What the buzz???

"What made you decide to get bees?" someone asked with a slightly horrified expression...a very natural question seeing that 30,000 honeybees can envoke fear even in the manliest man around.  They're an insect....a flying insect that buzzes around causing us to swat and run in fear to avoid their potentially painful STINGER.   But folks, these are amazing little creatures that essentially run a neat and tidy community hidden deep within their hive.  Fascinating, really fascinating.  They have a leader...long live the Queen! She has her groupies (aka.attendants) that follow her around and attend to her every need. She employs housekeepers (for free) that keep her home tidy and clean.  She has numerous nurse maids that feed and watch her babies.  She employs guard bees to keep her home free of intruders.  Trust me folks, they are fearless and fierce, just ask Sam.  While trying make their landing pathway less cluttered by weeds...a guard bee flew off the landing path and !*BAM*!...stinger right on the eye! However, the guard bees are  sure to let the Queens personal shoppers into the hive, but only after a thourough check that they aren't intruders. .the shoppers bring home the bacon, honey!  Pollen to give to the cooks to make wonderfully glorious, liquid gold, natures sugar.... HONEY. Need I say more.

Of course going into this I knew nothing of their little communal compound.  It wasn't until one night while watching Sue Monk Kidds  The Secret Life of Bees

that the girls started to intrigue me.  I could feel it coming on...the sponaneous thought that I could be a beekeeper...how fun would that be?  I could enlist the chicks and we could do it together, creating our own little bee empire.  The crazy thought was solidified when Sam and I went to Savannah and visited the Savannah Bee Company

"I want bees", I said sheepishly.

"The first time you get stung you won't want them anymore," he stated matter of factly.   "You hate bugs, don't forget."

"I want bees.  I can do this," I replied firmly.

With a sigh of defeat he said, "Okay, whatever you want."

Ha!  I win....(again:)

To be continued.....................................................................................................................