I happened to notice one of my honeybee hives this afternoon having a 'washboard day'...really going to town on it. Washboarding is a bee behavior that is not entirely understood yet. You can see the bees move forward and back rhythmically, shuffling their front feet around on the surface of the hive, usually near the entrance. Perhaps they are merely cleaning the area, or perhaps they are applying some scent or substance and polishing it onto the surface. I love to watch them do this.
It was about 95F out, hot as blazes. Brian and I went to a friend's house to jump in their pool while they were off on vacation somewhere. Nothing like swimming in someone else's pool. After cooling off we played some fiddle tunes in the cool basement kitchen there with a guitar playing friend, and ate the salad I picked fresh from our vegetable garden just two hours before, topped with slivers of purple kohlrabi and neon orange nasturtium blossoms reminiscent of fireworks. Went home just before dark and my bees were bearding in the heat, hanging in a bee trapezesque glob from the hive, wings frailing in a blur like a million tiny exhaust fans hard at work.
