Critters

We have eight beehives on our property. About a week or so ago, we saw that one of the hives was knocked over and frames were everywhere. Bees were everywhere. It was a mess. It sat like that until last night, when Ryan fixed it all up again. He said a bear did it, but Kacy and I thought it was our dog, George. Today Ryan called me while I was at playgroup and said that it WAS a bear. See the evidence for yourself- the bear left his calling card. The hive on the right was the first attacked, and then today it was the hive on the left. Kind of funny- I was loading up the kids and two bees were dive bombing me, which never happens. I was doing a funny dance to avoid the bees thinking "Wow, I think maybe my coconut scented conditioner is a bad thing right now", all while loading up our gear. I jumped in the car, and then when I got out to the highway I called Ryan and apologized for not saying good-bye because there were bees in the car and all around me. When I returned from playgroup and drove by the hives, bees started attacking my car. (Really.) I got to our trailer, and Ryan comes out, motioning for me to stay in the car. He gets in and says he just reassembled one of the hives and the bees are mad. He got stung five times through his pants. He said he could swat the bees away and it was like pushing through tree branches, they were so dense. It wasn't safe to unload the kids, so he ran into the trailer, got me a few supplies, and the kids and I headed to Bakersfield a little earlier than planned. We stopped at the Nature Preserve and used the bathrooms, got Kacy from school, and went to visit my family for Will's birthday. On the way home, I got out my camera just in case I saw the bear. I pulled up to the hive and THERE IT WAS! It was into the same hive again. I tried to take a picture of it, but my camera's flash went off and I have a lovely image of a dirty window and the reflection of the dashboard. It's a medium sized bear (I think- I told Kacy it was like a teenager bear, and she said there is no such thing.) and very black with a brown nose. It took off when it finally saw me. I went to look at the hives just now to see if it was back, and it was no where to be seen. (I was totally in my car- I may be many, many things, but completely stupid I am not. Now, if I had a gun...) I tell ya, we live in one of the weirdest places on the planet. Is it the desert? Is it the mountains? (Technically we live between two mountain ranges heavy with forest and wildlife in a rain shadow that give us all the Joshua Trees and sage.) Wildlife that I've seen include: many species of bird, scorpions, a garter snake, a California legless lizard (still a snake in my book...), bobcat, deer, a mountain lion (I'm 80% sure about this one- big cat with a long tail while I was running along the wash...) deer, bovine, STUPID stupid rabbits (they ate my garden last night. I have NOTHING green. Another post...) all manner of vermin, and coyotes. This is why I want to throw up and pass out and run like the wind all at the same time when Ed wanders and I can't see him. Critters!