YEOWCH!

Tropical Storm Ernesto hit my area yesterday. It brought some wind and rain, and caused a lot of fallen trees and branches and power lines. This means that RenFaire grounds on Saturday were without power (no food, no credit cards, no telephones, no ATMs, all the modern things hidden within the replica 16th century village). And nothing keeps crowds away from Faire more than rain.

No crowds of people buying things means sales are down. Sales being down means shops can't pay their workers. Shops being unable to pay their workers means those workers don't work. Yup, I was scheduled to work today, but did not because of the lack of people, caused by the abundance of rain. That's alright, I got to wander around the Faire with a friend. Or two.

Sometime during our wanderings, I felt something in my skirt, like a loose string or something. It went away and I didn't think much of it until I felt it again, about an hour later. This time, something was crawling. I thought it might have been a spider or an ant (please, not a bee!!), and I might have gotten it out of my skirt that time. We looked at another shop and then I felt a dull sting sensation on the back of my thigh. I guess that little bug, whatever it was, bites! The more I walked, the more it bothered me. We went back to the shop where my dad works (who was off today) because they have a dressing room with a mirror, and I took a lantern in with me to inspect that spot that hurt. It was red and painful, and then I found the culprit. It was a stripped, flying, stinging vespid of some kind, and it got me again in the hip before I knocked the bugger away.

At least with bees, they have the courtesy of dying after they sting you. This was not a bee, but something else. It crawled away. The manager of the booth I ended up in is allergic to yellow jackets, so she wasted no time dashing off to first aid. I haven't been stung in years, so I didn't know how I would react, but I did know I was allergic to bees. So, I was admittedly in a panic at that point, that little thing hurt! EMTs came, tested me for some kind of reaction, gave me a topical analgesic and an ice pack, and told me to come by if I should start feeling tingly, dizzy, or nauseous. I didn't, the ice pack helped. I couldn't walk for too long, or sit still for too long, and I was nervous about what else might be in my skirt for the rest of the day.

We came back by that booth (it's a common hang out spot for us), and one of the workers announced, "Hey, that thing that got you was a hornet!" "Did it reappear?" asked I. "Look at this!" he said, and showed me a mug with a little bald-faced hornet swimming around the cider at the bottom of the mug. My friend yelled at it, and we let it swim around there for a bit before someone squished him good. And I wasn't sorry for it.

When you think of a sting, you think it's only a little thing. I'm getting shots of pain up my back, down my leg, across the front of my hips. I never want to be stung again! Ouch!!