NoBell Piece Prize

[fayzee]

This was bestowed on yours truly by The Cutter Bee Society of Wasta.  Recently there was some work done on the siding on my house, and I changed doorbells and installed a remote control doorbell. It had been at my front door and I changed to the entry and when I was putting the holder by the door, I noticed something that looked rather strange in

Comments

[farmlivin]

I am sure your No bell peace prize was more deserved than our President's Nobel. That was such a neat play on words.
We have carpenter bees here. Are they out there too? They bore perfectly round holes in wood and lay eggs. When the eggs hatch there is a neat little round hole in the wood.

[fayzee]

I have never noticed cutter bees as much down here in the river bottom, we had a lot of them up on top and where we lived on the ranch. One time when we drove to the Pedro area and visited with some friends, I noticed a large sign board in their alfalfa field painted with at least a dozen 12"X12" squares, each a different color. Being curious, I asked the woman (one to ride the river with!) about it and she replied they told her cutter bees liked color and the sign would attract them quicker than a plain board. They raised alfalfa on the river bottom, their business was alfalfa seed. The story is honey bees are frightened away when they try to get the pollen when that little tongue comes out. Have you ever tried that? When it blooms, take a tooth pick (I use my jackknife) and call it my sex education class on alfalfa pollenation. I had it shown to me several years ago, and I still love showing it to my startled friends.

[farmlivin]

That is interesting but we don't have alfalfa here. Most of the hayfarmers here grow coastal Bermuda, bahia and a new crop called perennial peanut. The perennial peanut is suppose to be close to alfalfa in protein content. I forget what the protein content is but it is pretty high and more expensive than grass hay.
When we are out west I love to see the alfalfa farms. One of our agricultrue agents told me they are more interesting to see from the air. He had the opportunity to fly over them in Colorado.
I rarely see honey bees when I am out and about. They seem to be getting rare.