The orange cat is Zuma, the black and white cat is Kolo
Zuma is named after the first orange cat we had who was, mysteriously,
named after the Malibu beach.
Kolo is named after Koloman Moser, the Austrian artist who did lots
of black and white art.
I might as well put my continuing relationship with bees here among friends.
Langstroth on the hive and the honey-bee: A bee keeper's manual on Google (I'd love to have such a good version without all of the debris on either side -- send it and I'll post it)
B. F. Philips Collection at Cornell University, a wonderful library, much of it on-line.
Mark Winston, The Biology of the Honey Bee, Harvard University, 1987.
Why does one keep bees?
The last two bee keepers' meetings I've been to have had several young, single women at them.
Most were attending for the first time. Why were they there?
For the rest, young couples in charge of the website,
one or two old guys who will help, and an ocassional woman of means.
Okay, the honey. You can eat it or give it away. That's nice, seriously nice.
Bees are kind of cute and pretty interesting. You either see it or you don't.
Bees are serious about their domestic scene.
2/3rds of their time is spent wandering around the hive chatting or resting.
There's a role model.
They will won't sting unless they have to.
Every time I've taken honey I've been stung
when getting the honey out of the comb and into the jars.
Not at the hive, but when grabbing something
or (this one hurt!) kneeling to get something.
Lots of what I think is good about bee keeping is evident in a video of taking honey by one of the exponents of backward beekeeping
(hint, it's not the honey or the wax).
The smell of a bee hive is so fine.
I don't eat much honey, but giving is away is a lark.
Make up little bottles with clever labels. You will have lots of it.
Some folks really like honey!
I think honey from a single hive is like
wine from a single vineyard or tea from a single tree.
Bees make lots of honey! Really, you have to plan how to pick up the heavy frames
(Illinois are bigger than 1/2 frames and lighter than full frames).
The nectar for my bees' honey has always been from surrounding suburban gardens.
Bee keeping might be against city codes.
Eventualy, I wanted to pet the little dears.
That's about the only mistake that I didn't make.
Here are some I remember:
Dropping a hive when trying to lift it from the back of a car to a wheel barrow. They got really angry.
Not keeping the bees out of the room where I was extracting the honey. Hundreds died.
Leaving a hive in a damp spot. They absconded.
Re-Queening without needing to. I felt bad, but they didn't seem to mind.
Gatherged a swarm, then not looking after it promptly. They started making themselves
at home in the box, then had to start over, but no big deal.
Leaving some frames with foundation unattended in a hive box. The wax moths were happy and left me a nasty mess to clean up.
Mark Winston, The Biology of the Honey Bee, Harvard University, 1987.
A few fine moments in this wonderful book
-- One describes honey robbing bees who end up black
with no hair because they fight with the guards of the hives they rob
-- Another describes bee keepers who will leave a hive for a day or two
if the hive smells like sweet bananas,
the smell of one of the pherimones that beees produce when they are alarmed.
-- A third describes the behaviors which foster genetic heterogeneity and, conversely, recognition and preferential treatment of full sisters. (Queens mate with numerous drones, making most of the bees one anothers' half sisters and a few twins.)
Here's a thought. Bees are exquisitely designed to take nectar and pollen from flowers in daylight. The comings and goings of their older sisters do set the hive's schedule, but bees spend almost all of their time in a pitch black hive. Mostly they are resting and sleeping, but otherwise they wander around touching each other and the hive. If they notice something that needs doing -- making cells, feeding a bee or larva, fiddling with wax and cleaning cells, selves, and other bees -- they will work some.