18th
BEES SECOND ENCOUNTER
THEY’RE ONLY AFTER ONE THING, THESE BARN CATS.
This one also doesn’t illustrate very much—but it does have some portentous music underscoring the solemnity of the events therein! Thanks David Lang!
It’s important to note that smoking bees isn’t meant to stun them. Using the smoker activates their protective instincts: it makes them think a forest fire is approaching; they dive into the heart of their comb, to eat a quick meal of honey, to super-charge for the imminent escape from the flames. They get super docile. A.J. and Dad wore net gear, but I stood just as close by without a single bee landing on me.
At the heart of this video is the story of Dolores, A.J. and Tayler’s inherited cat. She has a tremendous sensuality, and an even grander reserve of dignity. So hearing how two barn toms attacked her in the night was obscurely hilarious to me—for this I apologize in advance. For the last few days she has sat behind their house, under a leaking spigot. This unnerved A.J. so much that he put a bucket under the leak, forcing Dolores to sit just beside it, in the damp earth. Only this afternoon has she removed herself to the garage. She’s lying down now on cold concrete.
I have to go back to South Bend now.
