A Southern Daydreamer ~ Outdoor Wednesday

I'm joining A Southern Daydreamer's Outdoor Wednesday again with my post about the Hippy Bees ~ Revisited. Be sure to read my post then click here to head over to visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer for all the other Outdoor Wednesday participants.

The Hippy Bees ~ Revisited

I've received quite a few (two) emails asking about the Hippy Bees? Did the Bee Whisperer kill them?

So I thought I would update everyone with the story of the bees and photos.

My bee whisperer showed up the day after he said he would, but this time instead of arriving on his white horse (big white truck) wearing his Knight in Shining Armor outfit (jeans and a tshirt), he came in his small politically correct green car (I don't mean the color green but the gas saving, energy saving, save the planet "green" car). And he wearing his Young Republican outfit, dress slacks, white shirt and a tie!

Ack! I was shocked, but then he smiled and all was right in my world once again. My muse was still...my muse!

We went into the backyard and he's checking out the hives and he can't believe how much bigger they are. He tells me he will be back around 8:30 or 9pm with a ladder, his Bee-Man suit and the poison because there is no way he can save them, the hive is just too big.

He comes back about 45 minutes later with a posse of Bee-men (ok, one - one bee man). His posse is an expert bee keeper and he comes out and says, "Yep, those are a whole lotta bees!" Don't you love experts? So they Ooh and aah at the bees and they decide it's going to take about three times of spraying the poison and then the tree trunk will have to be filled with some type of air foam that sprays out of a can and fills in big holes so that the bees won't come back. I'm all for it...I sure don't want them to come back.

So the Bee Whisperer comes back at about 8:30pm with his ladder and full Bee-man regalia and he asks me to turn the back door light on and go inside. I do, cause I really don't want to be anywhere near those bees when he irritates them.

I watch by the window and he keeps telling me not to come out...and I keep telling/yelling at him, "Don't worry...I won't". And he places the ladder on the tree and climbs up about 10 feet and starts to spray them.

And oh my gosh! Did those bees ever get mad, all of a sudden they fly towards the backdoor light where I am standing by the backdoor, safely inside and I can hear them buzzing. It sounds like a chain saw and the sky is filled with them.

My Bee Whisperer finishes his job, loads up his ladder takes off his suit and comes to the front of the house to the front door and advises me that it might be a good idea not to go out back tonight at all and maybe not tomorrow either and he will be back in a couple of days to spray them again.

So I kept an eye out to see what was going on, safely, through the window for the rest of the night until I went to bed. I could see tons of bees all over my back patio. I finally turned out the light and went to bed.

This is what I saw the next day. . .

A pile of dead bees near the trunk of the tree... click on the picture and it should enlarge.


You can see little bee carcasses all over the cement there by the tree trunk, they were like that all over the patio, you had to sweep them out of the way to get to the trunk.

The Bee Whisperer is definitely going to have to come back again, because even though those are a lot of bees on the ground there are still a bunch in the tree.

Here's a shot of before the Bee Killing . . .


And here's a shot of the hive today. As you can see there are a lot less bees, but there are still some there. More than likely the queen bee is still there and these bees that are left are there to protect her and won't leave.

So my Bee Whisperer is slated to come back tomorrow. Hopefully he can get them all, but I will keep you all updated.

Bee Happy!

The Hippy Bees

"Imagine a dark bar, beatniks, candles, incense in the air, the sound of the bongo as you read this poem"

Aren't we all like the Hippy Bees? *bongo*
Trying to find where we belong. *bongo*
A place in the swarm where we feel it's warm. *bongo*
Away from the hive and the bees that thrive, *bongo*
with the queen and the drones.

*Finger Snap, Finger Snap, Finger Snap*
Taking a bow...Thank you, thank you!


WHAT THE HECK!!!
Is that what you are wondering right about now? What's all this talk of Hippy Bees and Beatniks and Bongos and poetry?

Actually I was just setting the stage for my first formal poetry reading.
What?
You didn't notice that was a poem above?
A poem about Hippy Bees?

Well it was. It was my first Blog poem ever, and I'm sure you are hoping my last :-)

I was inspired to write that poem a few months ago. I believe I've mentioned in previous posts that I have a bee problem in my back yard!

My whispering beekeeper came back a month or so ago and tried to climb up into the tree to place a portable beehive in the branches in hopes that the bees would move into the portable beehive and then he could just take them away rather than kill them. Unfortunately he wasn't able to get the portable beehive up into the tree because of the branches.

My bee whisperer then coined the phrase "Hippy Bees". He said these were unsociable bees that weren't happy in the hive so they left and began their own little commune where they live happily. And that my friends, is what promoted me to write the poem above. This gorgeous bee whisperer was my muse :-) Alas, my muse said he would be back later in the week to trim the branches and place the beehive in the branches...he never came back.

My bee problem has gotten bigger since that day...just take a look at these photos, you won't believe it. (click on photos to enlarge, and be careful they don't sting you!)

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!


Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!


I told you you wouldn't believe it. It started as a small little honeycomb about 6 inches by 8 inches, now it looks like there are 8 or 9 honeycombs! Up to now they haven't been a big problem. You don't see them flying around the yard much...not only are they hippy bees, but they are lazy hippy bees!

Unfortunately, now in the morning when I get up it's still dark outside and I usually always open the bathroom window while I take my shower. Well bees like the light and they squeeze themselves through the bottom of the window screen and the ones that don't make it in just sit there on the screen buzzing and scaring the crap outta me! So ...they gotta go.

I called several apiaries. The least expensive price I was given for a beekeeper to come out and take them physically away was $450.00!!!! These are bees people; not terrorists...geesh! The lowest price I was given for someone to just come out and kill them was $150.00, but they can't guarantee they won't come back. I was devastated. That's quite a bit of thrifting treasures cash money I won't be able to use if I pay the apiary guy :-(

So I called the whispering beekeeper...and just like the gorgeous prince I've always known he was he said he would just come kill them for free and all I have to pay for is the poison which is around $20.00. Tomorrow he will come and my bee adventure will be...a distant memory.
*bongo* Aren't we all like the Hippy Bees? *Finger Snap, Finger Snap, Finger Snap*
*Silence*