Bumblebees and Babies

Have you ever really thought much about bumblebees? They are excellently named as they do nothing more than bumble along when they "fly."


A huge and clumsy body makes them slam into ceilings, houses, or people's t-shirts more than regularly (a problem shared by Junebugs). And radical gains and losses of altitude appear to be completely unintentional. When you consider the wasp, they look intelligent when they fly. You can see their mean little eyes, and they generally fly in a premeditated and predictable pattern. Bumblebees, on the other hand, are the shaggy dogs of insects. You never see their eyes, and their tongues (if they had them) would surely hang out as they collide into your head.

Somewhere, someplace maybe there is an offended mother bumblebee listening to me go on about her kid. She's indignant and defensive. And perhaps she would say, "Well, look at your own larva, lady!"

And I would say, "Okay, okay. Take it easy, mother bee."