Thread Drift

[OakLeaf]

Send me some honeybees.

It's been almost two months since I've been back home and I have yet to see one honeybee. It's very upsetting. Even though I know beekeepers in the area have been getting hit by CCD for several years now, I never noticed a decline on my property, until now - and now, they're just gone.

[Zen]

I have a feeling this summer is going to go by way too fast now that I have my kayak.

[Tuckervill]

I'm taking my kayak to the Buffalo National River tomorrow. You may all now be jealous.

Karen

[Zen]

Mine (with me in it) is paddling the mighty Potomac River tomorrow. We are not jealous.
Life IS good, just like the t-shirt says.

[crazycanuck]

Ian rang the Titus head office this morning about where my bike is. Apparently it's not the distributor's fault & the Titus factory is having issues...

Anywho....

My frame/fork has left the factory ANyone know the route fed ex uses to send packages from Arizona to Australia??? We don't have the tracking number.

I just want to get the bike sorted so I can train on it for a big 100km XC enduro in Semptember...

The saga continues

[lph]

I have a feeling this summer is going to go by way too fast now that I have my kayak.

The really great thing about kayaking, to me, is that "good weather" can be different things. Kayaking is great in hot, sunny weather, but it's lovely to be out on the water when it's cloudy and cool too, and light rain doesn't really matter much because you're getting a bit wet all the time anyway. I'm not very brave in wind and waves so far, but I'm getting there.

[Nanci]

Send me some honeybees.

It's been almost two months since I've been back home and I have yet to see one honeybee. It's very upsetting. Even though I know beekeepers in the area have been getting hit by CCD for several years now, I never noticed a decline on my property, until now - and now, they're just gone.

I just read an article somewhere, of course I can't remember where- maybe a gardening magazine, about how the decline of the honeybee population has led to an increase in native bees who had been suppressed by the imported honeybees. If you Google "less honeybees more native bees" there are a ton of articles about how much better native bees are at pollinating, and about habitat conservation. I have a lot of sages/salvias planted around my patio to attract butterflies and hummingbirds, but I'm also getting lots of bees. Big fat bumblebees and these small tan bees that are about half the size of a honeybee, and very "furry." They are also very even-tempered and allow macro photography without retaliation!

[Crankin]

Am I the only one who doesn't like bees? I think I freak out more from the thought of getting stung and possible allergic reaction (I have never had an allergic reaction to a sting, but since I react to all kinds of stuff, I worry) than I do from encounters with dogs on my bike or while running.

[OakLeaf]

I HAVE had an allergic reaction to a sting. It was decades ago, and I was stung in the face and never saw what stung me, but it felt like a large wasp. I still carry an Epi-Pen everywhere. I've been stung by various bees and wasps several times since without a systemic reaction, but I don't take lightly the possibility that I might have another anaphylactic reaction (plus, I've reacted to an unknown food additive at a restaurant).

One of the most amazing experiences I've ever had was when a swarm of bees came through my yard while I was out working in my garden. I heard a hum without understanding what it was, I started seeing the bees in the leading edge of the swarm, then I was surrounded by these beautiful bees and this amazing sound. It was a mystical, spiritual few minutes as they passed into the woods.

On the native bees, I haven't noticed an increase, at least not yet. I never noticed a dearth of native bees here, either - in past years, when blooming trees have been laden with bees, honeybees were probably no more than 10% - likely a plurality as a species, but a small minority of the total. Whatever's left was plenty to pollinate my apple tree this spring - I've got lots and lots of little baby apples coming. But different flowers attract different bees - it's mostly been honeybees who've pollinated my squashes in years past, with contributions from a couple of other species around the same size. So we'll see. I often hand pollinate squash anyway, just because the flowers are open for so short a time and weather can interfere with the bees' ability to pollinate them. (Plus, I plan to save seed this year, my first time trying it with squash - so at least for one or two fruit of each variety, I'll need to isolate the flowers and hand pollinate.)

Do you know whether honeybees were originally imported to the USA just for honey, or was it because the native bees weren't doing the job pollinating the crops that the Europeans liked to grow?

[bmccasland]

Do you know whether honeybees were originally imported to the USA just for honey, or was it because the native bees weren't doing the job pollinating the crops that the Europeans liked to grow?

We have native bees, then there are the imported ones. Native Americans were enjoying honey before white people showed up.

One thing I found interesting was that when I had an allergic reaction to something I ate, my Allergist had the lab run the Hymnoptera group (bees & wasps) as a known postive since we knew I was allergic to bees. It seems I'm not allergic to honey bees or bumble bees, but am allergic to wasps, especially red wasps. I thought if I was allergic to one I was allgergic to all of the group, but that wasn't so. Of course YMMV.

[kelownagirl]

I became allergic to yellowjackets in 2006. I've had the allergy shots for 3 years now and no longer have to carry an epi pen. I was stung twice last year wit no reaction at all. It is WELL worth the time and trouble to get the regular shots. Usually after one year you are clear but still get the shots every two months for up to 5 years after.

[OakLeaf]

I became allergic to yellowjackets in 2006. I've had the allergy shots for 3 years now and no longer have to carry an epi pen. I was stung twice last year wit no reaction at all. It is WELL worth the time and trouble to get the regular shots. Usually after one year you are clear but still get the shots every two months for up to 5 years after.

I had the shots years ago, although not long after I completed the course was when they came out with the news that the old mixed hymenoptera serum was ineffective and I never went through it again. But even when they thought it was effective (and before I had the reaction to the foodstuff), I was told that I should carry an Epi-Pen for life.

The way I look at it, even though it's been over 20 years since I had an anaphylactic-type reaction to anything, allergies can develop without apparent symptoms, and it's just a stupid thing to die of for want of a $40 prescription. I can make room for one in my seat pack and another one in my purse or hydration pack. (Although I confess I don't carry it on short runs ... and it was on a short run that I got the sting that I had the reaction to. )

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I just read an article somewhere, of course I can't remember where- maybe a gardening magazine, about how the decline of the honeybee population has led to an increase in native bees who had been suppressed by the imported honeybees. If you Google "less honeybees more native bees" there are a ton of articles about how much better native bees are at pollinating, and about habitat conservation. I have a lot of sages/salvias planted around my patio to attract butterflies and hummingbirds, but I'm also getting lots of bees. Big fat bumblebees and these small tan bees that are about half the size of a honeybee, and very "furry." They are also very even-tempered and allow macro photography without retaliation!

Hi Nanci!

In addition to my honeybee hives, I put up nesting sites for native/Solitary bees as well. There are several thousand species of native bees in the U.S. They are beautiful and fascinating, and amazing in their diversity. They don't make honey, live solitary lives (not in hive communities), and they don't normally sting (unless you pinch or hurt them). They pollinate like gangbusters.
My nesting sites have attracted at least two species, possibly 3. And I have a box built specifically for leafcutter bees, though they have not discovered it yet. I am very much into providing healthy habitat for all kinds of bees. Solitary native bee populations are suffering as well as honeybees, but because of the loss of habitat and the over-use of both residential and agricultural pesticides and herbicides. They are not doing better now that honeybees are suffering...all bee populations are declining due to toxic chemicals being applied to plants, and habitat loss. I describe my native bee efforts here on my personal blog: http://strumelia.blogspot.com/search...olitary%20bees

I now have about 60 tubes full of native bee cocoons which I will clean and store safely over the winter, to put out next Spring for them to emerge and go forth to pollinate and multiply again. This Spring I started with only 6 tubes full. Each 6" tube houses about 5-7 cocoons.

[Nanci]

I describe my native bee efforts here on my personal blog: http://strumelia.blogspot.com/search...olitary%20bees

That's really cool! I have red wasps out at my patio/Fort Tort/water garden. We have this deal: you don't sting me, I won't kill you. I have read that they can be aggressive, but mine are not. When I sit in my rocking chair on the deck at the water garden, a red wasp will fly up, walk around on the deck, sticking her head into the cracks, and then finally crawl under. Last summer I had one that made her home in the solar lantern that hangs a foot away from my head, by the chair. I would check every evening to make sure Wilburina was safely in bed for the night.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Wilburina....that's good!

It's always preferable to let nearby creatures live in peace to see how it goes.
'Most' of the time there are no actual problems.

Most people are shocked that I have two garden chairs set up right next to my two honeybee hives. But then they see that you can just sit right there next to the entrances to the side a bit, and watch the thousands of bees coming and going, bringing in pollen, doing their thing and just not interested in the clumsy giants sitting nearby. I love sitting and being inside the Hum Cloud...it's like being inside a circle of monks doing their OM chant. Very therapeutic, like meditation.
Plus, it always smells like beeswax just being near the hives. I love that sometimes my hair smells like a campfire from my smoker when I work the bees, and other times my hair smells like beeswax.