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tikieraIt's the summer without bees.
I hate bees. Growing up, we had a cement porch off to one side of our yard that was had a roof supported by metal hollow tubes. Every year wasps and bees would nest in the hollow tubes. Every year, there would not be enough money to hire someone to kill the varmints. My parents firmly believed that a child belonged outside if the weather permitted (and this was in the days before air conditioning so that meant 90% of the summer) I was mostly restricted to my yard - so every year I got stung. Multiple times. When I say that I am scared of bees and wasps it is because I have been stung repeatedly. Did you know wasps can sting multiple times without dying? I do. I do because until you killed the angry wasp it was going to repeatedly sting you. So I fear bees. And something about my body chemistry attracts them whether or not I wear anything perfume (and in fact, wearing perfume often means less of them are attracted). So I hate bees and wasps.
But there are no bees this summer. I have seen one bee and one wasp.
It's eerie.
I thought I would rejoice. I thought I would dance and laugh and be happy.
Instead I am scared.
There are three words being banded around "colony collapse disorder" -
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9070846
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1087
I can't find the articles I was reading earlier in the month regarding it - a summer without bees made me try to go find out why - no one knows why, btw.
But from what I was reading, it's only a 25% decrease. So where are all the bees I should be running screaming from?
I hate bees. Growing up, we had a cement porch off to one side of our yard that was had a roof supported by metal hollow tubes. Every year wasps and bees would nest in the hollow tubes. Every year, there would not be enough money to hire someone to kill the varmints. My parents firmly believed that a child belonged outside if the weather permitted (and this was in the days before air conditioning so that meant 90% of the summer) I was mostly restricted to my yard - so every year I got stung. Multiple times. When I say that I am scared of bees and wasps it is because I have been stung repeatedly. Did you know wasps can sting multiple times without dying? I do. I do because until you killed the angry wasp it was going to repeatedly sting you. So I fear bees. And something about my body chemistry attracts them whether or not I wear anything perfume (and in fact, wearing perfume often means less of them are attracted). So I hate bees and wasps.
But there are no bees this summer. I have seen one bee and one wasp.
It's eerie.
I thought I would rejoice. I thought I would dance and laugh and be happy.
Instead I am scared.
There are three words being banded around "colony collapse disorder" -
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9070846
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1087
I can't find the articles I was reading earlier in the month regarding it - a summer without bees made me try to go find out why - no one knows why, btw.
But from what I was reading, it's only a 25% decrease. So where are all the bees I should be running screaming from?
