Cleansing Flight

Did you know that honey bees won't poop in the hive? That's right. They leave home to take a shit. Well, except for the queen. She is so busy with her egg laying duties that she doesn't have time to take what bee keepers call a cleansing flight. The worker bees actually take turns with Queen Duky-Duty. What do honey bees do in inclement weather? They hold it. In the winter the bees huddle in a cluster to stay warm... similar to the way emperor penguins do. I can only guess that they take turns being the girl on the outside of the cluster. But as soon as there is a break in temps, they all take potty-break. Here in Nebraska there have been 40+ degree days lately. Today's high was 57. You can bet there were bees out and about pooping all over the city.


And even though the  ten-day forecast doesn't show a daily high less than 39, you can bet your biscuits winter isn't over here. However, everyone in Omaha is soaking up the sun and taking cleansing flights of our own. All the cars in the city have been freshly washed, and people are reveling in newly uncovered street parking. The opportunity to go out without thermal gear is astounding. We have spent hours outside in the drippy, slushy, melty soup that is our yard. Today I was measuring out where my garden is going to go, and which trees would be sacrificed to let enough light through to allow for vegetables to grow. This glimpse of Spring-to-come is delicious.

"Mommy! My gloves are YUCKY"

Where you see snow is destined for tomatoes. 

Normy was so sad there wasn't enough snow for sledding.