Those damned bees. They sting you, and perhaps you get particularly swollen, and somewhat irritated, and then your summer day is ruined and you've got a moderate-sized welt on your arm.

So a Lynden, Washington man decided to get back at the bees—one of them stung his friend—by teaching them a fiery lesson:

A Lynden man dumped gasoline on a beehive that was in a tree and then ignited it Sunday night, Aug. 28, causing an explosion in the suburban neighborhood that could be seen from a few hundred feet away. The man lit the hive on fire about 8:30 p.m. in retaliation for a bee sting one of his friends got earlier that day at the house on Twin Sister Loop, said Lynden Fire Chief Gary Baar. The fire caused a large "whoosh" and singed the tree pretty badly, Baar said, but nobody was hurt. There were no flames when firefighters arrived about 10 minutes later. "No damage, except for a bunch of dead bees," Baar said. "The correct way to do that is to call a beekeeper."

But, but, sir, you don't understand! Fire! Explosions! Someone must pay!

Lynden man causes explosion after igniting gasoline-soaked beehive [Bellingham Herald, via Doug Farrar]