Bee Swarm

Chris sent me the above picture. It shows a honey bee swarm that has landed on the power boxes, just outside the garage door. They must have landed there the day after we left, because they weren’t there when we were loading the car for the drive down to LA. I’m sure that we would have noticed them there, otherwise.

I looked up bee swarms on Wiki and it said that these swarms typically campout somewhere, for a day or two. In this time period, scouts are sent out to search for and find a new nesting site. When each scout returns, it dances a little jig. This dance communicates to the swarm what site this bee has scouted. Supposedly, the enthusiasm with which the scout dances her dance communicates the level of desirability of this particular nest site. So, slow dancing is not a good thing here. Eventually, all of the scouts begin dancing the same dance. Think country and western line dancing. This indicates that the swarm has reached a consensus and is ready to fly off to its new home.

Today was my second day back at work after vacation. The excitement of the first day back had faded. I felt that I was droning on by the afternoon. I think back to what the young trail builder told me, up on the mountain side in Yosemite. I must have provoked him by saying to him, “You have one heck of a commute.” He replied, “Yeah, but when I go on vacation, I like to sit in a cube for forty hours.” This week I only have to sit in a cube for twenty-four hours. Forty-hours doesn’t come until next week. I’ll think about that then.