I’m still typing slowly with the broken finger but hey, at least I am typing.
We had a bit of an adventure in my front yard yesterday – our beautiful, ancient California Pepper Tree split, perhaps from the heat, and half of it fell over in the front yard and into my neighbor’s yard. Miraculously it missed our house, his house, our car in front and the power lines. That was the good news. The bad news was that it exposed a giant nest of honey bees. We’ve known the bees were there. We love having them in our tree and seeing them flit around the garden. The property manager was concerned about someone getting hurt (valid concern) and the tree guy was sent out to “dispose of the bees” so he could then “dispose of the tree”. The WHOLE tree.
I was weeping giant nature girl tears about then, dead bees, dead tree – bad, bad, bad.
I got on the phone and found a beekeeper who was willing to come out and take the bees away. Alas, the property manager said the tree guy was on his way to kill the bees. I met the tree guy out front. His weapon? A can of bug spray. That’s it. Thousands of bees were circling the nest and he was going to step in there in his jeans and t-shirt and shoot off a can of bug spray??? I don’t think so.
He tells me, “If I spray them with this it won’t kill them all and those that are left are going to be really ticked off bees.”
No kidding? I told him about the beekeeper and he was all over that idea.So hopefully while I’ve been at work they have been safely removing the bees. The beekeeper told me to leave some jars for honey if there was any left. Then the property manager said that they would have an arborist come out and look at the tree and see if there was anything that could be saved and I cheered! I may not have bees but maybe I will still have part of my tree. Fingers crossed.
My neighbor is taking pictures of the bee removal for me. And to tie this to writing, I’m sure there’s a nature article in this somewhere.
Oh pictures of the trees and the bees are here .
Yikes! That’s a lot of bees! I think you saved the tree guy’s life.
How wonderful that they’re saving the tree and the bees for you! 😀 That kind of stuff makes me happy…
Yay, Susan! If those bees could thank you for picking up the phone, they would!
I’m reading a Sherlock Holmesian-style book at the moment, (you know he retired to raise bees, right?) and I know Holmes would say, “Well done, Brown.”
Oh, wow! That’s a beautiful bit of honeycomb that got exposed…
I’m so glad that you were able to find a beekeeper.
(You can understand that bits of The Secret Life of Bees are now buzzing around my head, courtesy of this tale…)
That had to hurt. Good on you fighting for the bees and the trees.
How wild! But heartbreaking about the tree. It must have been magnificent. I hope they can save it.
There seems to be a bee theme running on lj today.
WOW that tree is HUGE! And the bees! So many…
I hope it all works out with the bee guy and the tree guy!
My word! That tree is magnificent. I’d cry, too. (And I watched a bluejay eat a cicada today, and was heartbroken for the cicada, so I fully understand your longing to save the bees!)
Our area has had a lot of bees swarming this year, and there’s a bee man (or whatever he’s called) that comes out, captures them, and carries them to local beekeepers. He wears lots of protection and if they’re killer bees he captures them and puts them in an ice chest freezing them. I hope the tree survives and your finger is soon good as new.
I am sorry about your tree!
🙁