can we go back outside where we heard to purring? Hmmm?
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