On the Cleverness of Bees:

I was just stepping out the door with with Peter's fluffy throw/blanket, to set it out in the warm afternoon sun. Even after washing it twice, he still complained that it "smelled funny."

"Don't do that."  Adam warned me.  "It's going to rain."

"How do you know? I asked him.

"The bees."

Bees are so smart. They know when it's gonna rain, even if there hasn't been a drop, or a roll of thunder, or a whiff of damp air. They just know. Adam went outside to work on that Warre hive a little, and the bees were grumpy. They were bumping him. They were letting him know he wasn't welcome. They were grumpy because their lives were about to be interrupted by rain.

I left the blanket inside, and Adam and I walked out to the garden. A moment later we heard the first far-off rumble. A few minutes after that, occasional drops began.

I must say, we've learned a lot from having bees. Now we have 160,000 weathermen, in our own back yard.