I was out strolling about with The Spaniard yesterday afternoon and we passed this little patch of crocuses.  And then this industrious little fellow, already hard at work collecting pollen.  That's dedication.  While it was sort of warm yesterday, considering, it's barely gonna crack thirty today, and won't be back up in the fifties until Thursday.  So I don't expect to see him again until toward the end week.

Honey bees are curious little creatures.  Here are some facts cadged from Susanne Talbert over at  Dave's Garden...

Honeybees have a very interesting method of winter survival.... When the weather drops below 50 degrees,... the bees all crowd into the lower central area of the hive and form a "winter cluster." The worker bees huddle around the queen bee at the center of the cluster, shivering in order to keep the center around 80 degrees. The worker bees rotate through the cluster from the outside to the inside so that no bee gets too cold. The outside edges of the cluster stay at about 46-48 degrees. The colder the weather is outside, the more compact the cluster becomes.

Hibernating honeybees have been studied and shown to consume up to 30 pounds of stored honey during the winter months, which helps the bees produce body heat. Heat energy is produced by the oxidation of the honey, and circulated throughout the hive by the wing-fanning of worker bees.

"On warmer days," she goes on, "bees venture out for short flights to eliminate body waste." Or sneak out for a nip, apparently, like the one we saw.  Hey, they work hard.  They deserve it.

In fact, as if a bee's life weren't drudgery enough, scientists at Los Alamos are trying to train them to work like twenty-something tools in low-paying corporate jobs in bright-colored cubicles...


We didn't see any others out and about yesterday.  Just the one.  So I guess that means the DOD call center's open on Sundays after all. Good to know.