Day #106 The first bee of the season

Last Monday, I walked around the car and saw a honeybee(!) perched on the car just below the passenger-side window. The first bee of the season.

My first thought was that, with nothing in bloom at this time of year, I’d better whip out some sugar water to feed the little girl.

Fortunately the reasoning part of my brain took over. You see, if I had put out food that she and her hive mates could eat (and she definitely would have told them about it), then they would be fooled into thinking that this one slightly warm day was an indication that spring was here. They probably would have speeded up egg production, which would have resulted in an increase of baby bees before the plants in Georgia were ready for them.

That would mean either that I’d have to keep feeding them sugar water (NOT good for them – it’s like raising a child on nothing but potato chips) or else all those excess bees would die off. As it is, the bee looked at the yellow spots on my car, decided they weren’t edible, and flew off. I have no idea where she came from, but you have no idea how happy it made me feel to see her.

Here’s a picture of my yellow-spotted car right after she won a trophy at an antique car show last year. I wasn’t competing, but EllieBug was definitely the only car there dressed in polka-dots, so Gail Dunn, the organizer of the show, gave us a trophy for “the car with the most spots.”

EllieBug's Trophy Dec. 2009

Now you’re going to want to know why I put spots on my car . . .

It’s so I can find her in a parking lot.

BEEattitude for Day # 106:

       Blessed are they who look for spring, for they make the spring appear.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       Pete Ogg from Texas. She emailed me late on Day #105 to ask where the blog was for the day. I’d left it in draft form instead of hitting the publish button. So, it came out about 17 hours later than it should have – but, thanks to Pete, still made it on the right day.