Today is World Honeybee Day, which is important because if the hives collapse, civilization doing the same will not be far behind. It’s also Homeless Animal Day, so adopt one. Or two. Two is better so they can talk to each other while you’re at work or the grocery. (The puppy to the right is Claudia, Pat Gaffney’s newest boss.) So be kind to our four-legged and winged friends today, please. (Actually, every day.)
My therapist has a crush on a beekeeper, that’s all I can think of to add to this.
Though in other news, I am going to a party tonight and I have auditions I am planning on going to. Crossing fingers that things work out.
Good luck!
In my garden are several plants of verbena bonariensis, which is considered somewhat invasive (it sets seeds like crazy in locations it likes). My husband who views himself as a member of the ecology police has been bugging me, so to speak, to get rid of it. Then we noticed that it is frequently covered with honeybees. Then we noticed that we have several goldfinches who visit our yard to hang on the plants and the seeds. He now pretends that he can’t see the verbena, somewhat like an undercover cop noticing his favorite snitch doing a drug deal.
Love it!
Jessie, depending on whether or not you live in the lower 48 states or most of the southern Canadian provinces, you can plant verbena hastata (blue vervain, swamp verbena). It’s a native.
Plant two or three plants of a few indigenous species asap (season permitting). Let the dependents migrate to them. Then, sayonara verbena.
I have a large garden and a large, predominantly wild yard. They’re both filled with plants that the bees like. They’re particularly fond of herbs, and I always over-plant the basil and let some of it go to flower (which you’re not supposed to do with the ones you’re using) because the bees go crazy over it.
Claudia is adorable. Congrats, Pat.
All four of my cats were rescues, and I’m guessing the stray mamma and babies I’m fostering definitely count. Even though I am NOT keeping them. NOT, I say.
We had a scare last night because I went up to feed mamma and discovered she hadn’t eaten breakfast and was very lethargic. I was pretty sure she had a high temp. Canceled the dinner I had plans (poor BIL was a block from my house at the time, but he understood), whipped the kitty into a carrier and raced up to the shelter I’m fostering her for (before they could close for the day). The woman who runs the shelter rolled her eyes at me, thinking I was overreacting, until she took poor Freya’s temp and it was very high. It looks like mastitis, and she was very tender. And had lost a couple of pounds very quickly, which is worrisome. But she responded to the antibiotic right away and is clearly feeling much better today, thank all the cat gods. She’s on antibiotics for 10 days, warm compresses when she’ll let me, and I’m tracking the kittens’ weights carefully to make sure she is still feeding them. They’re three weeks old, which is too young to be weaned yet.
So yay Homeless Animal Day?
Think I mentioned mastitis with this brood before and well done you for getting immediate help. Can be life threatening. But curious why the mama is still feeding the babies while she’s recovering.
I had a cat years ago with mastitis and while she was on the antibiotics and healing it was dangerous for her to feed, so I had to feed the kittens with a formula for a few weeks. Did your vet advise you to keep letting your mama cat feed the babies?
Apparently the vet considered the antibiotic to be okay for the kittens. (Not so an NSAID to bring down mama’s temp, which would have stayed in her blood for at least 4 days.) I wondered about that myself, but I assume the vet knows her stuff.
And yes, I think if I had ignored it until the morning, we might have lost her. The kittens seem fine, but I’m keeping an eye on them too.
Interesting. For me, I was told while the kittens & antibiotics were a consideration, the real danger was to the mom’s healing if the kittens continued to feed because it’s the feeding (often overuse of one particular location) that is causing the infection. Ergo if the cause is still there, the infection can’t properly clear.
So for the mom’s well being the kittens needed to be removed from her entirely for a while–was super hard to do because she of course wanted her babies with her. One of those heartbreaking to see but for her own good things. Big picture was that they were all reunited in perfect health and their time separated was short compared to their overall time together but hard to explain that to a mama cat during the away time:)
Both my husband and I travel for work and are often gone at the same time so we will work on the honeybees.
No pesticides or herbicides check.
Year round flowers check (well, Feb to Nov)
Crocuses check.
Hyacinths check
Cosmos check.
Verbena check.
Snapdragons check
Hostas check
Lavender check
Zinnias check check and check.
We have mint growing and now flowering. The bees seem to love it.
More caterpillars than bees at the moment, although there are quite a few hoverflies. And bees on the allotment. But once both gardens have been filled with year-round flowers, I’m expecting more buzzing.
Off to dig some potatoes and pick raspberries, blueberries and courgettes for supper. Plus, hopefully, one of Bert’s lettuces – he offered me one last week, but I forgot to get it. Mine have bolted, and the next lot have only just germinated. I do have watercress, though, so there will be salad regardless.
I’m just jealous you get to go pick your dinner! Even if I had a backyard, Arizona and the desert make it difficult if you aren’t good at gardening. My thumb isn’t black, but it too wilts in the heat. …
It’s one of my favourite things, especially since I love salad and fruit so much. I can mix herbs and even flowers in – marigold petals look great, and nasturtiums have a bit of nectar at the back, usually, and look exotic. But I guess you’d need a lot of shade and regular watering to grow salad leaves – I’d look for a shady corner to site a windowbox. That’s what I’m growing most of my salad leaves in – even here, I found the allotment too sunny for them in the heatwave we had a couple of months ago. Would the weather be better in spring or autumn – or even winter – where you are?
Yeah, but the moment the heat hits, pretty much everything dies that isn’t a cactus. I need to just be done growing by June, at the latest.
Jane, I have a general question regarding allotments. Would a bee hive be allowed? Or would it be too much of a liability?
My guess is, it would be OK, although perhaps not practical on our site. You’d really want to site any hives a bit out of the way, and our site is completely taken up with plots. It could be problematic, too, if any of the plot-holders were allergic to bee stings. It would have to be decided by the membership, and be agreed with the landlord (the council).
PS. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them on other allotment sites.
I’m sitting here in bed, trying to rouse myself enough to be productive, and it just occurred to me how I’m going to do my recipes! The instant pleasure made it the right choice! I’m going type em up, make a template for consistent format (program ideas anyone?), then print AND scrapbook!!! The scrapbooking makes me so excited, and it’ll be pretty and textured, and protected by sheet protectors and just gorgeous in the impulse buy trapper and I’m happy! I can’t wait to start!!
In other news, I am making, super slowly, a jewelry display for my earrings. But I think I have more than I have plotted space for. So, that’s delayed until I can hang my earrings and see. I also have enough yarn to stuff a horse as of last weekend.
And just so I don’t hit every other daily post goal besides today’s, I want another puppy as a friend for the current puppy. But money. At least for now. I’d have to find the calmest dog to feel comfortable leaving them alone together. And if I could garden better, I’d love to help the bees. But all my plants keep dying in the heat. :/
Happy Saturday! I’m going to go listen to Naomi Novik and clean haha
Honey bees are good, but it’s ALL bees that we need to protect. Some bees are invasive due to climate change so we need to protect their home habitats more.
Weird thing. I was just thinking of adopting another baby doggy and literally just stopped looking at the SPCA pages. Have my eye on a pretty medium cross breed girl. Will have to take a drive out to take a look. Current doggo needs a pal. And I need a go-with-me-everywhere pal.
Pictures if you find one, please!
The passion flower vine is covered with purple flowers and those covered with bees of the bumble type. I let it do it’s thing at the back of the garden, only pinching it out when it attempts to strangle the gardenia or cross the sidewalk.
As for pets, we have four cats, including Stanley the former stray. Today is “Clear the Shelters” day in the local area, with adoption fees waived. Hopefully, lots of animals are going to loving homes.
Our rescue dog, Roxy, couldn’t walk on her left rear leg for the past 24 hours. She’s had three rounds of antibiotics for Lyme disease, and the vet is worried about hip dysplasia. She’s on painkillers now. Kind dog thoughts over here, please!
We live in the country. Our neighbour has bees and gives us a little honey every Christmas. We’ve thought about getting some bees. I buy local honey at my yoga studio. One of the perks of going rural.
Vibes for Roxy!
Good vibes for Roxy!
Mona really only walks on three legs so it can be done. Hang in there, Rox.
I remember staying with a friend of a friend a couple of hours south of Sydney. She had hives on her land because it reduced the amount of local council tax she had to pay. It was a fruit-growing area, so they had this sensible policy to increase the number of pollinators.
I am not sharing my half-a-garage apartment with bees or puppies. The dotter has two dogs – that’s as close as I need to get – and bushes and trees all around the house.
I finished all the books I was reading on Good Book Thursday. Now I have Manhunting in the car (I expect to hear about Peter’s Heart Attack on the commute home tonight). No time to read, once I get home. I have to sleep fast so I can come back in to work the day shift for a cow-orker on leave.
I like bees. My paternal grandad was a beekeeper until he had a stroke 8 years ago. We never had any other honey at home than the one from his bees. Now I use honey from the store, but it just isn’t the same. My grandad can’t keep bees anymore because the stroke left him almost fully paralyzed on the right side, but one of my uncles has taken up beekeeping for a hobby (small scale) and has put a hive in the garden of my grandparents’ so my grandad can go out there and sit and watch the bees.
About adopting a pet: Fiancé said last week that when we’re done with painting and getting new stuff for the house and putting furniture together and so on, we can at least talk about getting a cat. Perhaps, one great big MAYBE, even two. He said he couldn’t promise we’d really get a cat, because we need to make it work here so it can run around in the entire apartment without being restricted by closed doors, but we could discuss it at least. And he is all for getting a cat that needs a new home. So MAYBE…..
That is a CUTE puppy in the photo!
Pat has good taste in bosses.
As for the bees, I have lots of dandelions in the early spring and some other flowers they like such as hostas, peonies, and chives that I let flower and clover in the front lawn. They also love the lilacs. The one in the back yard buzzes from first bloom until the last flower falls off. No herbicides or pesticides.
I understand it’s also Black Cat Day (since I have one, I noticed).