Mortein's Doom - "Nothing Kills Faster and Keeps Killing for Longer." Hopefully, not me in the next few days.
The final push...
Right over the hive.
Part of the cleanup.
What better way to end a marathon call weekend at Tenwek,
than to tackle the extermination of the massive killer bee hive multiplying in
the north wall of our house. I had
noticed the swarm of bees leaving and entering the one-inch hole in our siding last
week, and thought I would dispatch of it quickly using the Raid Wasp and Hornet
Killer we brought from the U.S. for such an occasion. However, despite unleashing an entire can
into the hole (from the comfortable distance of 20 feet as advertised on the
can), the environmentally-friendly, “green” active ingredients only
served to moisten them a bit, and perhaps strengthened their resolve to
continue the hive-building in this perfect, cloistered location.
So, today, I thought I should step it up a notch with some
cans of Mortein’s “Doom,” the Kenyan kill-anything/everything insecticide
present in every missionary household. I
am quite sure the active ingredient of this spray is banned in every other part
of the world except East Africa. Armed
with a can in each hand, I thought I would start from the outside, and sprayed
the death-cloud toward the entry point in the siding at a less comfortable
distance of about 8 feet. In my passion,
I didn’t appreciate the swarm surrounding me, until a few of the dazed bees
began to fly into me. At this point,
arms flailing, wide-eyed Kenyans watching, I ran to the back door spraying
every which way, in an attempt to avoid getting stung.
Needing some “Doom” reinforcement cans, I went to our master
closet, which happens to be right underneath the location of the hive. When I opened the door, I was met with scores
of angry bees, which had found their way into the closet, looking for anything
to sting. Getting the cans from the top
shelf was no small challenge, but I managed to secure three more. Failing with the direct frontal attack, I
decided to flank them from the top, and preceded upstairs to our second level. Opening
the upstairs window (which is set just a few feet above the outside entry
hole), hanging out the window, I unleashed other two cans, completely unaware
of the effect that the death-mist was having on me, until my nose began to
copiously run, my eyes began to water, and I began to feel somewhat dizzy and
nauseous. Despite my own Doom-induced
haze, I realized I could hear the loud buzzing of the bee-core in the north
wall of the house, as the bees were attempting to ventilate the poison gas from
their home. I felt the wall where the
buzzing was loudest, and noted a one-foot diameter area, which was peculiarly
warm compared to the rest of the wall.
Finding this “honey-spot” so to speak, I formulated my final
strategy.
I managed to find a piece of old screen from our building
project, and I securely taped a rectangular section to the inside wall. After taking a deep breath, a final can of
Doom by my side, I proceeded to smash a hole in the wall with a hammer, and hit
them right in the core, directly over their hive. Protected by the screen, I released the remaining
Doom right onto the massive honeycomb, and the buzzing slowly died down. However, I knew that the battle has not yet
over, as I was sure that many escaped into our master closet below. Going back downstairs, I opened the closet
door and was met by hundreds of Doom-crazed bees. One by one, however, they dropped without a fight, many on the floor,
many on the clothes, many on the shelves, writhing bees everywhere, and liquid-condensed
Doom dripping from the ceiling. The
battle was over. Not one sting. The cleanup was not as glorious.
Posts
