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Yesterday I was out walking, intending to do an important errand in the afternoon. Unfortunately, since today is a holiday in Sweden that means many local government institutions use that as an excuse to leave early for the day (a totally criminal type of behavior in my own opinion, they're supposed to serve US, not the other way around!), and thus I couldn't get my errand done. That always happens around holidays, they only work half the day the day before a holiday and get paid for a full...
I wasn't that angry though, I can manage til monday without getting it done, and the weather was really nice after all, if windy. Sun, and rather warm. Soccer boys out playing, and nice music in my minidisc player. I walked around a little, took a small detour on my way home. I'd liked to have walked more, but I needed to go to the bathroom soon-ish, so it didn't turn into some super-long walk, maybe 40 minutes in all or so. As I came back towards where I live, I went up a flight of stairs from a bike path to a bridge over the path. There I saw a black and orange bumble bee crawling around on the ground.
Now, I happen to be very fond of bumble bees. They're big and furry, and if you look at their face you see they have really big eyes and actually look quite friendly with that long mouth/tongue they use to lick up nectar. I was stung by a bumble bee once, when I was just a couple years old, it's one of my earliest memories. It was one of those black/yellow/white ones that are even bigger than the black/orange variety, and I remember picking it up in my hand from a flower because I thought it looked so fluffy and pretty, and I guess it must have felt threatened because I got it right on my thumb. I bet I wailed and screamed a lot afterwards, but I never blamed the bee for it (even though I was really small), and I didn't become afraid of them either. It was my own fault, nobody else's. Anyway, I continued to like them, and to this day I still do.
Thus, when I spotted the insect down on the ground I had to stop and see what was going on.
Just about the only time you see bumble bees just crawling around on the ground is when they're sick and/or dying, sometimes I've seen them with tiny little red parasites in their fur or such. This one seemed okay, except it didn't fly. I couldn't let it stay where it was of course, someone might step on it or something since the bridge sits inbetween two student apartement buildings and the local mini market and bus stop and such things, so it's fairly well trafficked. I found a slightly wilted pink rose petal with which I intended to transport the bee, and put it out like a small blanket on the asphalt right in front of it. The bee seemed a bit reluctant, it had seen the movement, and sat still for a moment or two, but then, perhaps since it was a petal, something it would recognize, it continued forwards on its slow journey, up on the thing.
When enough legs were on the petal, I lifted it up and walked briskly towards a nearby newly-planted hedge. The bushes are just saplings so far, barely twigs sprouting out of the ground, but I thought that would have to do. It was rather windy too like I mentioned, and I wanted to reach a relatively safe harbor quickly before the insect fell off due to the bumpy ride it was getting. Well, I reached my destination (it was only 10 meters or so, maybe less), and put down the petal. Of course, it flipped over, leaving the poor bee buried under it! The insect struggled and started to make its way out, but I turned the thing over anyway just to be sure and walked away. Then I stopped and looked back, thinking there was no way she'd be able to find any food there...
You do know all worker bees (including bumble bees and wasps too of course) are female, right? This was a wee little girl, and I felt for her. She'd probably flied out on thousands of mission sorties, gathering nectar and pollen for the young grubs in her nest, and now she was tired. I saw that the only stuff around her was ground-up bark from pine trees around the roots of those young bushes, and a dense wall of grass which would be worse than a jungle for her to get through! Besides, she was already unable to fly, and she'd only get weaker from trying to get through that mess! She still tried though, her six short legs carried her towards that dense green foliage with respectable speed! I quickly went back and picked up the petal anew and made her walk up on it. This time she was feeling frisky, she kept walking even up in the air! Whoah girl, steady! 
I'm not afraid of bumble bees, but I respect them. I didn't want her walking up on my fingers, so I had to juggle the petal a bit to keep her away from me. Fortunately, I quickly reached the rose bush where the petal had originated from and somehow managed to offload my passenger smack dab in the center of a flower! I thought she'd tumble to the ground because I wasn't too elegant in trying to get her to step off, but her legs caught grip just beautifully anyway. I felt so proud of her!
Now, I didn't hang around to see if she stayed in that flower to eat and have a rest, or if she immediately continued onwards in the direction of her...well, not nose obviously since they have none... I guess bumble bees aren't too smart. I hope though, that her eating instincts took over once she ended up having a small meal of some sort in that flower, but I'm not sure. I felt I had done my part, now it was up to her what she wanted to do. I hope she did okay.
I went back home with a smile on my face, not angry anymore I hadn't managed to get my errand done.
-L
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
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Small, yet maybe important things in life...
By: lenny on Fri, 20 June 2003 21:09 |
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Re: Small, yet maybe important things in life...
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Re: Small, yet maybe important things in life...
By: Guest on Fri, 20 June 2003 21:47 |
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A Lenny Story !!!!!!!!!!!
By: smith on Fri, 20 June 2003 22:26 |
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Re: Small, yet maybe important things in life...
By: ashley on Fri, 20 June 2003 22:43 |
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Re: hey Ashley
By: Guest on Fri, 20 June 2003 23:31 |
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WOW!
By: Garrett on Sat, 21 June 2003 00:02 |
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Re: WOW!
By: Guest on Sat, 21 June 2003 00:33 |
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Re: WOW!
By: Garrett on Sat, 21 June 2003 00:44 |
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Re: WOW!
By: Guest on Sat, 21 June 2003 01:28 |
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Re: WOW!
By: Garrett on Sat, 21 June 2003 01:31 |
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Re: WOW!
By: Guest on Sat, 21 June 2003 01:41 |
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Meanwhile, back to Lenny's Bumblebee Thread...
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Yes, please don't digress in my threads...
By: lenny on Sat, 21 June 2003 14:06 |
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Re: WOW!
By: lenny on Sat, 21 June 2003 12:42 |
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Thank you Lenny
By: trevor on Sat, 21 June 2003 17:56 |
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Please visit the evil MSNBC website...
By: lenny on Sat, 21 June 2003 20:15 |
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Re: Small, yet maybe important things in life...
By: kevin on Sun, 22 June 2003 13:48 |
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Thanks, sweet Kevin! Will you come online & talk to me some day?
By: lenny on Sun, 22 June 2003 18:26 |
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Every time I sit down at my PC I am there??? Hope to see ya soon
By: kevin on Sun, 22 June 2003 23:30 |
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