Survival of the fittest!"
We had a bee problem this summer. They decided to do their drinking at the horses waterer and at my patio fountain. We have a nice little pond below the house but they didn't like its temperature as much. The kids couldn't play on the patio, and the horse was hesitant to drink. We moved the fountain outside by the parking lot and covered the horses water for three weeks, watering him multiple times a day with a bucket. Eventually, they moved down to the pond. Two days ago I went out to water my tree and noticed a lot of dark stuff in the defunct fountain. It was thousands of baby tadpoles. Seems the bees abandoned the no longer running water but the local toads found it perfect!

I have a friend visiting from the town I lived in in Australia. It is a small outback town in South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula. He told me that because of the heat, the bees saturate their bodies with water and return to the hive where they fan their wings furiously creating an evaporative cooler for the queen's eggs. I find this all amazing. This same friend was stung over 80 times two years ago when we were hiking at Catalina State Park. We stopped to rest by the stream under a tree, and suddenly were swarmed by bees. I started running up a nearby hill with the dogs, but he just sank under the water, thinking they would move on. They didn't, and since he had to breath, they stung him all over his head, having previously stung his legs and arms. What a mess. In the end I ran back down and dragged him out and he sprinted away with me. They didn't follow us.

I do respect bees and realize how essential they are to our environment, but I am more wary than I used to be. Even the dogs pay more attention when they hear them around.

Sunshine