Oh honey.

I spent the afternoon helping D census 8 honey bee colonies for an experiment that she is doing this spring. Four of the hives were good old sweet European honey bees, so nice and mellow that I could sit next to the hive without fear of attack. The other four were Africanized hives, so quick to sting that simply wearing a bee suit is not enough; one must tape up one's ankles as well and have a smoker close at hand. By the time we finished the fourth hive, it was dark and we had clouds of angry bees swirling over our heads.

I don't mind the occasional bee work. D really needed the help. The sounds of the hives remind me of summertime. But I know if I ever had a hive of my own, I wouldn't be content to simply harvest honey from it. Oh no. I would be compelled to study it intensively.