(I wrote this before the freeze.)

I thought that bees made their hives in hollow trees or built hives that look like the ringed yellowish mound that’s always on the honey jar label or on all those road signs in Utah. I was surprised to find this hive being constructed in a lemon tree next to my driveway: three flat honeycombs and a fourth one getting started. They worked hard at it for weeks. Their single minded concentration was fascinating. Hundreds of bees working—well, like busy bees— and very few flying around looking for food. I loved watching them. If they became a problem I planned to call one of my avocado grower friends to get the name of a beekeeper who might want them. Avocados need bees to help them pollinate and you often see hives in avocado groves. But they never became a problem. I hadn’t looked at them for a while and checked on them several weeks after I took this picture. They were all gone.