Sidney and I went to a bee class at the Botanic Gardens on Saturday. I learned there are 20,000 species of bees, almost 1,000 of which live in Colorado. There are more bee species than plant species, how mind blowing is that?! A few specific species were highlighted in the class and then we got up and wandered the gardens to try to catch bees ourselves. The gardens are alive with new spring blooms and it is a beautiful place to be. While we only spotted a glimpse of a bumblebee, there were loads of honeybees out as the Gardens’ houses their own hive. While honeybees aren’t native to the United States, they thrive here and are an important part of our agriculture. Sidney even caught a honeybee!
After meandering through the gardens for thirty minutes, catching lots of honeybees and even finding a fly that mimics a bee, we returned to the classroom where we got to make our own bee houses out of bamboo sticks. The house below will hold a variety of different bee species. These houses are where bees are born and while we won’t see any bees emerging from them this year because they’re new, we should hopefully see some baby bees come out next year. Sidney and I each got to make two bee houses so we’re currently thinking about where we’ll put them. The backyard is supposedly the best location for them because it faces east but I’m thinking we’ll have to put one or two in the side or front yard because of how shady the backyard is.
After the class, it was time to pick up Lydia, who is visiting for a few days! I’m so glad we get to spend some time with her before she dashes off on her months long summer trip. She’ll get to see my yard and maybe help out a bit so I’m thrilled. Because part of her summer trip is a 10 mile a day walk for multiple days, she convinced Gene to walk 3 miles to a nearby Target. While they were doing that, Sidney, Elisabeth, and I went on a smaller walk ourselves and tried our hands at painting dice too. Elisabeth was inspired by people she found online who had painted dice and got Sidney and I to give it a try with her. I like how my die came out and had fun painting it.
Because Gene and Lydia walked 3 miles to Target, it was only fair that the rest of us picked them up in the car and took them to Pinkberry. It was a nice way to end the evening, especially since I enjoyed their new strawberry kiwi flavor. I wonder what adventures today will bring!
