Burt's Bees

Kyle, my wife, Eryn, and I went to see Burt's Buzz at the Trylon tonight.  It's a documentary about Burt Shavitz, who was co-founder of Burt's Bees, and the face on their products.  He lives a simple life close to nature in Maine and wasn't part of the almost billion dollar sale of the company based on his original sales of honey.  As he says during the movie - and as others say of him - he only really needs some land, his dog, and not much else.  He's definitely an interesting character who lives life at his own pace.

I enjoyed the movie, which really focused on Burt's character and how it has (not) changed over his life.  The end of the movie really captures the pace with which he lives his life, a pace my wife found excruciating, and the son of the woman who sold Burt's Bees and had him sign over his share talks about how Burt finds more in a short walk than anybody he knows and that it's contagious.

It is also NOT this documentary: Burt Talks to the Bees

Boo Bees

My wife gave me a Valentine's Day card that was just a bit silly and just a bit risqué.  Eryn asked if she could see it, and originally I said "no, it's for adults."  Then I thought about it and said, "Sure, go ahead."

Eryn: "I don't get it."

Me: "What are they?"

Eryn: "Bees."

Me: "What are they saying?"

Eryn: "Boo."

Me: "And what are they?"

Eryn: "Bees."

Me: "What kind of bees?"

Eryn: "..............bumble bees?"

Me: [laughing] "What are they saying?"

Eryn: "Boo."

Me: "And they're....?"

Eryn: "Bees."

Me: "They're...?"'

Eryn: "Bees?"

Me: "That say?"

Eryn: "Boo."

Me: "And they're?"

Eryn: "Bees."

Eryn: "Boo. Bees."  [Eyes roll.  She gets it.]

Bee Car!

I could talk about what little I saw of the President's address between working and reading to Eryn, but instead I'm just going to mention that in the parking lot today, on my way home, I realized as I was walking to my car that the vehicle next to mine was covered in bees (but was not actually a bee, like this picture on Flickr). Then I realized it was worse! They were wasps! My allergies to bees are questionable. I believe I was stung during Elroy Sparta a little over a week ago and survived. And many years ago I was stung by three at once and didn't exhibit even a bit of puffiness. But the last two times I was stung by a wasp involved softball sized swellings and giant baby-looking appendages where my wrist or ankle vanished under the swelling. A car covered in them, immediately next to mine, is problematic, particularly as my car was on the flight path and they kept bouncing off the windows and roof.

There's no great ending where I'm texting this to blogger as I lie swollen in the company lot. I managed to sneak in between wasps and then sat there, observing them feasting on what seemed to be sap all over the neighboring car. I'm going to have to watch for that when I park tomorrow morning.

In the spirit of yesterday's post, I offer the collective nouns for bees, because there are so many of them, at least according to Wiktionary. I find it interesting that the collective noun can vary based on whether the bees are wild or domesticated, around the queen, or a secondary group, or in flight vs. not-necessarily-in-flight.

• bees: A bike of (wild) bees. ?
• bees: A byke of (wild) bees. ?
• bees: A cast of bees (a secondary swarm)
• bees: A cluster of bees (workers around queen).
• bees: A colony of bees
• bees: A drift of bees - in flight ?
• bees: An erst of bees.
• bees: A game of bees.
• bees: A grist of bees.
• bees: A hive of bees. (standard)
• bees: A rabble of bees.
• bees: A stand of bees.
• bees: A swarm of bees - in flight. (standard)

Bee Car

When Ming and I came back from a lunchtime burrito, we parked in an empty spot very close to the building. After parking, it seemed like perhaps no one had parked there because they were afraid of the bee car. Kitty Corner (Catty Corner if you're a hick from WV) to Ming's car was a blue car that was covered in bees. Bees on the hood. Bees on the doors. Bees on the roof. Bees crawling in and out of the grill. It seemed like there was actually a hive somewhere in the car. How does that happen and you don't notice? How does that happen and you don't get the crap stung out of you? There were literally 40-80 bees just sitting on the car. I was pondering how that works from a honey gathering perspective: "Hey...dudes. Don't fly. We'll be there in 35 minutes." "Does that mean we have to listen to the Barrack Obama ebook on the way to the pollen?" "Better than Management in 5 minutes!" "Barely." That's probably why they looked so mad...disagreement about ebooks.