Bug Squad

Monarch butterflies aren't the only insects that hang around milkweed, their host plant. You're likely to see a variety of predators, such as the European paper wasp, Polistes dominula.

Honey bees intrigue, delight and fascinate Norman Gary. In fact, they have for 70 years. Seven decades. Yes, that's how long he's kept bees.

The National Geographic just ran a piece titled "Without Bugs, We Might All Be Dead." "There are 1.4 billion insects for each one of us," wrote Simon Worrall in reviewing the book, Bugged: The Insects Who Rule and the World and the People Obsessed with Them by journalist David MacNeal.

One of Buck Owens' signature songs that never failed to please his fan base was "I Got a Tiger by the Tail." The Country-Hall-of-Fame singer, who died in 2006 at age 76, said the lyrics came to him after he noticed a gas station sign advertising "Put a tiger in your tank.

Turning 40 can be mind-boggling. But it will be bee-boggling--all bee-boggling--when the Western Apicultural Society (WAS) meets Sept. 5-8 at the University of California, Davis for its 40th annual conference. So much to do. So much to hear. So much to talk about.