Day #76 Lion Fish and Carolina Wrens

I looked out my bay window yesterday when I heard the distinctive trill of a Carolina Wren. She hopped from a bush of indeterminate lineage (which simply means I haven't yet figured out what kind it is) up to the deck railing, and from there to the rim of the bird bath. She (he?) looked up at me in a meaningful way, so I scooted outside and refilled the bird feeders, then came back inside to watch the antics of the chickadees and wrens and woodpeckers and all that assortment who know that a sucker lives in this house.

That's the sort of thing I look at on a regular basis, and next Spring I'll be able to add bees to my routine.

My son, on the other hand, looks at things like this:

Lion Fish by Yelloideas Photography

      and this:



Table Coral by Yelloideas Photography



from places like this:



Inside the Boiler of a Wreck by Yelloideas Photography



Can you see why I like to be where I am, enjoying his perpatetic ramblings on my computer and my phone? And watching my birds (and eventually, the bees) from a place of warmth and space?

BEEattitude for Day # 76:

       Blessed are the adventurers - and blessed are those who stay home, for we all shall enjoy our nature encounters. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       Hot tea 

Day #75 Making Christmas simpler

Decorating for the holidays, any holidays, is not my strong point.

I'll tell you a story if you promise not to laugh at me. On second thought, I'm deleting that request. Laugh all you want to, and then send me your favorite Christmas story. Laughing is good.

In December of 1968, eleven months after I'd gotten married, the days crept forward with no tree, no lights, no bulbs, no tinsel. On Christmas Eve, my husband and I looked at each other and said, "Why hasn't Christmas happened?" We'd both been so used to having the trappings of Christmas appear around us, that it never dawned on either of us that now we were responsible for it.

A rude awakening, as we found out that a holiday requires a fair amount of planning. We rushed out to the tree-sellers, and came home with what was left - a bedraggled little pine that conveniently was missing most of its back side, which meant we had room to walk past it into our tiny dining room. Woolworth's provided (for an exhorbitant $1.29) a huge box of red ornaments and a measly string of white lights. We forgot about a tree stand, and we didn't have a bucket, so we nailed a couple of boards to the bottom of the trunk, and had ourselves a merry little Christmas.

Needless to say, all the needles fell off before December 27th and wedged themselves in the carpet (I hadn't known about the real reason for tree skirts). The next year, I planned a little better, and all the holidays gradually  became elaborate decorative affairs. It was a heck of a lot of work. Did I enjoy it? I don't really know. I did it, pulled along by the stream of expectations.

Eighteen years ago, though, I adopted a cat. She was fine with the first Christmas tree she'd ever seen. So was Kreo, the next cat the following year.

Then I moved to Georgia, and Waldo wandered into my garage one day, bleeding and starving. By the next Christmas, Waldo taught the other cats what Christmas trees were REALLY for. The next year, with two more cats in the house, I braced the tree with string attached to cuphooks screwed into the woodwork around the windows. The following year (during which there'd been another couple of cat-rescues) rope replaced the string and sturdy metal eyelets replaced the cuphooks. I must admit that seven cats perched in one tree looked rather festive. Until several branches broke and the tree fell over. Wish I'd had a camera.

The next year I gave up on Christmas trees. December is so much more relaxing now.

BEEattitude for Day # 75:

       Blessed are they who enjoy all the seasons without too much fuss.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       My phone service from Consumer Cellular

Day #74 Atlanta Roads

December 25th is just about the only day that I can drive down I-85 at any time of the day without seeing more than 2 dozen cars at a time, if that many. I know because I've driven it a couple of times over the past 18 years that I've lived in Atlanta.

Today, though, this particular beekeeper will ignore the nearly-bare interstate and drive the three miles to my daughter's house to see her and all the grandchildren. I'll take the pan of pumpkin bread I baked yesterday for dessert, and the Dilly Crackers for snacking. (Let me know if you want the recipe.)

Whatever your plans for today, I wish you well.

BEEattitude for Day # 75:

       Blessed are you, truly. 

What Fran is grateful for right now:

       Family and friends

Day #73 the 4th bee joke

Okay, answer this one:

What did the (fill in your choice of occupation) say to the bee who was tired?

Send me your answers. I wonder who's going to win?

BEEattitude for Day # 73:

       Blessed are those who enjoy the work they do, for they shall be fulfilled. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The pumpkin bread that's making the house smell so good 

Day #72 Silence

There are so many kinds of silence:

A quiet day at home

A night of despair at a hospital

Watching the eclipse in wonder

Sitting near my beloved grandchildren as they draw

Holding a dying cat

Knitting

Seeing the first crocus in late winter

Crying with a friend

Holding my breath while a deer walks by

Marveling at the 43-year-long marriage of two dear friends

(How did they do it?)

Sitting with a purring cat warming  my lap

Reading and, of course,

Writing

Each of these silences has its own quality. Some are happy; some are not. In the spring, I'll be able to add:

Listening to my bees

I'm looking forward to it.

What are your kinds of silence?

BEEattitude for Day # 72:

       Blessed are those who refrain from talking, even for a little while, for they shall eventually hear. 

What Fran is grateful for right now:

       Miss Polly, curled in my lap, and the memory of Panther, who died in my arms two years ago today.

Day #71 the perfect house

Six or so years ago, I was looking for a house. I wanted it to be smaller than the one I was living in at the time, with a certain arrangement of rooms, a two-car garage, lots of trees, a front porch that was such and such a size, and so on. My long-suffering realtor took me around to see numerous prospects, none of which fit the bill.

Finally, one day in absolute desperation, I climbed into his car and said, "I've upped the ante. I want a house with everything I've had on my list PLUS I want a skylight, a wood-burning stove, and a bay window." While he gaped at me, I added, "And a creek in the back yard."

We looked at five houses that day. The first had a skylight; the second had a bay window; the third had a creek; the fourth was a disaster. I bought the fifth house, which had everything I asked for. Little did I know, when I gave him that list, that someday I'd be sitting here in my bay window looking out at the big back deck where the bees are going to be installed.


Fran's Garage Doors

 Oh! And did I see the lunar eclipse Monday night? Yes indeedy! The moon was so bright when I got up to go outside at 1 a.m. that I pulled my rocking chair under the skylight, leaned back, and watched in total comfort as the moon passed into the shadow of the earth, until the reddish glow was quite apparent. At which point, the clouds swept in and I couldn't see anything else. I was warm, and happy. What more can one ask?

BEEattitude for Day # 71:

       Blessed are they who are open to new experiences, for they shall be pleasantly surprised.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The people who've bought my e-books. 

Day #70 Protective Clothing

"There is no stigma attached to wearing protective equipment; it will save you and your visitors a lot of worry if you are properly prepared to look through colonies without the fear of being stung."

So says The Beekeeper's Handbook, which I've quoted numerous times in this blog. I was caught by that phrase "there is no stigma." And I disagree with it. Having talked to a lot of beekeepers over the past few months, I've noticed that the ones who say

"Of course, I never use veils"

generally have an underlying pride in those words, as if they belong to an exclusive club, the Anti-Veil Society.

"You can use a veil if you're afraid."

"I just scrape out the stinger and keep working."

"Don't be ashamed if you have to use a veil."

Well, until I'm really, really used to my bees, I will use a veil, without any feeling of inferiority. The risk of receiving a sting on my eyelid (or getting an inquisitive bee stuck in my ear) is a bit more than I can stand.

I'll be buying veils in the next few weeks. I did buy three used veils -- a real mistake, as they turned out to be in need of such major repairs, they're not worth the effort. I wonder if I could ask for my money back?

BEEattitude for Day # 70:

       Blessed are those who ask for what they need, for they shall receive. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       Warm curtains over cold windows.

Day #69 Bees, rain, and geese

Saturday morning it rained and rained and rained.

If I were a bee, I'd have a problem with that. Bees with wet wings can't fly. That's why some beekeepers spray their bees with sugar syrup to calm them down. I'm not sure it calms them; it simply immobilizes them.

So, what am I going to do next Spring when I get my bees if it rains for days on end, the way it did in Atlanta last year? Feed them, for sure, and hope they have the good sense to come in out of the rain and stay dry.

The trouble is, I like cloudy, rainy days. It's my vitiligo -- I have no melanin in my skin, so I can't tan, and I sunburn easily. That means that what I like is different from what my bees will like.

 I don't even have them yet, and I'm worrying about them like a mother goose clucking at her goslings.

Quack!

BEEattitude for Day # 69:

       Blessed are those who plants lots of flowers and vegetables, for their yards shall be well-pollinated.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       Sunny days in the winter and cloudy days in the summer. 

Day #68 The solstice lunar eclipse

Bees and the night sky? Bees and the moon? Bees and astronomy? Bees and the Solstice? Bees and photography?

A similar lunar eclipse in Nov 2003
Photo credit: Jim Fakatselis



I can't think of a way to connect this blog-post to the general topic of bees, but I'm going to post it anyway because I think the topic is pretty interesting.

If you read this blog regularly, you know I subscribe to NASA Science News. I'd like to share with you this great article about the total lunar eclipse that will be visible on the night of the Solstice (the night between December 20th and 21st).

The article explains why the moon glows an eerie red during a lunar eclipse and exactly when to see it. The photo above comes from the NASA article.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/17dec_solsticeeclipse/

 If you live anywhere in North America, you'll be able to see the eclipse -- if you're willing to take the time. If the skies over Georgia will cooperate by staying cloud-free, I plan to give a look.

I know it's possible to see a lunar eclipse despite the light pollution of a city area, because the following two photos were taken by my son from a balcony in downtown Atlanta during an eclipse in November 2008.

Yelloideas Photography

Yelloideas Photography

I've seen only a few exlipses, but each one has been memorable indeed.

If you see the one next week, let me know what you think.

BEEattitude for Day # 68:

       Blessed are those who look up, for they shall live in wonder. We bees wish we could see the moon; it sounds marvelous.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       Those precious places in this country where light pollution is not a factor. 

Day #67 The truth about assassins

I learned the truth about Assassin Bees when Bill Dunn spoke at the most recent meeting of the Beekeepers Club of Gwinnett.

You never heard of Assassins? Sure you have -- just not under that name.


For a while the press called them Killer Bees, which sounded much more exciting than their original name. Then, for some unbeknownst reason, the name shifted to Africanized Bees.

Now, who's to say that some of the feistiness of those critters isn't a good thing for bees in general? I don't know.


But they really are assassins. And the way they work is fascinating. Want a gruesome tale of treachery that rivals that of the Trojan Horse?

You DO recall the details of that story, don't you? It's the reason people began saying, "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts." The Greeks appeared to be losing in their long seige of the city of Troy, so they built an enormous wooden horse, left it in front of the gates, retreated to their ships under cover of darkness, and sailed out of the harbor.


"Look!" the Trojans cried the next morning. "A gift from our defeated enemy!" They shoulda known better.

They rolled the wheeled horse into their city and celebrated like crazy, getting dead drunk in the process. Along toward dawn, Greek soldiers, who'd been hidden in the belly of the wooden horse, jumped out and opened the city gates. The inpouring army slaughtered . . . well, you get the idea.

Assassin Bees are even smarter than that, though. They form a cluster in a tree somewhere in the general vicinity of a regular beehive. The cluster is to protect their queen, who is in the center. Then they send out scouts, who forage for nectar and pollen. the scouts fly up to the unsuspecting hive, land on the front door and display their gifts.

"Gee, thanks!" the guard bees say. "You wanna bring us presents, we'll accept." Gradually the number of assassin bees within the hive increases, until there are enough to launch an attack on the resident queen.

After they've killed her, the swarm breaks up, flies to the hive, and installs their own queen. Pretty as you please. And the original worker bees don't put up a fight because, once their queen is dead, they're toast, unless they get a new queen quickly. Voila. Assassin Queen to the rescue.

You know what they say: "Beware of Bees bearing gifts."

BEEattitude for Day # 67:

       Blessed are the gift-givers, for they shall prosper. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       My choropractor, who straightened out my wrist when I fell on the ice. 

Day #66 The New York Times talks bees

What's the New York Times doing in my blog? I'm still not over my cold, so I'll let the New York Times speak for me in this article about the value of bees in New York City (and elsewhere).

Here's the article a friend of mine from Arizona shared with me. (Thanks, Ellen!)

And to answer the questions you sent in about what the critter in the first picture in yesterday's post was:

It's a Porcupine Puffer Fish, photographed somewhere in or around the Philippines by my son (data-base-manager / circus-performer / fire-spinner / lamp creator / master scuba-diver / all-around good soul).

Enjoy the Times while I have a cup of hot tea (with honey, of course).

BEEattitude for Day # 66:

       Blessed are good reporters, for they shall enlighten their world. 

Something Fran is grateful for right now:

       The map that shows me it's one L and two Ps.

Day #65 A little chat

Yelloideas Photography

I was chatting with a friend of mine a while back . . .  She was telling me how much she enjoyed looking at flowers.



No! Not that friend.. It was a different one.



Yelloideas Photography

And not that one either, although I'm sure he enjoys flowers as much as anyone.



Yellowideas Photography



Yes! Finally, here's the one I was talking with.

She was telling me how special flowers are to her, and I said, "Then you have a lot in common with the bees I'll be getting next spring."

"Bees?" she queried. "They're those noisy, fuzzy little critters, aren't they?"

"Well, I don't know about noisy, but they do have fuzz on their bodies."

"Believe me, sweetie, you haven't heard noise until you've really listened to a honeybee." But then she paused and considered. "You're a human, aren't you?" she said. "Humans are even noiser than bees. Maybe you could take a few lessons from them."

"Thank you," I whispered, and tiptoed away.

BEEattitude for Day # 65:

       Blessed are those who are quiet, for they shall hear more. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       My son, who takes such interesting photos and let's me use them on my blog. 

Day #64 I'd rather be singing . . .

Well, Monday night was a dress rehearsal for the Gwinnett Choral Guild, singing at Brenau University in Gainesville with the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra. Tonight (Tuesday) will be the performance.

I'm missing both of them. Phooey!

How do opera singers ever manage? Surely they must get an occasional cold(?)

Or maybe not.

Yes, I apologize. I'm still whining about feeling sick.

So, what is there about bees that will cheer me up?

   1. They are a sunny yellow, just like my bathroom walls. I like yellow.
   2. It's only about 14 more weeks until I get to pick up my nuc and my package of bees.
   3. Worker bees do a wag-tail dance to identify where the nectar is. I could dance around my living room just for the heck of it, and that would keep me from grumping about my sore nose.
   4. On days when I can't sing myself, I'll be able to step outside and listen to my hives!

Okay. I feel better now.

Will somebody tell my nose to keep up with me?

BEEattitude for Day #64 :

       Blessed are the singers, for they shall be filled with joy. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       Hot water.

Day #63 Doggone it!

Well, for somebody who's normally as healthy as a bee, I sure did manage to come down with a whooper ot a cold. As long as we don't stress bees out, they do pretty well, so what happened to me? I don't think I'm stressed out:

  1. I'm happy.
  2. I have good friends and wonderful family.
  3. My cats are healthy (i.e. not barfing up hairballs or anything else).
  4. All my editing jobs are caught up, and I'll be getting four new clients started next week.
  5. My books are (FINALLY!) out as ebooks - well most of them...
  6. My checkbook is balanced.
  7. I have plenty of food to last through the upcoming cold spell.

I could go on with the list, but you get the idea. I don't have a reason to be stressed. Still, I have a cold. Yuch!

I'm someone who believes that we create our circumstances, and that what we see in the world is a reflection of who and what we are. So, I must be wanting to honk at somebody, if my nose is any indication.

Trouble is, I don't think I'm mad at anybody.

What would the bees tell me to do?

BEEattitude for Day # 63:

       Blessed are those who take care of themselves gently, for they shall get better faster. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

      The hot water, lemon juice, and (thank-you bees!) honey I'm drinking to ease my sore throat. 

Day #62 The joy of a good heater

My car has one.
My house has several.
My bees . . . ? Well, they have each other.

Now, you know I don't actually have the bees yet. But my imagination is rife, and I can practically see the little ones flying in and out of the hives right outside my bay window.

But not on a day like today. Brrr ! ! ! ! !

The bees cluster together and shiver, thereby generating heat. One bee alone can't possibly keep itself warm by shivering, but when they all group together, the heat-to-bee ratio goes way up, and they can keep a hive at a comfortable temp, as long as nosy beekeepers don't open the hive on the first sunny day to "check on" the bees.

BEEattitude for Day # 62:

       Blessed are the beekeepers who leave us alone most of the time, for we shall reward them with great sweetness. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The space heater next to me. 

[All photos are from the public domain unless noted otherwise.]

Day #61 Stability and Slumgum

How long does beeswax last?

Well, The Beekeeper's Handbook tells me that it is stable for thousands of years. I'll keep that in mind.

I also need to know this: when I'm melting beeswax in my solar melter (the one I guess I need to build), old comb won't melt as well, and will form a dark, gummy residue called slumgum. (No, I am not kidding.) I can put it in my compost pile. Well, that's encouraging.

Does that mean that if I came across an old stash of beeswax, say from the time of the pharoahs, it would all be slumgum? Does "old" mean "used many times and therefore contaminated with dirt, oils, pollen grains, and such?" Or does "old" in this case simply mean "well-aged"? I don't know. The book doesn't say.

 But, the next time I come across some really old, old beeswax, I'll melt it and see if I have the making of candles, cosmetics, floor polish, car polish, furniture polish, adhesives, crayons, chewing gum, ski wax, or even some kinds of ink.

Or will it just be a big lump of slumgum?

BEEattitude for Day # 61:

       Blessed are the archaeologists, for they shall live in wonder of the ancient world. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The rich dark soil I get from my compost pile.

       And one other thing - the folks at http://www.beeweaver.com/,  commercial beekeepers who avoid using chemicals on their bees. I like that attitude! Their queens are resistant to varroa mites.

Day #60 More book titles from the bees

Well, if there's one fan of BeesKneesBeekeeping who is keeping me in stitches, it's Petie from Houston. She and her whole family take this blog to heart. I've gotten more comments from Petie than from anybody else. On day 58, when I was talking about Bee's Book Titles, she came up with:

Gone with the Wing,

Inherit the Hive,



         and

To Hive or Hive Not

I dare you to top these! 


       And for some reason, nobody's groaned out loud yet about The Agony and the ExtraBee. I thought it was pretty funny...

BEEattitude for Day # 60:

       Blessed are those who like to play with words. We're not sure why, but they seem to laugh a lot, and they send off healthy vibrations that we bees can sense. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       People who write very clear instructions. (It's an art that isn't always followed.) 

[Photos are from the public domain,

except for the "Rubber Duck Yellow Deluxe Garden Hive" from H & L Bee Farm]

Day #59 Art by Grandkids and Bees

As I write this, I'm looking at two pictures drawn by my grandchildren. The bright colors and the sheer imagination -- all of this delights me.

I think bees draw pictures, too. The queen bee lays her eggs in a beautiful spiral pattern, like the seeds in a sunflower. This means that as the eggs go through their various stages, those cells change in the same spiral pattern, each of them progressing from an open cell with a single skinny white egg at the bottom of it to one with a growing pupa, and on to the point where the workers pack the cell with honey and pollen for the larva to eat as it continues its growth. Eventually the workers "cap the brood," covering it over with a yellowish-brownish wax cap.

Like an artist picking different oils (or, in the case of my grandchildren, crayons and pens), the bees choose a different color wax to cap the honey cells. That's how a beekeeper knows for sure which frames hold the white capped honey.

Of course, as the baby bees mature, they emerge in that same spiral pattern, the first-laid at the center and the newer ones progressively outward. Finally the queen goes back to the center and starts over again with yet another first white egg in a newly-cleaned cell.

The fact that they've been doing it this way for 140 million years doesn't make it less artistic. It's beautiful. Do they do it because they "have" to? Well, yes, I suppose so. But maybe each queen considers her options and says, "Spirals! That'll look gorgeous!" And we have a continuous wax canvas in front of us.

BEEattitude for Day # 59:

       Blessed are those who choose to see beauty around them, for they shall be uplifted. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       Hot oatmeal on a cold morning. 

Photos are from the public domain.

Day #58 Poor bees - they can't read

One of the greatest joys of my life has always been reading. From the time I was just a little tyke, books have shaped my world. No matter what was going on, I could find companionship, or solace, or good advice in a book. What a shame that bees don't read. What a shame they don't write, either.

Think about the books they could publish:

Memoirs:
    The African Queen
    The Drone Mutiny

Non-fiction:
     Hive: the Inside Story
     Cell: the Inside Story
     Beebread: from pollen to nutrition

Historical:
     As It Was in the Beginning: Life Before Dinosaurs
     The Agony and the Extra Bee

Documentary:
     The Culprit Behind Colony Collapse Disorder:
     Skunk Attack: How One Hive Survived!

Mystery:
     B is for Bees
     One for the Honey
     Brown as a Wing Vein

BEEattitude for Day # 58:

    Blessed are the readers, for they shall never bee lonely.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

    Four of my books are available as eBooks now - through Smashwords! The other two mysteries should be available soon.

And if you want to think about marketing your own eBook, take a look at the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide. It's free! 

Day #57 Dusk

All the animals I know slow down at dusk.

Why don't people do the same? It's quarter to eleven on Monday night as I write this - to be published tomorrow morning (which means about an hour and a half from now).

I just got home from a wonderful rehearsal.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

AND - I'm pooped!

When the sun goes down, why don't we?

Are bees smarter than we are?

BEEattitude for Day # 57:

       Blessed are they who pace themselves, for they shall last longer. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The energy to do what I love to do. 

Day #56 Rockin' Gospel Singing

Well, Saturday and Sunday were great fun. The Gwinnett Choral Guild gave two concerts. The music was challenging, and I was astonished at how much sound came out of my old lungs. We just got started singing and sang our hearts out.

In case you're interested, we started with three different versions of the Magnificat. High-falootin' stuff. Organ music - which I can't stand, so don't ever give me an organ CD, but I must admit the volume was impressive.

Then we sang some more traditional Christmas songs - White Christmas, Sleigh Ride, things like that - interspersed with performances by the Georgia Young Men's Ensemble, a phenomenal group of young guys from 6th grade through high school (and even a couple of college guys who enjoy singing with the group so much, they keep on attending rehearsals).

We ended up with yet another Magnificat -- this one The Gospel Magnificat by Robert Ray. Soul music at its best. We had the place rocking both concerts. I ended up energized and exhausted both. Love singing with that group!

Have I mentioned that I plan to sing to my bees once I get them here? I think that makes sense. I wonder if they'd prefer classical or jazz? I'm pretty good at elevator music, too, but if they want rock or rap, they'll have to hear that in somebody else's back yard.

BEEattitude for Day # 56:

       Blessed are those who make music, for we shall enjoy their buzzing. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The GCG's director, Phillip Shoultz, who can pull more music out of us than we knew was in there. 

Day #55 Baby Goats and Baby Bees

Did I ever tell you about the baby goat I got to feed once?

It happened when I was doing some research for INDIGO AS AN IRIS, my fifth book in the Biscuit McKee mystery series. I located a goat farm in Watkinsville GA and asked if I could come watch the goats and ask lots of questions. Mandy Lattimer said yes, so I went, learned lots, finished my book, and then went back the next spring to see the goats who had been pregnant when I was there the first time.

Okay, I admit it -- the real reason was to see baby goats that had just been born. It takes a few days for baby goats to get used to nursing, and in the meantime the moms fill up with LOTS of milk, so Mandy milks the mamas, puts their milk in bottles, and feeds their babies until the little guys can get the hang of how to do it on their own.

I was there at just the right time, and I got to help! The baby I fed -- one day old and cute as the proverbial button -- was highly enthusiastic about eating, but wasn't quite sure what to do with that rubbery thing I kept poking in his mouth. He kind of had the idea that it was the food source, but getting a grip on it was more than his little goat mouth could manage.

The result? Almost as much milk on me as in him. Mandy's much better at it than I am. You see -- it wasn't entirely the little fella's fault. I didn't know how to hold the bottle at the right angle. It had been a long time since I'd had to feed a baby.

The guard dog had his eye on me the whole time.

Now, bees don't have that problem. For one thing, no mammary glands. The babies eat their way out of the cells, shake themselves, dry off a bit, and start to work. None of this gamboling about like goats (yes, the baby goats did these cute little hip-hop dances around and over everything). Baby bees are all business.

I just re-read that last sentence. I wonder if I'm wrong. Surely the newness of life is a joyful experience for a little bee coming into a hive full of supportive sisters and one great big mama.

Next spring, I'm going to try to watch the babies and see if they bounce around a bit before they start cleaning the cells.

BEEattitude for Day # 55:

       Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for knowledge, for they shall be pleasantly surprised. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The incredible opportunites that have come to me as a writer. 

Day #54 Joke Answers

I got more responses about the astronaut joke (Who is a bee's favorite astronaut?) than I did the fill-in-the-blank one. Everyone who emailed me about the astronaut said -- of course -- "BUZZ Aldrin."

As to the other question, A bee's favorite muscian is _________,  the answers were evenly matched between:

Sting

and

Bee-thoven

I guess you all win!

BEEattitude for Day #54 :

       Blessed are those who fly into space, for they shall see beauty. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       Those of us who stay on the ground and STILL manage to see beauty.

Day #53 Cheyenne at WBU



White-Breasted Nuthatch



There is absoloutely nothing like a greeting from a friendly dog. Every time I walk into Wild Birds Unlimited on Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road, you'd think I was a queen. I stock up on birdseed there on a real regular basis, so the store dog is used to me.

After a few "I'm-so-happy-you're-here" wags, Cheyenne, a big yellow-lab sweetheart of a dog, flops down to get her tummy rubbed, as if I were the only person alive who does it just right.



Cheyenne, from Wild Birds Unlimited



My bees aren't going to do that next year when I get them installed in the hives on the deck. I imagine they'll notice me when I approach the hive. They may even get used to having me around, but you need a dog for the kind of attention Cheyenne gives. On the other hand, Cheyenne doesn't create honey that I can steal.

Still, she did give me a WBU 2011 Calendar and my very own little package of Poop yesterday. No-no-no, it's not what you think. This Poop is a snack product from Columbia Empire Farms in Oregon, and the label says (I kid you not):

Yellow Lab

Poop

Chocolate Nut Toffee

net wt. 4 oz. (113g)

Ya gotta love a dog that would think of that.

BEEattitude for Day # 53:

       Blessed are dogs, for their love shall heal people. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       Local businesses run by people I admire, respect, and enjoy

p.s. I discovered a really cool Bee Person: check out http://www.beeweaver.com/ and take a look at the little video called "Saving the Honey Bees - Hour of Decision."

Day #52 The third bee joke...

Okay. We tried How can you tell if a bee is hyper (day #21) and Why did the bee cross the road (day #37).

Now it's time for:

A bee's favorite musician is _____
                               (fill in the blank)

 Email your answer(s) to fran@franstewart.com

Be thankful I didn't ask:
Who's a bee's favorite astronaut?  [groan]

BEEattitude for Day # 52:

       Blessed are the folks at Netflix, for their work is appreciated. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

      The movie "Ladies in Lavender"

      [Can you tell what I was doing Tuesday evening?]

Day #51 Drone Facts and Philosophy

1. Adult drones, unlike worker bees, have no stingers, so drones can't sting. Worker bees, with their barbed stingers, die when they sting someone or something. But drones are so fat and sassy they don't need to sting anyone. Their danger zone comes about when an unmated queen flies up to a drone gathering. She'll mate with 20 or 30 drones -- and the poor guys literally explode at the end of the mating process.

          It's never failed yet: whenever a man hears that fact, his comment (following a chuckle) is always, "Well, at least they die happy."

2. In a natural bee hive, drone cells (the ones that are larger than worker cells) are grouped around the bottom and sides of the hive frame. When a queen is ready to lay an egg in a large cell like that, she chooses a non-fertile egg. Yes, she can tell the difference. That non-fertile egg grows into a drone. The eggs for the worker bees are laid in a spiral pattern starting near the center of the frame. Some beekeepers think the bees waste too much energy creating all those drone cells and drone larvae, and some go so far as to cutt off the drone cells. But, guess what? The workers will just build more drone cells. Why?

      Well, I've read that if a predator breaks into a hive, it will generally start eating the comb at the edges. Voila! The drones are there to serve as sacrificial hive-savers so the worker larvae are more likely to survive.

3. Drones in the late fall are a sorry lot. You see, each drone eats an inordinate amount of honey, and a hive couldn't survive the winter with the non-productive fellas eating up their food stores, So, as the weather turns colder, the workers force the drones out of the hive and dump the drone brood (the unhatched baby drones) out the front door. And I thought A Slaying Song Tonight was gruesome! It's nothing compared to this mass murder.

4. The good news is that as winter comes to a close, the queen begins laying eggs for both workers and drones that will mature shortly before the new workers are needed for the upcoming spring nectar and pollen. The drones that emerge get to eat a lot and go flying around, where they gather with other drones and buzz-buzz-buzz about guy things, until along flies a brand new queen. And then . . .well, they die happy.

BEEattitude for Day # :

       Blessed are the drones, for they shall contribute to the survival of the hive. 

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The rain that is filling the pond near the corner of GA-20 and Old Peachtree Road.