MUST LOVE...BEES!

            And spiders and ants and lizards but the bees are the most in your face here. I’ve noticed though that if you are working away they leave you alone but if you stop and suck on some water or just walk about aimlessly like I like to do they confront you as if to say, “Get back to work human. We’re not going to do this all by ourselves.”

            So I was getting ready to rub it in that it has been absolutely magical here as of late weather wise. Everything is blooming, hence all the bees, and the temp has been in the 70’s (20-24 Celsius) and the wind hasn’t even been that strong to destroy my bike rides.  So I take the morning off because I am just spent and decide to study some French since I actually think I’ve fallen off track with it all. The day before I had worked on my farmer’s tan and gotten my arms burned up a bit so I made sure I applied liberal amounts of sunscreen before I left. It was cloudy and cool when I got ready to leave but the weather around here always reminds me of every hiking/climbing story that goes horribly awry.

            “So tell us what happened,” asks the barely there reporter.

            “I don’t know, the weather was nice when we left and then a storm blew in and after eight days camped in a snow bank we ate Ted.”

            I make my trek down the mountain to the vines and I notice that there are no bees. None. I look myself over and tell myself that what I’m wearing will be OK for whatever blows in. I figure the bees know something I don’t and it makes me uneasy but for two hours it’s perfect weather to work in. No sun, slightly cool, and just enough breeze to keep it all moving. Then just as fast as all the military aircraft in the sky (there is a shit ton here flying back and forth from Germany) a storm rolls in, drops the temp to the low 40’s with rain and wind. Ah, merde. I knew I should have listened to the bees I thought to myself as I made a mad dash back home to grab my gear.  Next time I’ll listen to the bees, or maybe, just maybe, watch the freakin’ weather report.

Note: Today I did check the weather since I wanted to ride to Colmar which would be a 40-50 km round trip and they said all was well weather wise. I finished up with somethings around the abode and got ready to go but once again, no bees. I gave it some time and ate lunch and I decided to finally listen to the bees and stay home. Fast forward an hour and you guessed it, another storm rolled in, dropped the temp, and wreaked havoc for four hours. I was going to thank the bees but then I realized they are French bees and won't understand my sentiments and probably just sting the living bejesus out of me. Any way bees, if you're reading this, you're the best.