Bug Squad

It's fun seeing little children sharing a cone...an ice cream cone. But have you ever seen a bumble bee and honey bee sharing a cone (coneflower)? Such was the case this morning at the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, the half-acre bee friendly garden located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

The honey bee sculpture that graces the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis is bee-u-tiful. It's the work of nationally renowned artist Donna Billick, based in Davis.

Ants, bees, flies and other insects--and people--ought to scatter from the Briggs Hall lawn on the UC Davis campus, on Friday afternoon, July 16. That's the date of the eighth annual Bruce Hammock Lab Water Balloon Battle, aka Bruce's Big Balloon Battle at Briggs.

As a child growing up in Washington state, I received an entomological nickname. "Katydid." My father, in a take-off of the name, Kate, affectionately called me "Katydid." Katy did. Katy didn't. Maybe Katy did. Maybe Katy didn't.

It was bound to happen. As soon as New York City lifted its ban on backyard (and rooftop) beekeeping, scores of folks began making a beeline to take classes from the New York City Beekeepers' Association.