Lilacs and Bees!

We've had a rather wacky spring season so far, alternating between hail, rainstorms, hot days, and overcast windy days. The storms with the heat wave following it has also led to a increase in ticks. I finally went ahead and bought "Repel" to spray on my shoes and pants when we go out hiking. Yes, I made a "lasts for only 100 steps" pokemon joke. :p

The lavender bush bloomed beautifully this year. Such fragrant, beautiful blooms! They last for only a short while, so I took some photos, bishounen included.

We also had quite an unexpected surprise earlier in the week. A swarm of honeybees descended into our juniper bush and created a great ball o' bees around their queen. It was about as big as two pineapples stuck together. It was a little scary at first, beau, mother, and I are bee fans. Bees are needed to keep the human species alive, and we need every last one.

However, our yard is much too small to support a hive (bees need a clear flightpath to and from their hive entrance), so we called the local county beekeepers association who sent out a gentlemen to safely collect them and transport them to his own farm. I took video of the collection process (to be uploaded soon), which was surprisingly easy and calm. He just shook the branch into a box with a shelf of comb in it, and the bees settled into the box for the course of the day. In the evening, when they had all settled into the box, the keeper took them to their new home. So cute!