Frazz by Jef Mallett for July 14, 2021

Have you ever been stung by a dead bee?

Worker bees are more analogous to people’s skin cells than to a person. The “individual” for bees is the hive.

Comply or die!

As long as they bee hive!

The only thing that can stop a bee with a stinger is another bee with a stinger.

You also learn to love bees if you spend time in the Canadian bush. They are about the only thing flying that’s not out for your blood.

I like the idea of bees in the flowers. Especially if they will sit just long enough for a close-up, and many do. Makes a great photo-op. Same as the hawk that sits on one feeder post while small but very fast sparrows enjoy their lunches at the next one. They know they can split before the hawk can fluff a feather to launch. Great to watch. Got TV beat by a million.

I like bees, but I don’t care for wasps. Bee stings hurt, but wasps sting HURT!

The bee stings once and dies so not stinging is wise.

The man with twenty round guns murders and runs.

Most people think of yellow jackets as bees, but they are actually wasps. Big difference.

If humans focused on keeping the world fed croaked after a single instance of aggression, the world would be a far different place.

I love watching them swarm our flowering bushes. Don’t mess with them and they will not mess with you.

And then there’s wasps who disrupt balance by stinging as much as they want, being parasites, and pollnating some flowers.

A honeybee swarm is a thing of rare beauty, a dancing cloud. I was dumb/curious enough to walk into the edge of it to tend my garden and they were dancing their dance and not minding me one bit. My next door neighbor now has himself a new hive and bought them a good home to move into.

What? No W.A.S.P. jokes?

Bees are awesome. They usually beehave.

‘Sting once and die’ only applies to honeybees. The bumblebees swarming the bee balm in front of our house don’t have barbs on their stingers.

Without bees, we would starve. I make a point of welcoming them to my yard. Same with butterflies. Pollination keeps everything going!