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News & ArtsTuesday, June 15, 2010
City Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: It's Armageddon Up in Here
Posted by Unpaid Intern on Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 3:29 PM
A neighborhood blog roundup by news intern Erika Broad
- Image Via MyBallard
- It's Swarm Season.
On Monday afternoon, a giant swarm of bees about four houses long invaded Ballard and took up residence in a tree outside one (cursed) person's home. My Ballard reports that the homeowner made an intelligent decision and called the Puget Sound Beekeeper's Association, who came out and put the approximately 10,000 bees into a temporary beehive. But watch out: It's apparently "swarm season" all over Seattle, and in these warm summer months, the city has plenty of heathens and shirtless gays running about, taunting God. My advice: invest in a scapular.
In other seasonal news, it's a sad farewell for many to idyllic summers-gone-by at the neighborhood wading pool: Wedgwood View reports that both of their community’s wading pools are taking a hit in the mid-year budget cuts announced by the mayor’s office yesterday. The View Ridge wading pool will be completely closed this summer, and the Dahl Park wading pool will only be open three days a week. The Ravenna wading pool will also be closed this summer, reports U-District Daily.
2
at least the bees didn't shoot out of the dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you.
3
We had a swarm at Chez Vel-DuRay the other day. Nothing like what happened in Ballard (they're such show-offs) but scary enough. They came down our alley and thankfully kept on going.
5
I was startled recently to discover that my problem all along has been a bee in my bonnet. I'm going to be a much lovelier Slog commenter from now on.
6
"A swarm in May is worth a bale (or bottle) of hay. A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon. A swarm in July isn't worth a fly."
Old beekeeper adage.
Two years ago, my hive swarmed because we were late in putting on a super, and we lost the whole colony because the swarm reduced their numbers too much. Hopefully the more Mediterranean climate will prevent this from happening to whoever's bees those were.
Also, people, don't get all worked up about swarms. The bees in one are full of honey and have no hive to defend, so they're about as gentle as they ever are.
Old beekeeper adage.
Two years ago, my hive swarmed because we were late in putting on a super, and we lost the whole colony because the swarm reduced their numbers too much. Hopefully the more Mediterranean climate will prevent this from happening to whoever's bees those were.
Also, people, don't get all worked up about swarms. The bees in one are full of honey and have no hive to defend, so they're about as gentle as they ever are.
10
Oh, neat. Those bees were right next to my house; my roommate submitted the pictures to MyBallard. It should be noted that before the beekeeper arrived, there was a group of boys throwing stuff (chunks of concrete, a sweater) into the pile of bees and then freaking out and screaming at their own fate-tempting. Pretty entertaining, and also kind of amazing that they didn't get stung.
11
Correction: I probably should have checked the actual link first. The swarm of bees next to my house was much, much smaller and much less Armageddon-y.
12
Apparently "colony collapse syndrome" was just bees leaving their local hives and forming giant communes in urban centers....are they going..to San Francisco...be sure to wear...Flowers? Where?
15
@12: 10,000 bees are not that many. A SINGLE healthy hive contains anywhere from ~30,000 in late winter to ~60,000 in early summer (up to 80,000 if it's in the American South).
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