Day #493 A Sense of Time

Years ago, if people wanted to know what time it was, they would look up at the sky. Pre-dawn, dawn, early morning, mid-morning, late morning, midday, and so on through sunset and dusk and night.

Those estimates were good enough.

The same is true, I would imagine, with bees. With all diurnal animals, for that matter. If it’s not yet dawn, the bees stay in the hive. When it’s noon (assuming the day is relatively clear) the foragers had better be outside foraging.

But what about the nocturnal animals? How do they tell the difference between 10 pm and 3 am? There’s no sun to see the position of. The moon does shift, of course, but it does so on a nightly basis. Can raccoons or bats tell the difference between a gibbous moon and a half-moon, other than the amount of light being spread?

How does the possum visiting the earth at the bottom of my bird-feeding station know s/he has four hours left before daylight?

The trouble with asking questions like this is that, not only do I now know the answers, but I don’t even know where to find the answers.

If you know, please enlighten me.

BEEattitude for Day #493:

       Blessed are those who find answers, for they can feel a well-deserved smugness.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day 492 Pollen Time

Well, it’s official. The bees have been collecting pollen here in the metro Atlanta area. The reports are that it’s yellow, red, and sort of a bright orange.

The only things I can see blooming in my yard are daffodils, Vinca Minor, and Hellebore, but there must be other flowers out there if other beekeepers are reporting pollen-collecting.

The birds are certainly going through mealworms like crazy, which means they’re thinking about nesting and egg-laying.

Even though it’s hard to believe, spring is on its way.

I remember that first bright, light spring green. I was first aware of it when I lived in Vermont. After a long, hard winter, suddenly there was one magical day when a wisp of green hovered in the tree branches.

I don’t see that so much here in Georgia. Spring is still a magical time, but not quite the same as it was up north. Here Spring oozes up on you; it Vermont it springs forth. Maybe it’s just that we longed for Spring a lot more when the weather had been dropping below freezing on a regular basis.

BEEattitude for Day #492:

       Blessed are those who appreciate all the seasons, for they shall be aware of life, and life shall surprise them beautifully.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #491 Learning New

Tuesday evening, the Gwinnett Beekeepers Club had an open forum meeting. That meant there wasn’t a regular speaker. Instead, the club president, Tommy Bailey, who served as a mentor to me when I was starting as a beekeeper, answered questions.

Tommy considers himself a “natural” beekeeper. He doesn’t medicate his bees, since he’s convinced that ultimately weakens the entire bee population. His policy has always been -- if a hive is strong, that’s great; if a hive is weak, that’s too bad. His tendency, he told us, has been to let the weak hives die off.

But now, he’s learned a lesson from another beekeeper. It makes so much sense. Here it is:

The strength of a hive depends primarily on the genes of the queen. If she’s a good layer, then the hive is more likely to survive. If her genes create bees that are capable of fighting off the varroa mite (a major killer of honey bees), then the eggs she lays will hatch into bees that know how to distinguish between larvae that have the varroa mite and ones that don’t host the mite. If those bees know what they’re doing, they’ll kill off the infected larvae, and the hive will thrive.

So -- and here’s the reasoning that makes so much sense -- if a beekeeper has a weak hive, instead of letting it die off, cleaning out the varroa-riddled comb, and introducing a brand new package of bees -- instead of that, just put a new, stronger queen in there. Within six weeks, every bee from the old, weak strain will have died off, and all the remaining bees will be from the new genetic strain. They will clean out the larvae that are infected. Voila! a saved hive.

Just goes to show you, even after years of beekeeping, it’s possible to learn earth-shaking new ways. Even after years of being afraid of horses, it’s possible to do some re-thinking. Even after years of resentment or anger, it’s possible to forgive.

Take your pick. We can all learn something new.

BEEattitude for Day #491:

       Blessed are those who provide us with good houses, for they shall have honey in abundance.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #490 You Know What Day It Is

You see, I used to hate Valentine's Day. The reason (I know now after years of working on myself with a great deal of help from some very wise mentors and friends) was that I didn't like myself very much.

All that has changed.

Happy

Valentine’s

Day ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 

I tell my editing clients that they’re allowed only one exclamation point per chapter.  The "point" (pun intended) is to make the writing powerful enough to eliminate the need for excessive punctuation.

Today, as you can see, I've chosen to make an exception to that rule of mine.

BEEattitude for Day #490:

       Blessed are those who love themselves, for they shall then be able to love others without reservation.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #489 Theater Week

What an amazing week this is turning out to be.

Yesterday I went with my dear friend Millie Woollen to the Aurora Theater in Lawrenceville to see Body of Water. I hadn’t known anything about the show ahead of time. We both have season tickets, so we just show up regardless of what’s playing.

Body of Water turned out to be a moving, disturbing, challenging, funny, sad, excruciating play about memory loss. I came out of it determined more than ever to appreciate each moment of my life.

Later on this week I’ll be going to the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern to see Romeo and Juliet TWICE. The first time will be with my daughter and two of my grandchildren--the two pre-teens. I love watching their enthusiasm over the way the actors carry them along through the story.

And then, a couple of days after that, I’ll go back to the Tavern to see the show again with Millie. We both are Club Ticket Holders, which means we see every show there, too. And, because I like to take my grandkids, sometimes I see the shows twice.

There’s something about live theater -- good live theater -- that simply cannot be explained to someone who’s never seen it. I have on occasion seen the same Shakespeare play three or four times in the same month, and it has different nuances every single time. The Shakespeare Tavern is an “Original Practice Playhouse,” which means that they perform the plays as Shakespeare’s company did, with the actors acknowledging the presence of the audience. That means that the mood of the audience -- always a variable from night to night -- determines in part how the show “feels” that evening.

If you’re ever in the Atlanta area, do yourself a favor. Take in some live theater! I’ll vouch for these two outfits any day.

BEEattitude for Day #489:

       Blessed are those who work at what they love, for they shall spread joy in their wake.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #488 Daisy Horse

You asked for a horse report, so here it comes.

I had my second appointment with Daisy the Horse and Jerry (the therapist) and Lissa (the other therapist and horse owner) in the Flying Change program.

Meeting my fears and doing something about them in a safe environment is, on the one hand, invigorating and, on the other hand, exhausting. I came out of the two hour session with wobbly legs and shaky hands, but with a big grin.

When I first arrived, I took this picture of some of the other horses up in the pasture, tucked under the overhanging branches of tall pine trees.

Jerry and Lissa weren’t there yet, so I took a sneak peek at Daisy. I tried to take a photo of the two of us together.

Daisy has had some problems with one of her back legs, and it’s all bandaged up in purple. They use a different color wrap for each day of the week to show that the medication has been put on it that day. 

I talked to Daisy for a while, until Lissa showed up with the carrots.

Finish what’s in your mouth first, Daisy, and then you can have the rest of this.

You may remember that I told you last month that Daisy had lost an eye. In these pictures you can see the empty socket. When the eyeball was removed, the vet covered the hole with skin stretched from the surrounding tissue, and, although you can’t see it in these pictures, the skin has gradually grown hair. So Daisy has a fuzzy eye socket.

After I brushed and combed her, we let her out of her stall so she could munch grass in front of the barn -- there’s an enclosed courtyard there. And I had a chance to approach her when she was out in the open. It felt scarier to me than being in the stall, although I suppose I should have felt safer outside because I could easily move out of her way.

I even got in a hug.

And then Lissa pointed out that Ben, a very young horse, was watching me over the fence, so I worked up my courage to go talk with him. At one point he snuggled his muzzle into the crook of my elbow and just stood there.

Next month I’m going to try to put a halter on Daisy.

You've been with me through the whole bee process, so you might as well come along on the horse project.

And, I have to show you this:
When I got home, Daisy had a great time sniffing every single finger. She could tell I'd been scratching somebody other than her.

BEEattitude for Day #488:

       Blessed are those who help others allay their fears, for they shall leave the world a better place for their having been here.

p.s. my smart phone ain't so smart. She knows only that one joke. Ah well...

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #487 Smart?

You’re not going to believe this -- or maybe you will.

You may be aware that I’m gradually--very gradually--moving into the 21st century. It’s taken me only 12 years to do it.

Last month I bought an iPhone as a birthday present to myself, and I’m getting a new appreciation for the term “smart” phone. This morning I woke up before dawn as usual to take the bird feeders outside. I choose to do that because there’s a pair of cute little raccoons who delight in climbing the pole and defeating the squirrel baffle. That thing works for squirrels, but not for the longer-armed raccoons.

Usually, I just keep going with my day. I rather enjoy watching the growing light of morning as I eat my breakfast by the bay window. But this morning (it’s Friday as I write this blog post), I took out the feeders, fed the cats, and went back to bed, since I’d had only five hours of sleep. 

When Miss Polly woke me at 9:00 by stepping across my face, I reached over and picked up my iPhone. When you hit the button three times, a question appears on the screen. 

“What can I help you with?”

“I need to laugh, Siri,” I said. “Tell me a joke.”

Her immediate answer:

“Two iPhones walk into a bar...I forget the rest.”

“Thank you, Siri.”

“You’re welcome.”

Well, by the time I made it to the kitchen, I was still chuckling.

I was tempted to ask her for another joke, but I think I’ll limit myself to one a day. I do wonder just how many have been programmed into the innards of this “smart” phone. It’s not the phone that’s smart, though. It’s the people who thought all this up in the first place.

Let’s hear it for Steve Jobs.

And if Siri repeats herself tomorrow, I'll let you know.

BEEattitude for Day #487:

       Blessed are those who bring their visions to reality, for they shall spread sunshine.

Yippee!

 Happy Birthday,

Percy Brown 

and Carly Stine

! ! ! ! ! !

Day #486 Volunteers

Sometimes I think this country runs on volunteers. Yesterday evening I sat through a meeting of the Gwinnett Choral Guild Board of Directors, and I was struck with the level of dedication of those people. All of us believe in the work of the Choral Guild. We come together to sing for the sheer joy of it, and we all love the way our director gives us challenging music to sing.

But, a lot of people in that room last night have been on the Board, in various positions, for years and years. I’m one of them. I happen to believe that I have a responsibility to put in some effort for the groups I want to see succeed. 

There are quite a few members of the Guild, though, who see the Guild running quite well day to day, week to week, and probably think that their input isn’t necessary.  But volunteering is like voting. If you don’t do it, you don’t have the right to complain!

Well, maybe we’ll get them this go-round. It’s that time of year when the nominating committee gears up to select a slate of officers for next year. 

How about you? Have you looked for ways to volunteer? I’m not talking about running yourself ragged trying to be on every committee ever invented. No. Choose what’s important to you -- and then why don’t you do something to help? Believe me, you’ll be appreciated! 

BEEattitude for Day #486:

       Blessed are those who nurture the baby bees, for they shall ensure the continuous of the hive.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #485 It's That Time of Year

Remember the old song: "It’s that time of year, when the world falls in love..." 

Wait -- No. That song writer was talking about December. I'm talking about NOW.

In the South, late January and early February is when queen bees start laying eggs, so our song goes: "It's that time of year, when the queens start to lay..." Twenty-one days after she lays those first 2,500 eggs, the babies will hatch, begin their cell-cleaning and comb-building routines. They’ll go through all those hive jobs that bees have been doing for millions of years. 

Then, a few short weeks later, the bees from hatch #1 will be ready to go out to forage -- and by then, there should (hopefully) be some spring growth, with nectar and pollen.

I know this happens every year. But I still can’t help marveling at the sheer miracle of it.

Speaking of miracles -- EllieBug is back on her feet with not only that new battery, but also a new crank shaft sensor. Thank you for your encouraging emails! 

So, Wednesday evening, when I drove to the Gwinnett County training session for precinct managers and assistant managers (I’ll be one of the assistant mgrs at the upcoming March 6th election), I felt perfectly safe in my happy little polka-dotted car.

BEEattitude for Day #485:

       Blessed are those who welcome Spring, for they shall celebrate along with us as we fly in quest of nectar.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #484 Please Send Good Thoughts to My Elliebug

So, am I going to write something brilliant this evening?

In a word, one word, No.

Yesterday, on the way home from Rancho Alegre, where I bought organic carrots and yummy blackberry yogurt and a few other things as well, my sweet little polka-dotted car died on me. Thank goodness I wasn’t in the fast lane of Highway 316 when it happened. I pulled over, let her sit for a few moments, and started her back up.

Called my mechanics -- Ray and Dan at AutoStop. Told Ray the service engine soon light had come on when the engine died. “Bring it here now, if not sooner,” he said.

Called my blessed daughter and asked her to meet me at the shop. 

The car stopped again, but once more I pulled over and let it sit a minute before starting up again. As my daughter headed my way, though, up busy Highway 20, she spotted me stopped, for the third time, beside the road. This time a wonderful young man named Tyler stopped to help. He managed to get the battery out and directed us to Reilly’s Tire Center, which was just on the other side of the road set back at the end of a shopping center.

Veronica and I drove my battery over there and had it tested. “Dead,” the testing machine proclaimed. No, I take that back. It didn’t say Dead. It said, “Bad.”

Poor little battery. Being judged by a machine.

At any rate, we went back with a new battery to where Elliebug still stood beside the road, placed the battery inside the hood, and couldn’t get the blinkin’ plastic covers off the terminals. Finally another very kind man took pity on us and searched his car for a screwdriver.

Veronica drove behind me on that final fateful mile and a half to AutoStop. I heaved a huge sigh of relief as I pulled into the driveway.

What’s the verdict? No idea. But once I find out, I’ll let you know.

Bees are lucky. They never have to worry about batteries or alternators or gears or brakes or broken windshields or empty gas tanks or …

Of course, they have to worry about marauding birds and skunks and bears and …

I think I’ll be happy where I am.

BEEattitude for Day #484:

       Blessed are those who take the time to lend a wing, for they shall feel better about themselves and shall fly straighter as a result.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #483 Philae and Rosetta

My e-friend Dauna Coulter has done it again (as she always does in her articles for NASA Science News). She’s made a little-known scientific project not only understandable, but lyrical as well.

NASA's Rosetta Project, as Dauna explains it, is a romantic plan for landing on a comet (not-so-romantically named 67P) some time in November of 2014.

Why do I call this a romantic plan? [And I must mention here that romantic was my term for the project, not Dauna’s.] I’m glad you asked, though. The lander, the little craft that will descend to the surface of the comet while Rosetta orbits a mere kilometer above, is named Philae. Philae is an island in the Nile River, the site of an obelisk that  helped to decipher the Rosetta Stone.

I just love to read proof not only of the knowledge of scientists, but their literacy as well. And I don’t mean that to sound condescending. I’d truly like to meet the person who came up with the Philae/Rosetta tie-in. Just as the Rosetta Stone unlocked the secret language of hieroglyphics, good ole Philae is set to help us decipher the mysteries of what comets are and where (and when) they come from.

Here are the links to the whole story, if you’re interested:

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/02feb_rosetta/

A video version of this story is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoePrO4-fGQ

BEEattitude for Day #483:

       Blessed are those who fly to new fields, for they shall find nectar in abundance.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #482 Speaking of Birdbrains

I got to thinking about the perjorative birdbrain. 

There are days when I’d be proud to be called a bird brain. Did you know that chickadees can recall the location of hundreds of seeds that they’ve hidden beneath branches, under tussocks of grass, beneath the edges of mounds of leaves?

Quite a feat. 

And I can’t remember where I put my green notebook. Wish I had a Bird Brain!

BEEattitude for Day #482:

       Blessed are those who appreciate the value of all creatures, for they shall, perhaps, learn something from them.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #481 Time for a Little Contest

12

Petie from Texas, known to readers of this blog as AggiePete, came up with a great idea after she read Thursday’s blog (February 2nd).

Let see who can come up with the best twist on the cliché Kill two birds with one stone.

Or, if you’d rather update a different saying, replacing a negative-sounding cliché with a more positive one, feel free to do so.

Lisa Washington said set two birds free with one key.

So -- what can you come up with? Either post a comment, or email me directly.

BEEattitude for Day #481:

       Blessed are those who are open to new and better ideas, for they shall fly through life like us bees (instead of being bogged down like you humans often are).

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #480 Poppy's House

Every so often, I take off into the woods of North Georgia and visit my friend Polly Hunt Neal, affectionately known as Poppy to her many friends. As I write this on Friday afternoon, to be posted on Saturday at 12:01 a.m., I'm sitting in a gazebo where I wrote the first few pages of INDIGO AS AN IRIS several years ago.

I'd been in a slump at the time -- some people call it writer's block -- others say it's lack of inspiration. At any rate, I'd been looking at blank pages for so long, I'd begun to wonder if my muse (whatever or whoever that may have been) had left me.

At any rate, Poppy called me somewhere in the middle of that bleary time and invited me up for the weekend. When I arrived that day, she hadn't returned yet from a quick errand that turned into a longer errand than she'd expected. Not knowing where she was I wandered out to the gazebo with my notebook and a pencil. I trusted that Poppy would show up soon, although a whiff of concern passed through my author-mind when I briefly wondered if she'd been kidnapped.

I was moderately hungry, and the cinnamon bun I'd snitched on the trip up had long gone, so I wrote cinnamon buns at the top of the page, and kept going from there, with the beginning of a story about a kidnapping gone horribly awry.

Of course, Poppy eventually drove in, and I shared with her the beginning of INDIGO.

By the time you read this blog post, I'll be home after two uplifting, relaxing days with Poppy. Every time I come here, I get a lot of writing done -- and we eat a lot of honey on biscuits!

Life can't get much better than this.

BEEattitude for Day #480:
    Blessed are those who welcome friends, for they shall shine with shared affection.

Day #479 Bees and Flies and Questions

If you open the link in this post, understand that it is not for the faint of heart, particularly if you’re squeamish about maggots. 

I discovered a report on why some bees are in trouble. 

That’s not true. I didn’t discover that report. Someone (and I’m sorry to say I can’t remember who it was) sent me a link.

The story is of a scientist, Dr. John Hafermik, who got curious about seeing dozens, sometimes hundreds, of dead bees littering the sidewalk near his laboratory at San Francisco State University. Not only were there dead bees, but there were others just wandering around in circles, looking horribly dazed.

He collected one of the dead bees in a little jar, set the vial on his desk, and then forgot about it. A week later, he found the culprit(s) behind the death.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=8489489&syndicate=syndicate§ion%3D&mid=56

It’s when we ask “Why?” that the magic begins, the answers unroll, and we leave the world (or at least our own lives) richer, more meaningful, as a result.

What will you choose to ask about today?

BEEattitude for Day #479:

       Blessed are those who ask about us bees and then look for answers, for -- even though we won’t show it directly -- we shall be grateful.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #478 New Twist on an Old Cliche

2/2 New Twist on an Old Cliché

My friend Lisa Washington, who created B’Tyli, a gentle line of skin care and beauty products, came up with a great new twist. In a Facebook post yesterday she said she was no longer going to 

kill two poor little birds with one stone. 

Instead, she was going to 

set free two birds with one key.

Isn’t that a lovely thought?

I hope it catches on. Birds need all the help they can get.

Lisa is the reason I give to the National Kidney Foundation, by the way. I’m so glad she’s not only well but thriving.

BEEattitude for Day #478:

       Blessed are those who see the world through new eyes, for their bright world shall illuminate the whole hive.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #477 One more month to plan

Golly day, are you going to be impressed in about a month. I met yesterday with Cindy Sutt, owner of Rock Paper Scissors (http://www.123shoot.com/) about a new website design.

I’ve been trundling along with a very amateur site for almost ten years, and it’s about time for a change, wouldn’t you say?

As of right now, I have no idea what it’s going to look like, but it should be unveiled by the first week in March.

I’m trying to decide which areas of my current website need to be kept, and which can be tossed. Do I, for instance, really need to have on there a description of every cat I've ever shared a home with? If you have any requests, let me know: fran at fran stewart (all one word) dot com.

BEEattitude for Day #477:

       Blessed are those who voice their opinion through voting, for they shall maintain the right to complain later on.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart