Ashton, ID. May 29, 2013. I have always been embarrassed about the fact that I have been scared to death of bees. This fear has interfered with my life in many ways – when I’m hiking, camping, driving, teaching – in so many ways. I can remember one incident when I was teaching a group of 5th graders in a private school library and a large honeybee came into the room through our screenless windows scaring the kids and me more. I always tried to be brave and a good role model in these situations, so I told them there was nothing to be afraid of, and I would take care of it. The bee landed on one of the casement windows and I calmly took off my shoe to annihilate it. Hitting a glass window with a shoe was not the best idea and yes, I cracked the window during my act of bravery. It was worth a good laugh by all but I have oftentimes considered going to “bee therapy” to get past this fear.
On the other hand, I am not in the least bit afraid of other insects, including spiders and come to find out – the 3-inch long salmon flies that hatched during the time I fished the Henry’s Fork in Idaho. The design and color of these harmless creatures is phenomenal, and when they land on your hand and “walk” – their feet feel like they have a kind of stickum. As with all fly-fishing, the fly is made to imitate the actual insect, so we fished with a salmon fly imitation and caught many, many fish.
The featured photo is taken from up above “Cardiac Canyon”, one of the more difficult to access sections of the Henry’s Fork, which is the North Fork of the Snake River. Our rafting guide, Derek Hutton, was a master oarsmen.
Now, to work on the bees.
