Finally, after many days were the mercury wouldn’t climb above freezing, a mild day made it’s appearance. With an expected high in the mid to upper 60’s, I decided to feed some 2:1 sugar syrup to my girls.

The feeder is on the right side of the picture above. The picture doesn’t do justice to just how excited they were about finally being able to stretch their wings. I love just sitting out by the hive and watching them come and go. It’s really fun when things are blooming and the pollen’s on and the nectar is flowing. They get so excited and the hive is, literally, abuzz with activity.

What I wanted to point out in this post, is something that is not as noticeable during the spring and summer. These wonderful creatures have a fairly short lifespan, and the toll of building and maintaining a successful hive takes a fantastic toll on them. A bee’s lifespan varies as to time of year, but generally runs from 1 – 4 months. This requires the queen to constantly lay eggs and the workers to constantly tend and feed the new bees. It really is fascinating.

These pictures show the grim remains of some of the deceased members of the hive. Normally, in warmer months, the bees carry off their dead further from the hive. It’s just been in the last couple of months that I have noticed this sad little pile steadily growing larger as the winter progresses.

Not much scarier than riding in a 10 ton vehicle on a sheet of ice. But, it’s beautiful and good for business. We made quite a few 10-48’s (injury accidents) during this last ice storm.

Nothing serious in our area, however, down in Derby, my son’s English teacher was involved in a wreck and had to be flown to the hospital. She spent several days in a drug induced coma. They say she should make a full recovery, but she’s done teaching school for the rest of the year.

We got a call to assist people that were trying to rescue a dog that had fallen through the ice. Our concern with these alarms, is that people will be so intent on rescuing the dog, that sometimes they get themselves in a position where they need rescuing themselves. Sure enough, on our way to the scene, the dispatcher advised that someone had fallen through the ice.

When we got on scene, there was the dog’s owner, standing next to the lake, soaking wet. Steve Runyan, our Rookie, volunteered to play hero and rescue the dog. Since no one else was trying to push their way in front of him, he got the job. As soon as he was tied to a rope and a life jacket fastened around him, in he went.

He said later, that once he got over the initial shock of the cold water, it just got colder. After 30 seconds of breaking ice with his stocking feet, he made it to the dog. Then, he and the dog raced each other to the bank. As soon as he reached the bank, I told Steve to get in the cab of the engine. Surprisingly, I got no argument.

“What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty man.”