Will wonders never cease?

a fair warning …

What I’m about to tell you might make some of you blush, others filled with morbid curiosity and still others never visit this blog again. I take my chances.

Today is b-e-a-utiful in the Twin Cities today. The kind of beautiful that makes you want to find a chair, the book you’ve been neglecting and have at both of them. Well, that’s what I was doing–minding my own business, reading “The Mermaid Chair” when all of a sudden I was completely swept into a drama of another kind.

There was buzzing. Lots of buzzing. I looked around to make sure I wasn’t going to be involved in target practice of some kind – but nothing. I turned back to my book. Still. The rhythmic buzzing continued.

I got up to find 2 bees, mating like rabbits and right underneath my chair! Wow. I have never seen 2 bees mating like rabbits before so I let my curiosity keep me glued to the scene. Truth be told, I needed and wanted to get my cheater glasses so I could get a better view but I didn’t want to miss a thing. So I stared on. Whence all of a sudden, I realized that there were 3 bees. It was hard to see and honestly, bees mating like rabbits aren’t exactly of the missionary persuasion- they’re kinda wild.

So, I stared on. 3 bees huh. Nature, I’m surprised at you! Suspending judgment, I stared on. I’m glad I did because there really weren’t 3 bees catchin a buzz, there were 2 bees ganging up on a … a dragonfly?

Oh, poor dragonfly. The mother in me wanted to defend and protect and come to the rescue of this poor poor anthropod. Then, I argued with myself. Are dragonflies better than bees? Bees are insects too. And anyways, isn’t there a shortage of honey because there’s a shortage of bees? Will my rescuing this dragonfly affect the honey supply. I love honey. I can’t be part of that. So the Joan of Arc in me sat in quiet fear and trepidation. I stared on.

Hang on, the climax of my little story is coming to an end. As you may have guessed, I didn’t want to keep this natural wonder to myself and because I don’t think bees care about voyeurism, I hurried to get the camera. I clicked a couple of times and realized perhaps, that maybe bees do care about voyeurism. Because I disturbed them. Not long after capturing the titillating images, they pulled apart to reveal 2 of them.

one bee. one wasp.

What? I couldn’t believe it. Bees and wasps get together? Does this come as a shock to anyone else? I assumed they were mortal enemies. I mean, doesn’t everybody hate wasps? My world is now a little bigger but not in a better bigger but one where the veil of blissful ignorance has been ripped to shreds. I have no idea what to think about this. I’m left with a void of entomological proportions.

That’s it friends. Bees and wasps are more than friends.

There is another item of note however. The smaller bee, the one who was making all the heretofore buzzing racket suddenly took off. Ms. wasp was left by herself to adjust her mandibles, tidy her antennae and rearrange her legs. I felt a little sorry for her. I was of mixed emotions.

you can't make this stuff up!

Dear reader, if you are versed in the mating habits of wasps and bees, please enlighten me. I couldn’t be more curious.

I gotta look down more cause there is a lot goin on.