Bug Squad

Poet Gertrude Stein, who coined "A rose is a rose is a rose," probably would have liked it. Julia Child, maybe not.

Incredible. Absolutely incredible. The Western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis) seems to be making a comeback of sorts in some parts of the West. Reporter Michelle Nijhuis, in an Oct.

There's a "me" in mead. There also could be a "u" in mead, as in "you." There's definitely a honey bee, as without the bee and the honey, there's no mead.

When you visit the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis, be sure to check out the passionflower vine clinging to the fence. You'll see female Valley carpenter bees (Xylocopa varipuncta) seemingly speckled with gold dust.

It was blazing hot that summer day in Winters, Calif. The date: July 22, 2012. The place: a sunfiower field in Winters, Calif.