Bees

Most of the plants in our yard have been chosen to attract bees, butterflies, and/or hummingbirds. Many times our bottlebrush bush or salvia bed is throbbing with the hum of bees working the flowers. Early this year we had as many bees as usual but at some time in May, our bees disappeared. Not just decreased in number but were gone, all of them. It wasn't because we had no blooming flowers because we did. We have been bee-less since then until today. I was taking a letter out to the mailbox and passing by the line of gorgeous blooming crepe myrtles along the drive, when I heard the crepe myrtles humming. Sure enough, there were the bees all over the blooms. It was so good to see and hear them again.

Beekeeping

JMM and I have talked for a couple of years about keeping bees but never did anything about it. We have decided that we will attend the County Beekeepers Association meetings and get things ready for starting next spring. The next meeting is Tuesday, July 12 at 7:30 PM. I love watching the bees on our flowers and am never afraid of them as so many people are. We have Beekeeping for Dummies-- JMM is reading it and I want to read it also. JMM has ordered a video which is supposed to be very informative also. I'll see what is available from the library too. However, I anticipate that we will learn more from the Beekeepers Association and from our own experience than from books or videos. This should be an interesting experiment.