Lot of Flowers, No Bees

A while ago there were news stories about what was being called colony collapse disorder. Honey bees have been disappearing and this was the name the scientists gave the problem. Nobody really seems to have a good answer as to why this has happened.

I remember a couple of years ago, the house we rented had bees inside the siding by the garage. My landord had an exterminator come out and kill them. At the time I thought it was a good idea. Jimmy and I had been stung several times while triming the hedge. Now I wonder if it was the right thing to do. Years ago when I lived in Austin I came home from work one day to discover bees all over a young tree I had planted. Luckily one of my neighbors had called the Texas Parks and Wildlife people. As I stood wondering what to do, my doorbell rang. Apparently someone at Parks and Wildlife had gotten in touch with a local beekeeper who was at my front door. He was more than happy to take the bees away.

Now I wonder where the bees have gone. I have not really paid much attention to the colony collapse disorder as it was shown on television. The opinions about this situation are as many as there are scientists. Some say it is because of extermination. Others say it is because the natural habitat of the bees is being erroded due to urban sprawl and the loss of farm land. Some say that the bees have been infected with numerous viruses. Others say nothing is wrong. This is just a natural cycle.

I don't know what to think. While I got annoyed at all the bees flying around under the house siding, I did like to watch them in my flower beds. Now since we live in a townhouse group at the front of the residential street I have not seen any bees. There are a lot of flowers and flowering shrubs around our building as well as the entire neighborhood. I have no place for a flower bed here. But I can walk right out my front door and see several shrubs in full bloom. In the past I would have had to carefully circumvent the shrubs so as not to disturb the bees. Now I walk out and see no bees at all. All the flowering shrubs are in full bloom, yet there are no bees anywhere. Flowers and pollen drop to the ground untouched by Nature's pollinators. I feel a little sad. Is this really a normal cycle or is Someone trying to tell us something?