Ouch! That bites!

By Robyn Dochterman

Ever been on the giving end of insect buffet? As gardeners, we put ourselves out there pretty often. If mosquitos or deer flies or chiggers or ticks are going to find someone to bite, it's likely going to be us. I bet you've been bitten by the best and worst of 'em, right?

Over the weekend, I went out to work one of our beehives. This really annoyed the bees. They haven't been in the best mood lately, and they let me know they weren't amused by swarming me, thumping against my veil and hissing in my ear. Just as I was lifting a 50-pound box of honey, I felt the burning pain in my arm. Right where the elastic of my long bee gloves hugs my bicep (or where my bicep would be if I actually had one). Since I had to finish what I was doing, I just tried to breathe through the pain. It was just a sting, I assumed, even though I couldn't see a bee near the place that hurt.

That night, as my arm swelled up and itched like mad -- which my previous stings have not done --- a Facebook friend mentioned something about brown recluse spiders. She told me not to look up pictures on the internet before bed or I'd have bad dreams. I did it anyhow, of course. And they are true nightmare-inducers. As I read through information about spider bites, I kept looking at my arm.

Fortunately, brown recluse spiders are exceedingly rare in Minnesota. But the more I looked, the more I became convinced I was probably bitten by a common sac spider, who was already inside my glove when I put it on.They like to come indoors this time of year.

My arm is still red and swollen and itchy. But there are no open sores, no necropsied skin (uh, that I know of), nothing to suggest I am in trouble if I don't rush to the doctor. Then again, what do I know? I'm starting to think this amount of swelling might be a little more than average. But what's average? I don't look like those pics on the Web, anyway.

Anyone out there got a spider bite story that would give me any perspective?