Bee Saga: Chapter V - Monster Tree

More rambling ahead (but at least I'm gonna keep breaking it into manageable chunks!)...

Once again, if you missed the earlier posts, I suggest you start here: Bee Saga: Chapter I.

So where we last left off, I had:

• Discovered that the (Killer) Bees had returned
• Written to my online Beekeeping/Gardening/Blogger Friend
• Met a Real-Life Beekeeper
• Spoke to a Real-Life Bee-Trapper (excuse me, "Bee Removal Expert") (I still like "Bee-Trapper" better! And Google finds it, so it *must* exist!!!)
• Contacted an Arborist...

Now Hubs insisted that - even though contracting the whole Tree-Removal thing was, in fact, "Man's Territory" - he felt that I needed to "be there" for the initial consultation.

But of course! "But" he admonished "don't make it sound like we want to get rid of the tree... I mean, this could be EXPENSIVE."

"Like Duhhhh! Ya think?!"

Now, in the meantime, I hooked up with Finnyknits (I'll have separate postings for The Finny Farm and all of the glorious seedlings I got from her!). As we were chatting, I brought-up my "Tree Dilemma" and the whole "Oh Christ, I hope we don't have to get The City involved" thing.

As luck would have it, Finny has had first-hand experience with this and she *even* wrote an article about it here. Her experience was with a Street-Tree (planted in the sidewalk planter, owned by The City, but the home-owner gets to pay for everything! Yay City Government!), whereas our tree is totally on private property - but I think we'll be facing similar hurdles...

The main take-aways I got from that were A) It's a "hot pain in the @$$" (direct quote!) and B) She had to PAY the City Arborist $300.00 just to come out! "Are you sh*tting me?!!" and C) Even if the tree is really-and-truly-dead, you *still* have to jump through all the hoops to get a friggin' permit to have it removed!

Well, here's hoping that our (privately-paid) Certified Arborist's recommendation will carry some weight with The City and we don't have to invite government officials onto our property.

While we aren't running a cannabis-plantation or meth-lab or anything insidious like that - ummm - "technically" we *might* be in violation of the city's tree ordinance which dictates that Every House Must Have At Least One Street Tree.

Side-story there: There *was* a street-tree out front, several years ago (although, "technically," I think it was in front of our neighbor's property). The tree really didn't look very healthy and, as the years went by, it got progressively less healthy-looking. One early-spring storm brought gale-force winds and the not-so-healthy tree toppled over! Onto the *very* spot where I normally parked my car!!! By some stroke of sheer-and-utter luck, my car was NOT parked in that spot, at the time!

That storm actually took out SEVERAL trees in our neighborhood and all of the "Sumdoods with chainsaws" made a killing that year!

But the moral of THAT story is: If you have an unhealthy tree, it is *far* easier to just wait for a storm to come and "take it out" rather than deal with The City to get the appropriate permits and all that bullsh*t (unless the unhealthy tree is gonna land on your house, of course!).

And, of course, now there's just a hollow stump left in the sidewalk. Can't exactly plant a replacement tree. And, quite frankly, I'd rather NOT have a tree pooping all over my car, year-round! Buttt... Point being: If we have to have the City Arborist come out, he's *probably* gonna make mention of the fact that we lack the requisite number of street trees and - "cha-ching, cha-ching!" - we end up with an even BIGGER bill ("JeeeeZUS!")

Annnnnnywaaaaaayyyyy... You *did* notice that this blog is titled "QT's Random Ramblings," yes? I'm living up to the "Rambling" again, aren't I?!! Hang in there - the story *will* continue!

In the meantime, hubs took it upon himself to interrogate Good Neighbor Bri. Bri grew up in the house next-door (his mom was the original owner of the house and is, therefore, Historian of our 'Hood!). Here is what we learned out about Monster Tree:

Monster Tree has been here since "before forever." It was growing in the ground (at ground level), and was surrounded by decorative rocks and a rustic post-and-rail kinda fence. The previous owner of our house decided to build a retaining wall and raise (and level) the front-yard appx 2-3' so he could plant a lawn. So he did. He built a retaining wall and filled-in with dirt - ALL AROUND THE TREE'S TRUNK.

After that, according to Bri, the tree "took-off" and the trunk became MASSIVE...

Still, I'm pretty sure that's not the best thing in the world for the health of the tree (JMHO)..........

Okay, hubbie's home so blogging must stop (I'm getting too rambly anyway!), I'll continue this later...

Next up: The Tree-Man Cometh

Bizzy Bizzy Bizzy!!!

I have to say we had a rather productive weekend!

Hubs fertilized the lawn while I puttered around in the Tiki Shack/Studio, glazing my Works-In-Progress. I don't know why, but I find glazing to be mind-numbingly dull. Yet "sanding" pieces with green scrubbies (which, honestly, is FAR more tedious) doesn't bother me one whit! I had NO company, and NOBODY I could call on the phone, so I just tackled it solo - with Spotify blasting 80's Pop Music thru my Netbook...

I do most of my Ceramics Record-Keeping on Facebook - not this blog.

I've got a lot of Ceramic-Artist FB Friends so - hopefully - they aren't *too* terribly bored with it! But, even if they are, I find it useful to go back thru my "albums" to keep track of what glazes I used on what pieces and, generally, track the progress...

But I *do* like to share SOME stuff here:

Well hello Mr. Easter Bunny!

I shall cook you @ 2167°F, for 8-9 hours on EASTER SUNDAY!

Mr. Easter Bunny is one, in my series of "Clay Critters" - basically animals that are squished out of leftover clay-blobs.

Full-kiln - after glazing all of my pieces.

Actually, two of my tall vases didn't make it into this firing.

I have a third tall-vase "in the works" but it hasn't been bisqued yet. I have TONS of stuff to bisque (including some of P's pieces) so - sometime next week - I'll do another bisque firing (low-fire - Cone 06 @ appx 1828°F). Then, after that, I'll probably do another mid-fire, glaze-firing for *just* my tall vases.

I'll try to post a few pics of Random Ceramic Creations, as they're completed...

Now, onto Gardening!

"The Peaches are Coming! The Peaches are Coming!"

Early-bearer white-peach - gonna be prolific!

Tough as it may be, I have to "cull" roughly half of the peach-babies from this tree. Unfortunately, we learned this "the hard way" a few years' back. I was culling baby-fruits from "Hubbie's" (yellow) peach-tree when he stopped me. He hated to see me kill the baby peaches but, later that year, the tree - so overladen with fruit -SNAPPED halfway up the trunk!

So yeah, I *gots* to cull the babies!

Annnnnnd.... As I'd mentioned in yesterday's post: I have tested my soil and found it to be completely deficient in Nitrogen, and mildly deficient in Phosphorous. Today, I amended the beds:

Tools for Soil Amending:

• Organic Blood Meal
• Organic Bone Meal
• Disposable plastic container for measuring
• Digital Scale
• Bucket for mixing amendments
• (not shown) Bag of Organic Compost and a hand-trowel...

Note: Measurements (below) are "Per Bed" (25 sq. feet apiece)

3-1/2 oz. of Blood Meal

Appx 1 oz. of Bone Meal

I dumped the Blood/Bone Meals into the plastic bucket with a couple-three cups of compost, and mixed them thoroughly (Droid seems to have "lost" that picture - Grrr!). Then I pulled-back the wood-chip mulch from my raised beds and sprinkled the beds. Then I gently raked it into the surface...

Beds w/1 (cubic foot) bag of compost,

plus "Amended" compost, skritched in with a rake...

Okay... Time for a break! Poke my nose into the greenhouse and check-up on the babies:

Starting to look like a "Garden Center" in here!!!

Next up on my list of Garden Chores (driven, mostly, by the friggin' Garden-Center in my Greenhouse!), I need to get rid of last year's Garden Experiment:

Straw-Bale Bed - FAIL!!!

I *might* keep the very-back bale for a few more weeks (there are broccolis and/or cauliflowers "still hangin' in there"), but I DO need to clear the space soon, because I am gonna have to build another raised bed. Otherwise all those Greenhouse Veggies are NOT gonna have a home!

Moderation? I haz none!!! (at least not where the garden is concerned!!!)

Garden Prep - Soil Testing.

Okay, I won't bore you with the old yada-yada soil-testing crap again. Instead I'll bore you with NEW yada-yada soil-testing crap (Honestly, this post is gonna be boring as sh*t so just move along if you don't want to totally start hating me).

If you want to read something almost-entertaining instead, check-out the Bee-Saga which starts here: Bee Saga: Chapter I.

Or, if you're a soil-testing/gardening whack-job, by all means continue reading! :-D

Go here if you want to review the "How To Test Your Soil" stuff, and read Finny's Most Awesome - and actually INTERESTING - instructions (linked from there). And here if you want to see more pictures and read about my last years' results.

I do want to post the test results though (sans pictures - but the vials and colors are pretty-much the same!)

This year, the results aren't quite as good. But that's not surprising - given the hugely productive summer garden and the fact that I have continued gardening thru winter. I will definitely be amending my soil. But I like to type it out so that (Hey!!!), I can look back later and see what I did.

Left (Old) Bed.....Right (Not-as-old) Bed

pH 6.5.................pH 6.5 - Slightly Acid but close-enough to neutral!

N 0......................N 0 - Depleted (No surprise there!)

P 1-2...................P 1 - Deficient to Adequate (2=Adequate)

K 3......................K 3-4 - Adequate to Surplus (4=Surplus)

So obviously I need to add Nitrogen (Blood Meal) and *some* Phosporous (Bone Meal).

Finny demonstrated all the math in Part III of her series.

The Test-Kit package recommendations are based on 100 sq. ft. of garden. I have 2 beds totaling 50 sq. ft. so I'll take the recommendations from the chart and divide by 2 (then halve it again so I have my "per bed" amendment requirements).

Chart sez if Nitrogen is depleted and you're growing fruits/vegetables, you need 14-14.5 oz of Nitrogen Fertilizer. Half of that is roughly 7. And half again is 3.5 oz per bed.

Chart isn't entirely clear on Phosphorous (different requirements for fruits vs. veggies and "Deficient" vs. "Adequate") so I think I'm gonna average it out and go with the "low-end" of Deficient which is close to the "high-end" of Adequate and I'm just babbling now!

4 oz is a nice round and easily-dividable number so I'm going for 2 oz. divided by 2 = 1 oz of Bone-Meal per bed!

Got that?

• Nitrogen Depleted so I'm going for the max amt recommended for anything other than lawns: 14 oz per 100 sq.ft. which ends up equaling 3.5 oz Blood Meal for each of my beds!
• Phosphorous getting low, so I'm gonna toss in 1 oz. of Bone Meal for each bed.

And now I can go back and reference that next year - Yay Me!

Bee Saga: Chapter IV Not-So-Good-News (Or everything you never wanted to know about bees!)

Okay, if you missed the earlier posts, I suggest you start here: Bee Saga: Chapter I. Go ahead, I'll wait!

So where we last left off, I found myself pondering the possibility of taking on Bee-Trapping as a "DIY" Project...

(You didn't really believe that, did you?!)

The short answer is "No."

The slightly longer answer is "Oh HELL no!"

And the "War & Peace" answer follows... (Yes, still MORE rambling!!!)

So I spent a few hours - just Google and Me - learning WAAAAAY more about bees than I ever thought I'd need to know!

Then I shot off an email to one of the (cue the banjo music) Bee-Trappers, explaining our predicament and asking if he could help us.

Well sh*t howdy - what is it with these Bee People I wonder? Within, like, 20 minutes I got a phone call back.

Bee-Peeps: They are ALL OVER IT!

Almost like a swarm, actually!

And no - Thank Gawd - this isn't our tree!

(pic borrowed from Wikipedia)

Anyway, his first words were "I have bad news for you" which, obv, was not what I wanted to hear. First-off, luring bees out of trees is "one of the hardest things to do" (or words to that effect), hence the rather hefty price tag. And we'll get into that momentarily...

The REALLY bad news part is: If there's a hive of bees living INSIDE of your tree, chances are the tree is very sick so "You need to start out by calling an arborist."

Evidently, bees need a fairly large hollow space to call home. We're talking appx 8-10 gallons worth of space. If there's THAT big of a cavity inside of the tree, and that tree towers about 30' tall and about-as-wide directly over your house, and it's unhealthy..? Well, suddenly bees are no longer your biggest worry, right?

Bees are the SYMPTOM of a much bigger problem

:::BIG SIGH:::

I guess I can't keep my Killer Bees a Secret anymore - so I summarized my findings in a somewhat-succinct (and therefore dry-and-boring) email to hubs (who was out of town, at the time - and yes, sometimes it IS best to deliver bad-news from a distance! ;-).

Anyway... Let me tell you what I learned about bee-trapping ("Oh yes, please DO!").

Essentially what needs to happen is:

• Somebody's got to climb up in the tree to get a better look at the hive situation (Not gonna be me - given my fear of heights. And not gonna be Hubs - given his fear of bees!).
  
  
• Then ALL of the hive entrances need to be sealed-off - except for ONE.
  
  
• Then a one-way trap-door thingie needs to be constructed of hardware mesh. Evidently this is some kinda long-skinny cone-shaped thingie that'll allow the worker bees to leave, but not return. And the trap-door thingie has to be sized so that only the worker bees can escape - not the larger drones.
  
  
• Then a second, functioning (and accessible/removable) hive needs to be set-up so the "Oh sh*t I'm locked-out!" bees can begin their exodus by being lured into a new home.
  
  
• Now - get this - there are "Guard Bees" stationed outside of the hives. Guard bees don't let strangers in, as a rule, but worker-bees wearing pollen will be welcomed into the hive.
  
  Kinda like one of those snooty night-clubs where everybody's shuffling from foot-to-foot while standing in line for-EVAR and the bouncer, Bruno-with-the-bulging-biceps is, like, totally not letting anyone in except for the sexy b*tches in miniskirts who sashay up to the front of the line and bat their eyes just-so and all that sh*t. Yeah, like that!
  
  (and you thought this was gonna be boring!)
  
  
• The best time to start this process, actually, is early-spring because the bees' honey-stores will be mostly-depleted - since all they do is sleep and eat-honey through winter (lazy bastitches!). Since they're just-now ramping-up production, it will be easier for them to be welcomed into their new home (as described above).
  
  
• The second-best time of year to do this is toward the end of summer - when there's no more pollen to collect and they start to settle-in for winter. Downside to that is: You'll have a hive (or, in my case, TREE) full of honey which will be a magnet for wasps, mice, rats, and other undesirables...
  
  
• BTW - Exterminating the bees IN the hive is a bad idea because the aforementioned vermin-types, evidently, find the smell of dead-bee bodies (+ honey) to be irresistible ("Ew!").
  
  
• Now this whole bee-exodus/process takes approximately 6 weeks to complete. And the beekeeper has to keep coming back to check on things.
  
• He has to make sure that he did, in fact, seal all of the entrances so that the bees aren't getting back into the tree-hive.
  
  
• And make sure that no fat-drones got jammed up in the exit of the one-way trap-door cone-thingie.
  
  
• If the new-hive gets over-crowded, he replaces it with a new one and the exodus continues...
  
  
• At some point, the queen realizes that her (fickle) minions have deserted her and she stops performing her Queenly-duties (not entirely sure what that means - but I'm guessing she gets all depressed roaming around in her big empty Queendom and starts cursing and throwing things and becoming an all-around PMS-b*tch).
  

Once most of the bees have been evicted, there's a whole 'nuther set of issues to deal with. Seems that an abandoned-hive is a magnet for other roving bees (excuse me - I think that'd be a "swarm!"). So if you leave an open, empty hive alone - well, you might as well put up a "For Rent" sign because you will quickly find yourself with a brandy-new batch o' bees! (So - even if Pest Control *had* been successful at nuking the hive, last year - the problem will soon return).

Bottom Line: When it's all said-and-done, the hive needs to be closed-up and (presumably) goozed-up, inside, with something that will make it inhospitable for future bee inhabitants.

Annnnd... Every year afterward, somebody's gotta go up there with some kinda sealant to make sure all of the entrances remain closed because, as the tree continues to grow, the formerly-sealed openings will, well, re-open and that whole "Come on and move in!" threat returns.

* * * * *

So that, pretty-much, sums up all that I learned about bee-trapping. Well, that and the fact that attempting to "start-up" as a beekeeper with my very own "Hobby Hive" would be an expensive venture (to say nothing of "Stressful" - srsly, go read through Finny's Beekeeping Exploits! That girl is certifiable!!!)

Nowwwwww................. Not sure if the Bee Saga stories are gonna continue, or if I'm gonna switch gears and call it "Tree Removal" (which, honestly, sounds way more boring if you ask me!). Hubs did call a Certified Arborist (Not "Sumdood with a Chainsaw") and he's supposed to come out on Monday to give the tree a look-see. I have a sneaking suspicion that the $1,000 price-tag for bee-removal is gonna sound downright cheap if it turns out that Monster Tree has to go!

We'll see what happens. Stay tuned for updates!

In the meantime, I have Garden Chores to attend to, and more Ceramic Pieces to glaze (this weekend, I hope!). And I think we have some Boat-Chores to complete as well...

The fun never stops I tellya!

Next up in the saga: Monster Tree stories

Bee Saga: Chapter III - The Bee-Man Cometh....

If you missed the earlier posts, I suggest you start here: Bee Saga: Chapter I.

So, where we last left-off, I had written my Blog-Buddy Finnyknits, a new-ish beekeeper (and therefore "Living Breathing Expert On All Things Bee-Related"), asking for advice about "What to do" about the hive that had returned to the Monster-Tree, out front. Finny advised contacting a beekeeper on the "Swarms" list at the Santa Clara Beekeeper's Guild.

So I went to the site, and scrolled thru the page, trying to find someone who serviced our area...

Picked up my cell-phone, dialed a number, and lo' and behold! someone actually ANSWERED!!!

"Hi, is this so-and-so?"

"Yes, it is."

"Hi, so-and-so, my name is QT (okay, no, not really - but whatEVAR!!!) and I found you thru the Beekeeper's Guild. I have a swarm of bees. Can you help me?"

Blah-dee-blah, yada-yada. Gave him a description of what I could see. "About 10-12 feet off the ground..." "Yeah, here's my address...." And "You'll be here in an HOUR?! Really?!!"

Wow.

Sure as sh*t. He was here in an hour!

He even brought a Beekeeping "Apprentice" along. Wow!!!

Welllllll.... Long story short.... Apparently I used the wrong nomenclature in the Beekeeping World (Ooooops!)

Now where I thought that a "Swarm of Bees" was kinda like a "Gaggle of Geese" or a "Pride of Lions" or "Pack of Coyotes" (or whatever of whatevers!)... Apparently that was WRONG!

It seems that a "swarm," more-specifically, is referring to a large quantity of bees that is "on the move." My bees, clearly established in the tree, were NOT "on the move."

And I learned that they... Well, they not only lived in the tree (like, in a hive built in the tree). They actually lived IN the tree (like, INSIDE of the tree), so it's not like somebody could just grab the hive and take it. They would need to be "trapped" and he wasn't a "Bee-Trapper."

Well, sh*t!

So I apologized for not using the correct terminology explaining that "Well, I'm not an apiarist! I honestly didn't know and I'm sorry for taking your time. But I greatly appreciate you coming out!"

He was cool with that, actually. (I really did feel bad - but how could I know, right???)

Anyway, I did ask him "Well who CAN help me?" and he said I should go back to the Bee-Guild site and look for Bee-Trappers.

So I got a bit of an internal "chuckle" over the whole visual of a "Bee-Trapper" wearing a bee-veil over a coonskin cap, as I surfed thru the Bee Guild Website. Then I started clicking on the (minimal) links for "more advanced" bee-removal/bee-trappers, I saw that it was gonna cost something like $500.00-1000.00 to have bees removed from a tree (Holy sh*t!), and suddenly all of the "humor" vanished!!!

Ohhhh sh*t!!!

And I began to wonder: "Is this something I can do myself????"

Next...

Bee Saga: Chapter II - Killer Bees!

Yes... More rambling ensues! But I figured it made sense to break-it-up into smaller chunks, at least!

Annnnd I'm getting a little lazy, but this is an "edited" Copy & Paste from a recent email to Ms. Finnyknits...

QT's Bee Saga - Chapter II - Killer Bees!

Okay, if you missed the earlier posts, I suggest you start here: Bee Saga: Chapter I. Go ahead, I'll wait!

I think I mentioned that we had a hive in our Big-Mamma-Jamma Pepper-tree, out front. And that hubs (who is deathly afraid and kind-of allergic) tried to have Pest-Control vanquish the hive last year - to no avail.

When we last "spoke" about the subject, I'd asked you for Apiarist-kinda Contacts who might be willing to remove said-hive - if hubs pitched a fit. And I would "wait and see" if the hive returned. Well. It did! (Sh*t howdy!)

I still have the list (thanks!), but I had indicated that I *liked* the bees 'cuz they're good for the garden and all that.

Luckily, hubs hasn't yet noticed that the bees have returned.

Not so luckily, I have noticed them and, well, it seems to me that there are WAY MORE bees than there were, last year.

And where, last year, they seemed content to buzz around my fruit trees and veggie beds in the back garden (and also near the pool equipment aka: HUBBIE'S DOMAIN - but he's not been back there much - YET!)... This year? Well, not so much!

So, this morning, I went out to my car, popped the trunk and grabbed something out of it. As I was about to close the lid, a bee flew in. I gently and politely waved him away, explaining "You don't want to get trapped in there, Mr. Bee." Whereupon Mr. Bee got kind of pissed and started buzzing me (and yes - these are the little honeybees - not the nasty hornet/waspy bastards). Then a couple of his buddies joined him, and they're all buzzing around my car and sh*t, when I'm trying to get in it, right?

And I'm all "C'mon guys! Back off! You DON'T want to go for a ride with me!"

And they're all "Yeah b*tch?! Swat ME away, willya?!"

And I'm all "Yeah! Take that you little f**ker!" (Okay, I didn't say THAT out loud. There are children in the neighborhood).

So then I get in my car after I, again, gently and politely waved them away. Then closed the door quickly.

Then, as I'm driving to the grocery store there's a goddamned BUZZING in my car because one of the little f**kers managed to sneak in!

I'm thinkin' "GREAT - that's JUST what I need! Wrap my car around a friggin' tree while I'm trying to swat a bee out through my open window while hauling @$$ down the street. Sh*t!"

Okay okay okay...

So back to the original question: Does the bee-population tend to explode during year #2? And what's up with this "wanting to go for a ride in my car" crap? Are they just bored and pissed-off that the peach-blossoms are all gone and there are no tomato blossoms to take their place? Are these, like, Oakland Gangsta bees who would otherwise be out tagging freeway signs because they're out of work and the educational system has failed them?

I guess I'm wondering if I need to worry about potential aggressive behavior and if - maybe - I oughtta call one of those beekeeper dudes and just get rid of the hive - once and for all.

* * * * *

So I won't post Finny's full reply, but the general gist was: Call a Beekeeper and get rid of the hive...

Next up: I meet a real-live beekeeper!

It's the Bees Knees -- Err Trees! (Bee-Saga: Chapter I)

Warning: Rampant Rambling ahead (You have been warned)!

But it *is* Garden-related, so I'll file it thusly!

QT's Bee Saga - Chapter I - The Background:

Hmmm... Where to begin? I have many, many bee-stories I could tell (but some of 'em may have been wasp stories - hard to say). Let's just go back to last spring and start there, shall we?

We have this Big-Mamma-Jamma Ginormous Schinus molle tree in our front yard. It's been there since forever. It's pretty. It provides shade. But it poops like hell (leaves, red berries, whatevers, pretty-much year round). Well, last year we noticed that a colony of bees had taken up residence in said tree. Given it's rather monstrous size, and my fondness for remaining firmly-attached to the ground, and the standard "common-sense" avoidance of stinging insects, I never really investigated it to determine exactly *where* they lived.

To be honest, I didn't particularly care! I rather like the bees because they do a simply stupendous job of pollinating all of my fruits and veggies! Plus I subscribe to the belief that "If you don't f**k with them, they won't f**k with you," right?!

I could wander back into the garden, all "Tra-la-la-la-la" with bees buzzing all around me, and never once did I get stung! In fact, I rather enjoyed trying to catch close-up shots of them like thus:

Check out Tubby the Bumblebee on the top,

and underneath - to the left - is a little honeybee!

(We're talking about little honeybees, by the way.

Not Tubby McBumble.)

Hubs, on the other hand, does not share my "Live and Let Live" attitude. He is of the belief that ALL stinging insects are "Out to Get Him!" And, in fact, I do *attempt* to stifle a few good laughs (with varying degrees of success) whenever he perceives that he is being "Attacked" by the Vile Creatures (he performs a most entertaining "interpretive dance")!

To be fair hubs *is* allergic. We aren't talking "Anaphylactic-Shock/Call 9-1-1" Allergic, but he does swell-up and feels pretty lousy whenever he does get stung (usually by the wasps who *also* like to claim our yard as their home).

Anyway, last year, he called out Pest-Control a couple of times - to have them nuke the hive ("Boo! Hiss!") (those are the words on the inside!). My guess was that they weren't successful at eradicating the queen because the bees returned...

Late last year, hubs had a "Tree Service" come out to do a serious trimming of the Monster Tree. And by "Tree Service," I mean some dude who showed up our doorstep with a business card, offering to trim our tree. As a rule, I stay out of all that business ("That's MAN'S work!"), but after they shook hands, Jose showed up in his pick-up truck with a ladder, some chainsaws, and a couple of "Home Depot Amigos." I'm not sure, but I suspect he wasn't licensed, bonded, or insured. But - like I say - I stay out of it!

Imagine the three amigos' surprise when they discovered - after climbing into the upper canopy - that they would be working alongside an angry horde of bees! To their credit, they did do an amazingly good job of trimming the tree back. I have no clue if anybody got stung, but the job got done for a reasonable price (and very, very quickly!)...

And, of course, after they left, the bees then resumed their duties, pollinating my garden, and ensuring a most bountiful harvest. Yay Bees!

In the meantime, I learned a little more about bees and beekeeping by following Finny's Beekeeping Exploits. Frankly, it seems like an awful lot of work (just getting the permit from the City - alone - would have been enough to stop me!)... But it's fun to experience beekeeping vicariously. I like to think I'm doing my own beekeeping - without all the work (and also without the benefit of harvest-able honey or beeswax!).

So anyway... Last summer drew to a close and the bees seemed to have all-but disappeared...

And Hubs has been watching documentaries on Netflix about Honeybee Collapse and all of that stuff...

And I get to wondering about "What if the bees return?" and thinking how awful it would be to lose them (Worse still: To be responsible for their demise in the form of "calling Pest Control" again!). So I dropped Finny an email (she, being the ONLY beekeeper I know, and therefore an EXPERT!!!) ("Ha!" uttered with all-due-respect). End result: She pointed me to the Santa Clara Valley Beekeepers Guild and said that they would have resources for removing the hive, if the need arose.

Now, my Evil Plan was to "keep" the bees for as long as possible (hoping that hubs would remain oblivious!) ("Ha! Fat Chance!"). At the very least, I was hoping to get through springtime so my fruit trees would get pollinated. And hubs' Outdoor Responsibilities (lawn mowing, pool-setup) usually don't occur until after Tree-Pollination is complete. So, there's a "chance" I can make it!!!

My Biggest Goal, of course, was to avoid calling Pest-Control out again to Kill The Bees ("Nnnnooooo!!!!!").

So, up until a few days ago, the hive seemed to be pretty quiet, right? I mean, yeah, when the fruit trees were blossoming, I did see a few bees - but nothing like last summer. So maybe this'll be a non-issue, right?

WRONGGGG!!!

Next up: Killer Bees!