As I have probably mentioned more times than necessary, I live in northern New York State, up there in the Canada/Vermont corner. I love living here. It certainly offers challenges, but overall, the pros outweigh the cons. One of the pros of living here was that a few weeks ago we were smack dab in the path of the total eclipse. And, unlike much of the year, the skies were clear so the view was unimpeded. The region had a lot of visitors from out of the area come for the event. Hotels filled, there were many, many more people than usual on Main Street on the days leading up to the event. My wife and I stood in an open field with a bunch of other people and watched the moon creep over the sun until the eclipse reached totality. It was stunning. I knew it was going to get dark, of course, it’s an eclipse. What I did not know, though in hindsight I probably should have, was that the temperature was going to drop significantly. Almost instantly. I can understand how thousands of years ago an event like this would cause flat-out terror. The sun is slowly devoured, it becomes night in the middle of the day, and a chill almost immediately grips you. Yeah, I think I might wonder if the world was coming to an end. I wasn’t in the presence of any animals, but I understand some were pretty confused. I have friends that live in a remote spot who said when it got dark owls began hooting as they would at night. Then when the moon moved off the sun and it became light again birds began chirping like it was sunrise. They were absolutely faked out. Even knowing ahead of time what was going to happen, it felt disconcerting. Who could blame those owls and other birds?

I am not writing about my feelings concerning the eclipse simply to say that it was cool. I’m writing to express surprise and disbelief at those who weren’t impressed. About a week after the event I was in a local restaurant and I overheard a conversation from a nearby booth. I man was speaking with a woman and he was letting her know he felt the event was a virtual non-happening. I’m going to paraphrase the conversation, but it went something like this:

HIM: There was such a huge lead up to this thing. They made it sound like the end of the world or something, I saw a part of it and big deal. If I hadn’t known what was happening I probably wouldn’t have noticed.
HER: I had to work and didn’t get to see it. I feel like I missed something big.
HIM: You didn’t. If people were impressed by this, it just goes to show how easy they can be impressed. I have no time for people like that.
HER: I suppose so.

My initial thought was that maybe this guy was trying to impress the woman with his I’ve seen and done it all attitude. But if you could have seen the guy, believe me, there was nothing he could do or say that would in any way impress anyone. I think instead, it was almost like he was trying to convince himself of how worldly and important he was. The single positive takeaway I took from the exchange was that the woman didn’t seem to be buying the guy’s argument. I got the impression she’d been through similar conversations with him and knew it was best to just let him ramble without much in the way of distraction. That way he’d shut up quicker. I realize I may be psychoanalyzing here, but I wonder about the complete lack of imagination you’d need to have to feel as this guy did. I mean the sun was gradually covered and a giant burning corona took its place! It was night during the day! Warmth vanished and cold took its place! Also, the very fact we knew when and where it was occurring impresses the hell out of me. I am not a numbers guy, whoever came up with the formula or equation that was used to predict this thing, my hat’s off to you. To the guy in the restaurant…ah nevermind. He’s not worth the effort.

It’s spring and that means it’s time to get back into the hives and do some inspecting of the bees. When I say “spring” I may be talking calendar rather than reality. It still goes below freezing and a couple weeks ago we had a significant dumping of snow, but some days it actually does feel like spring. It was on one of those days last week I was in the yard watching the bees zip in and out of their hives. I had peeked inside earlier that day, and while it was not a formal hive inspection, everything was looking pretty good. I saw the queen in each hive, and she had been reproducing well. I saw larva, both capped and uncapped. There lots of bees to support the queen and keep the larva warm and they had plenty of food. So, hours later as I was just standing a short distance from the hives, contemplating the marvels of nature that bees are, I was surprised and very, very unhappy that a couple of the them decided to make it the final mission in their short lives to attack the big blob that was standing quietly nearby. It’s not odd to have bees go after you if you’re doing something they don’t like, but not if you’re just standing there quietly. I understand these guardian bees play a role in the whole cycle of nature thing, but really. I was just standing there. Well, these guardian bees, or asshole bees as I now refer to them, did their kamikaze thing and two of then stung me in my left cheekbone. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it wasn’t pleasant either. Even knowing that after they left their stingers in my face they’d be dying didn’t make me feel much better. But the pain is short-lived. Pull out the stinger(s), rub the spot a little, it’ll stop hurting in ten or fifteen minutes and the swelling doesn’t last much more than a day. Benadryl helps, too.

But I’m still psyched about playing with the hives. I’m sure I’ll be filling you in on it.

Take care!