Dan Antion

Help for the Honey Bees? – #WATWB

I know, I’m late. Fortunately, the good people running the We Are The World Blogfest are flexible enough to let me count the Monday after the last Friday of the month in the monthly blogfest of good news. Anyway, I’m here and I’m bringing a little good news from the world of technology. After a 42-year long career of creating technology to properly account for insurance company profits, I get very happy to see technology being used for a better cause.

Can Technology Save the Honey Bees?

Maybe not, maybe it will take a concerted effort, but one thing is clear, Honey Bees are worth saving.

“The insect that is responsible for pollinating the food crops of people and animals has a big role to play in our ecosystem, and external factors such as climate change and pesticide use have decimated some bee populations that are critical to the food industry. For example, CNN Business says it takes more than 2 million beehives to support the California almond industry alone.”

The article is very short, and you’ll find a text ad video version at that link above. The second snippet I’m going to share has to do with the non-technology portion of the article. As the article finishes talking about the fact that other technology companies are working on behalf of the bees, they add,

“So as they do their part, let’s do ours and stop mowing down dandelions the second they appear. Experts say that in early spring these “weeds” are sometimes the only source of food for essential insects.”

The “We are the World” Blogfest is in its third year. This blogfest’s goal is to spread the message of light, hope and love in today’s world. We are challenging all participants to share the positive side of humanity. This month’s co-hosts,Lizbeth Hartz, Inderpreet Uppal, Shilpa Garg, Damyanti Biswas, and Roshan Radhakrishnan welcome participants. You might want to join us in during future months. #WATWB is a blog hop on the last Friday of every month. If you want to SIGN UP for WE ARE THE WORLD – Click HERE to be part of the Light.

Today’s gallery includes a few scenes from our yard as winter is approaching.

When I get up, Maddie takes me out to inspect the perimeter.
We’ve had some interesting sunsets lately.
Raising the header of the shed’s main door worked. I no longer need to tip the snow blower when backing it in. We are now ready for winter.
Smokey found some wheels. I chased hi off our neighbor’s ATV.
Not to worry, they’re only washing the windows of the fire station.
Jinx
Sky over Hartford on Friday as I was on my way to get a haircut.
Sunset through our neighbor’s trees.
Maddie decided it was warm enough to sit for a while.
There’s a bee in there somewhere.
The Bee Balm is near the end of it’s season, but the bees still love it.
The bees really like the Bee Balm.

70 comments

  1. Well, I guess I won’t rush out to deadhead the Dandelions anymore. The skies have been lovely there with color.
    I hope you won’t have to use the snowblower too, too soon this winter. Kudos for getting the door and remodel of the shed done in time, and finding the fit just right for backing in the snowblower.

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  4. Thanks for shining the light on the bee situation. Bottom line is ‘ no bees, no food.’ I’m not sure the average grocery shopper understands that when they traverse the aisle of their local store. I hope Maddie gets a few more sunny days, and you don’t have to use that snow blower for a little while.

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    • I hope we can draw enough attention to the bees. A lot of people really don’t understand how important they are to food production. When we go out onto the porch, Maddie has started pointing to her cot, as if to remind me that we may need something soft and warm to sit on. I hope we get a few more sunny days.

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  7. Honey bees rule. Hooray for dandelions! Yep, I can live with dandelions in the lawn.

    Beautiful sunset/sunrise photos. I’m fascinated how the shadow covering part of Maddie turns her red hair black! Not just darker than where the sun is on her, but black.

    Poor Smokey. Now he can’t even find outdoor dining that’s open! 🤗

    Aren’t you glad the shed project is complete? Just in time for Old Man Winter. Retirement put to good use. That’s a beautiful thing!
    Ginger

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    • We mow around the dandelions, here, Ginger. I was surprised by the effect of that shadow on Maddie as well. The shadow in the back is mine. I hope that doesn’t say something about my having a dark personality.

      I can say without any concern that Smokey will find suitable places to dine this winter. HE knows just how darn cute he is, and he works that look.

      It felt so good to back the machine in without having to tip it to get it under the door.

      I hope your week is off and running well.

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  8. Honeybees are definitely very important, Dan, they must be saved. We have African bees here. They are necessary but not kindly fluffy bumble bees like there are in the UK. Ours are vicious and mean and they swarm. What are US bees like, Dan?

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    • Mostly what we have around here are solitary bees. We also have Yellow Jackets (little bees that nest in bushes and in the ground) and very large carpenter bees. I updated the gallery with a few pictures.

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        • It never really occurred to me that bees weren’t the same everywhere. It makes sense, but it was a bit of a shock. Thanks for adding that. Next year, if I can, I’ll share some pictures of the carpenter bees, hopefully working on there own home and not mine.

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  9. Nice post for #WATWB, Dan. I did not realize how important dandelions can be to the honey bees or how many bee hives it takes to help an almond industry. Who relates bees to almonds? We always seem to be ready to get rid of the things we think are noxious without thinking of the consequences.

    Thanks for the enlightenment and have a great Monday!

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  10. Hi Dan – great to see the Apis project out of Ireland … we really need the bees and all help we can give them. Well done on your snow-blower – love the colour! Maddie drags you round the perimeter early in the morning … cruel! but necessary, I guess. Good range of photos – sunset is lovely … take care and excellent #WATWB post … Hilary

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    • Thanks Hilary. We were told by a friend who trained guard dogs that females patrol the perimeter of their property while males like to roam the interior. The always choose females for walking the fence with a guard. She will inspect the perimeter even before going to the bathroom!

      I hope we can find ways to save the bees. They are so critical to our food supply.

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      • How interesting … never knew that – fascinating … good for Maddie – I simply hadn’t realised Red Setters were of that guard dog ilk. There’ve been quite a few things going on with bees – but interesting to know about Apis … we need to protect all insects – as they are all pollinators in one way or another. Thanks for the reply! Stay safe – Hilary

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  11. Two of my neighbors have their lawn people come every week. The grass doesn’t even grow that fast!! This gives me incentive to keep my yard (calling it a lawn is a bit of a stretch) as is–if only for the bees.
    Your sunsets are beautiful, Dan. And Smokey on that bike–I love it!!!

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    • When we first moved in, our neighbor pointed to one of the flowering weeds and said, “that’s a weed.” I said, “it’s green, and that’s good enough for me.” He probably hated the fact that we let our daughter pick and blow the dandelions into the wind. We leave our green stuff as is. We get birds, bees and every manner of squirrel, but they all find something to eat there. Smokey had just been sitting on the handlebars – he looked pretty tough up there.

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  13. I love wild, natural bee-friendly gardens to be honest. The fact that the bee population dwindling and so rapidly is terrifying…we need them! Thanks so much for sharing this and for being a part of #WATWB. Hope you have a fantastic week!

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    • It’s my pleasure to spread a little good news about bees. Too many people fail to understand the impact they have and how absolutely necessary they are. I hope you have a great week, too.

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  16. I’ve always been a defender of both bees and dandelions. Bees are easy to defend–most people understand the value of their role in pollination. Dandelions are a slightly harder sell, and yet the only reason I’ve ever gotten is “They break up the nice even green of the lawn.” And I say unless you live on a golf course it’s nice to have a variety of plants, especially when they attract bees.

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  18. I’d leave the dandelions if I could find any here. :-) I’d read about the almond industry and bees. Not really good news. But anything we can reasonably to do save the bees is a win-win. Just FYI, you may want to switch a couple letters around: “Honey Bees are wroth saving.” I’m wroth at some things people do that hurt the bees, but… :-)

    janet

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    • Sorry you missed this, Laurie. Our yard can’t properly be called a lawn, it belongs to the dog, but we let the dandelions and other flowering weeds go. We have tried feeding the grass, but we’ve never used anything to kill the weeds.

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  23. Hi Dan – now that the day is half over I can catch up. A scheduled DR appointment and Old Man Winter have grabbed my attention. Great post. We don’t have a traditional lawn either. We let the grass stay among the dandelions and the clover and any other weed that grows. Lawns as defined by commerce are deserts. They would be only one thing and that is grass. Pretty much zilch in the way of bio-diversity. At least with ‘weeds’ something stays green when the grass browns out mid summer. We don’t get a lot of bees still we see enough to keep our hopes up. And the bees do like the daylilies. Everything here is a sticky snow winter wonderland. I don’t think this storm qualified as lake effect snow. We did get a good 6 or 8 inches so far. No honey bees today. Tomorrow the rest of the driveway gets shoveled. Too much slush for the snowblower !

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