Bug Squad

Friday, Feb. 11 seemed like a glorious spring day. Almond trees at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis burst into bloom. Early birds...err...early bees...began foraging among the blossoms. A faux spring. Then the rains came.

It was a bee-utiful find: A how-to book published in 1890 on rearing honey bees. We found the book, ABC of Bee Culture: A Cyclopedia of Everything Pertaining to the Care of the Honey Bee; Bees, Honey, Hives, Implements, Honey-Plants, Etc. by A. I.

The overwintering ladybugs tucked in the leaves of our tangerine tree are gone. Sunny temperatures hit 75 degrees, and off they went. Guess they thought it was spring. Anyhow, they made a glorious sight as emerged from the folds of a tangerine leaf.

It's Valentine's Day and it's a honey of a day. Valentine cards proclaim "Bee Mine" and "Bee My Valentine." Invariably, there's a happy honey bee buzzing around a flower on a Valentine's Day card.

It happened. Remember when Chicken Little ran around yelling "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" For almond growers, beekeepers, entomologists, researchers and artists, it's "The almonds are blooming! The almonds are blooming!" Finally, the almond trees at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.