Oh, the sounds

I've spent quite a bit of time in our computer room this month already hammering away at this Science Fiction class. It's been interesting, but I'm ready to say goodbye. The stress of summer classes is something I cannot wait to put behind me forever.

A few weeks ago, I realized there was a super annoying sound in the wall next to the chair where I sit to read in this room. Quincy actually heard it too, one day, and tried to alternately climb the bookshelves and dive under and behind them to get to the noise. Honestly, what it first sounded like to me was a series of tiny peckings or scratchings. At first it was just every now and then for a short period of time. Now, it's constant. I pulled Kyle in a few nights ago to listen to it and he said, "Definitely mice," which I had thought, too. The sound could definitely be claws.

He wrapped on the wall a few times and his mouth fell open as he concentrated on listening. "What?" I asked. "It might be bees." I was not expecting that answer, and I laughed. Bees? Really?

Kyle took to the Internet to find out and spent at least an hour on Wikipedia learning more about carpenter bees, mostly, but a plethora of other pests with wings, as well. He had something like 10 tabs open in the browser when I walked in (yeah, I'd left the room. Bees aren't that interesting to me.). Just like me, this man loves information. Sometimes I feel like we rarely love information about the same things, but when research is necessary to figure something out, Kyle's the man. He's got the Internet by the throat! Can find anything you need.

Anyway, after this discussion and my reluctance to believe it, I noticed a bee leaving the area beside our back window this morning. I went outside in the cool morning air and stood about 10 feet away, staring at the exact location of that sound. Located on the brick in that precise locale is our water meter, and while I stood there about a dozen bees flew in and out from behind that box. Gotcha!

Now, what to do? I suppose we tell the landlord and see if they care if bees are living in our walls. Ah, the life of a renter!