This is the honey dispenser at a local grocery store.  It cracks me up every time I see it.  It reminds me of a gag gift my father had when I was young called “The Invisible Shark.”  It was a sealed fish bowl with nothing in it and a big warning on the top.  I was pretty sure there wasn’t a shark inside, but I couldn’t bring myself to take the lid off to make sure.

Two of my friends raise bees as a hobby.  They are very passionate about bees and have taught me all kinds of things about an ecosystem I had no idea existed.  The Wall Street Journal had a recent story on bees that provides a good summary.

Jeff is an experienced bee keeper who recently moved to the area.  He started with no bee hives two months ago and now has nine.  He is on a special list of people that rescue bees that have swarmed.  As the WSJ article points out, more and more people are trying to save bees when they swarm or interfere with humans instead of exterminating them.

Robin has been blogging about her bee keeping experiences with her husband.  As Robin blogs more about her experiences and Jeff’s hive collection increases I’ve gotten more curious about how everything works.  Robin suggested a book titled Plan Bee.  It is a short, informative, entertaining read about bees and how they do their thing. If you want to learn more about bees I suggest reading it.

It is nice to step away from the virtual world of software and computers to interact with things that are really alive and living.  A hobby related to animals or raising things has never interested me, but sometimes I wonder if it would be more satisfying than managing software schedules.  Although, in the case of tending bees, it could be just as unpredictable. 🙂