May 14, 2010
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Something from a science fiction movie
Today is one of those beautiful spring days that you just want to go on and on. The temperature out is 73 and there is a slight breeze blowing. The leaves are finally out on the trees and all of the flowering trees have finally let their load of pollen go so those of us who have allergies can go outside with a relative degree of comfort.
That is exactly what I was doing a little while ago. Layn and I were at the picnic table. He was taking a bit of a snooze and I was working on some research for my paper. Suddenly I hear Ian slide the doors of the shop closed like they were on racing tracks. At the same time he is saying to Melissa, kind of sternly I might add, to get into the shop and stay there. Then he yells to me to take the baby and get into the house. I grabbed up Layn and took him into the house. When my son speaks in that tone you don’t stand there and question him or discuss it. He isn’t an alarmist nor is he prone to getting excited over nothing.
I sure did wonder what was goin on though. I put Layn in his crib and came downstairs to find MK telling me that she was putting the dogs inside. Ian came over to tell me that there was a swarm of bees in the maple tree beside the shop and to stay inside the house. (I am allergic to bee stings!)
Lets give a bit of perspective. The little skinny tree that you can see across the driveway is the one with the swarm in it. The shop is next to it with the doors open now that the bees have calmed down a bit. I was sitting at the table in the immediate foreground with Layn in his chair on the table.
This is the proximity of the tree to the shop. When I stood this close to take this picture I could hear the hum of the bees. I did not use the zoom on the camera I was actually standing behind the truck.
I did use the zoom for this one since I didn’t want to get any closer. This is the mass of bees in the tree. Unfortunately the camera can’t get the cloud of bees that is still around the tree. Doug has called our bee man to come and take care of them for us. A swarm at this time of year is not unusual but we haven’t had one this close to the house in a very long time.
Comments (3)
I am glad you are all OK. I’ve seen swarms of bees in Africa and we stayed far away from them! I’ve never seen any here in Indiana, but I expect we have them.
Are these wild bees or bees from hives you or someone nearby has?
@TheSunnyC - I don’t know anything about those bees except that there were a lot of them. This morning they are gone from the tree that they were in and all is back to normal.