May 3: Honeycombs

For over a year now, we've had a rather large bee nest towards the top of one the trees out back. I have to think it's been abandoned, but I haven't watched enough "Jackass" episodes, like this one, to climb up there and confirm that. Anyway, today it came down...on it's own, I should clarify. I don't like bees, hornets, wasps, etc., so it me a few minutes to work up the nerve to make sure its inhabitants were no longer occupying this particular piece of real estate. And, they were not. In fact, all that was left was basically the honeycomb. I'd never held a honeycomb or even been this close without it being behind glass and swarmed by an army of bees. So, this was pretty cool. The honeycomb was all dried up, but still firmly intact. The experience led me to do a little bit of research. You can read all of the interesting facts and such here, as I'm just going to provide a few tidbits of information that I pulled out for myself. First, the reason the "comb" was worn and dark is a result of the "cocoons embedded in the cells and the tracking of many feet, called travel stain by beekeepers when seen on frames of comb honey". Secondly, honeycomb is used by bees to store not only honey, but also their larvae and pollen. Interesting stuff, huh? Maybe. But after all is said and done with this experience, I still prefer only one type of Honeycomb. Preferably, at breakfast.