insects and Coffee

<<< will up-date later…

Got out for a short walk today… my bees(as much as one can call any Apis their own) were flying, the sun was out and I took the opportunity to hunt down some Hazelnut trees… to see if they were in bloom yet, and to see if the bees were collecting pollen from them.

Alas, the catkins are in bloom, at least starting to bloom, did see two honey bees in the tree a few blocks from my house… not the frenzy that I was hoping to see, but as there was not much pollen going into the hives it was no surprise.

It’s always good to see the bees flying this time of year, there is always the worry that they will not make it thru the winter, and to see the pollen coming in is true excitement… pollen being the protein source for the raising up of new young bees(with out this boon of pollen in late winter there might not be enough bees to bring a hive in to spring with any hope of survival).

This year is the first that the catkins have bloomed this late… it seems that the past 6 years they have been in bloom right about the second week of January. The weather has been very cold this winter. Most of this week is is going to be flying weather for the bees… I expect to see the pollen flowing any day now.

Expected tempuratures for the next five days: Highs: 48/58f(9/14c) :: Lows: 29/39f (-2/4c)

Today was just warm enough that the bees were flying.

Seems there is always at least one warm week in January, here in the Olympia area, giving the honey bees a chance to get out and make cleansing flights (honey bees do not hibernate, and do not defecate in their hives, the warm weeks in the middle on winter give them opportunity to get out and empty their bowels. Makes for health bees, not having to pinch it in too long). These warm weeks in this part of the country are the same weeks that the Alders and the Hazelnuts bloom, (catkins, I’ll try and get out this week and shoots some photos of these flowers for you all, we’ll see if that happens) this too is a great boon for the honey bees, giving them a much needed supply of pollen, a protein source for brood rearing in the coming spring.

Checked the weight of the hives in my backyard, found two of them a little light, fed them some honey from last falls honey harvest, and decided that I should head out to the Farm and check on the hives there as well.

The bees at the Farm were not one bit happy to see me. Had to suit up before I even got close to them. (I move all the pissy hives out to the Farm where they are less likely to cause trouble for me; I don’t think the neighbors would be happy if they were getting stung often, or at all for that matter).

They were doing good out there. One hive dead, I think it may have been that way going in to winter… the mice had moved in and so I left it. Maybe that is why I left it there in the fall, a mouse gimmie, otherwise the mice would move in to the active hives… much more of a hassle cleaning mouse nests out of active hives in the spring.

…so I left it again. The mice will have a dry home until spring, then I’ll give’m the boot.

Well, I’m back from Mexico.

Things have changed in my job a bit, I am now the Manager of one of our cafes, just a stones throw from the roastery… tis’ to be a temporary thing until we find someone. I don’t mind the job, it’s just not my passion. We’ll see. Maybe it will grow on me, I have always wanted our Baristas to have more passion about the Coffee… maybe this is the way to get them there.

Like I said… Back from Mexico. I took a trip to Atlanta a few months ago to train our staffs in our new cafe in Decatur, and just as with Mexico, the first few days I saw no Insects. When I was in Atlanta I got a little creep-ed out by this, as if the Atlantins had dusted the city with a cloud of bug-death. I’m not fawned of poison; what kills bugs probably kills me.

Turns out my eyes were not opened to the Insects that are out there. The different ways they fly and crawl and noises they make. After a few days in Atlanta I wondered how I could not have seen them all. The bees and wasps are the size of small birds over there.

It was the same in Mexico… just did not see any Insect life the first day and a half… not even mosquitoes, although I did get two bites. After that I started to see them… Ants are big in this part of Mexico, the Yucatan that is. Some of them so small it was hard to get in close enough to shoot them, others so fast and furtive they too where difficult to shoot as well.

Alas I did get a few good photos on this trip, I’ll try and get them up on my Flickr page soon.

Here is a nice shot I got just before dark in Playa del Carmen. >>>

Ants ravaging a dead honey bee, hauling her of to their sandy borrow.

Side Note: No good coffee to be found. Well, at least nothing totally rockin’.