Yesterday while swimming laps in the pool, I discovered a large, winged, stinging thing doing backstrokes in my lane. He was clearly in trouble as he was lying on his back, flopping around with wings too soaked to fly. I don’t normally take pity on stinging things, especially since a wasp bit me a couple of months ago while I was standing on the pool deck minding my own business. I can still see the spot where he bit me. However, this guy was in my lane, and I didn’t want him to end up in my hair the next time I came by doing the backstroke. So, I guess my motivation wasn’t entirely altruistic.
I went to the edge of the pool near a bed of ornamental shrubs
which was nicely mulched and found an adequately sized wood chip. It took about a dozen attempts to get the
creature on the wood chip and have him stay there. A couple of times, he tried unsuccessfully to
fly away, but his wings were just too wet.
Finally, I got him on securely and got to the edge of the pool before he
fell off. I left him near the shrubs
where he could dry his wings.
I went back to swimming my laps feeling quite righteous for my
compassion on this lowly insect who could easily bite me someday.
But, a couple of lengths later, there he was floundering about
in my lane again! By this time, I was
the only person in the pool, so I just moved to a different lane and left him to
his own devices. If he was suicidal, it
was just tough luck. Perhaps a bird
swooped down and made a meal of him, or maybe he got sucked into the overflow drain. I was hoping he would survive and tell his
friends not to sting that nice lady. At least
he won’t be the one that stings me next time.
