Yesterday I was taken for a driving lesson in the free green 1953 Dodge pick up. So I can drive it to and fro with the asparagus that will soon be popping up if the weather stays this warm! Did I tell you that when I first went for my drivers license at age 15 in NZ, the traffic cop who took me said I was not a bad driver just not a very good one. But I received my little drivers license book all shiny and newly stamped. I guess going for the test in my very short convent girl school uniform paid off then! 
And looking for this shot..
I found this one. Mary’s Cat wandered over after the longest daytime nap in the history of Cat and arranged himself artistically beside the daffodil. He is calling it Spring Cat in Repose. 
I was wrong about the forsythia, the bees were two doors down in the Butterfly Garden. The Fosythia is quiet compared to the Pussy Willow. 
The Pussy Willow is noisy with the hum of Bee Bombers. 
The little tree is literally heaving with bees. I do not know how they are avoiding collisions without any rear view mirrors. 
And every day from now until Mama presents us with her lambs (and yes this is where we all touch wood or whisper a prayer or lift our head to the sun in unison) from now until that day …
If I have to stare desperately at this Big Fat Mama every day – then so do you. And I really do not command TonTon to sit in every single Mama shot, he just does. It is his job he thinks. And Mama just humours him. She is tottering about quite merrily, runs bouncily to me when she gets her wee portion of grain (a most unsettling sight) and is generally looking healthy, just huge.
Good morning. Last night after my bath I went out in my nightie and gumboots with the torch to check Mama as usual. Very strangely Ton was not on the mat at the kitchen door. Usually he hears the bath gurgling down the pipes and is waiting for me. I called him, he came, but from across the field which was weird.
OK, lets go see Mama, I said and he turned and ran straight for Pat’s Paddock. TonTon I called. He came back. See Mama, I said a little louder. Mama is not out there. I pointed in the right direction as I stepped into my gumboots, See Mama, I said again. He blinked loudly at me, and ran as fast as a whippet into Mama’s field, past Mama then over the fence and back out into Pats Paddock. I mumbled to myself about that dog needing more training and went to the sheep’s paddock. Mama was fine. Mia was staring after TonTon.
Then Ton barked from Pat’s Paddock. You will remember that this is the 2 acre paddock on the North Side of the barn, with all the good forage that we sowed last year. We have had it shut off all winter and now it is being left to grow until the clover and grass is at least 6 – 8 inches high. Then it will be carefully grazed in an orderly fashion. Ton barked again. He seldom barks.
With the beam of my torch I quickly checked that Queenie and The Baby Bobby were where they should be. Seperate. Yes. I could see Hairy MacLairy watching me from his side of the North fence. His white face caught in a jag of lightening from the West. Good. He and Daisy have that small winter field out the North door of the barn. So I walked around the barn and into this area. No Daisy. Hmm. Maybe she had gone inside the barn. There was a flash of lightening, I stopped and counted to the rumble of thunder, the storm was 4 miles away. The tiniest breeze lifted my hair. The scent changed.
From my right in the dark TonTon barrelled under the fence and straight to me then ran straight back out and into the dark and barked again. By then I knew that Daisy was not where she should be. By then I could see that a naughty cow had left behind evidence of part jumping, part clambering over the holding fence. I hoped she had not hurt herself.
By then I could see that there was a great big cow out in the middle of Pat’s Paddock in forbidden territory, munching on the green stuff like there was no tomorrow. Bad Cow I said, wondering if we would get any rain out of this storm. We could do with some rain.
I trudged out through the dark, into the middle of the field, in my nightie and gumboots lit by far away flashes of sharp white lightening and inspected her with the torch. It started to gently rain. She was fine, just bothered that maybe I was standing on a good patch of clover. And she was not going back through the gate to the barn for anything. So I left the gate open so she did not have to jump the fence again to get to her water, and went to bed.
What if she gets hit by lightening? John said. (The people around here are terrified of lightening). You go and bring her in then, I said as I wiped the rain into my face with my hands. She likes you.
Early, early this morning, at my 4.30 am Mama check, I called Daisy back through and shut the gate. Too much spring clover can be too much of a good thing on a winter forage belly. The storm never came but we did get a tiny bit of rain – about a quarter of a rain barrel. I must get a rain gauge but then it may never rain again. I can be a bit superstitious sometimes.
Good morning!
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
79 responses to “The Bomber Bees, and Daisy goes for a wander in forbidden territory.”
Ton ton is really your eyes and ears isn’t he? what a wonderful relationship you two have 🙂
And I need to listen to him more, he really does know when someone is not where they should be.. it is good.. Morning joanna, are you still visiting? c
Sigh…wasn’t pregnancy supposed to “calm her down?”
Devilish Creature!
Enjoy your day, C!
Exactly Marie, they all said when she got pregnant she would stop jumping fences! Well she is having her breakfast IN the barn this morning, while I work out what do do next. Even when I use electric fences she just jumps them! hmm.. c
Good morning Celi. I think all the photos in this post should be used for your next set of postcards – the are exquisite! Poor Mama looks like her legs are far too skinny to hold up that “barrel” of a frame at the moment – the poor dear. Please don’t tell her I said so!
Do give our Ton Ton a big pat on the head from he – he is such a clever boy!
🙂 Mandy
I won’ tell her, she is stuffing her face with her breakfast at the moment so I think she has pretty much no idea how fat she is getting, morning mandy! c
Great images celi, did you take those photos
Morning Gazza, I take all the shots on all my pages and they are all from my little farm on the same day.. good morning.. c
My favourite image is the old truck, looks like it could be in a commercial for Levi’s.
Just bought myself a cannon 5D MK11 and trying to suss out how it works 🙂
What fun, playing with a new camera is awesome.. enjoy.. c
Wow! Great shot of bees in flight! Congratulations!
They do look like they are in formation for a bombing raid don’t they!! I enjoyed that set too!! c
Good for Tonton and naughty Daisy. I hope she has no ill effects from the rich grass. We had a Welsh pony who had to be shut in most of the day in Spring or he got colic. When he did, I had to walk him round all night keeping his head up and talking to him. We called him hang horse (instead of hangdog!) Eventually after we sold him and moved away we heard that he died of colic at a grand old age.
I am feeding her some pretty rough grass hay this morning just in case. To make matters worse it was wet clover too, however none of it is too high yet so each mouthfull would have been small. She looks OK. no bloating. Poor little Welsh pony. I can just see you up all night walking round and round. Actually that is what i need- a small pony to walk into the old folks home,, THAT would be awesome! c
The bomber bees are brilliant – what a picture, what a photograph ( that’ the chorus of a song in the 70’s musical “Half a Sixpence” if you’re interested). I also need that sofa.
Lucky shot those bees, with those ones i focus on a spot and hope someone flies in!! And two did! Morning Roger, that sofa is what they call a Glider here. It is on a stand and swings when you sit in it. It is made of tin and is actually pretty light. I found it in The Matriarchs hay loft. It is my summer seat.. c
Loved the pictures and the story of your day. This is what I wonder: if you are near a plant heavy with bomber bees, working hard to collect pollen, are you safer from getting a bee sting than from one bee who is leisurely flying around, up to no good?
Ronnie
You will pretty much only get stung if you step on a bee or stick your hand in its hive too fast. Just go slow and they do not bother you. Sometimes I will get guarded by a bee and he will buzz me until I move out of his range.. funny things.. They also have pretty strict flight paths so it is a good idea to learn those and stay out of the busy channels.Amazing creatures really. Good morning Ronnie.. c
Not necessarily so, C. We had a couple of hives at the bottom of our garden years ago, and I was pruning the roses in a bed which ran across the front of them. It was February or March. The bees decided I was messing up their flight path, and dive-bombed my head from all angles. It was very scary, and I can still hear the angry buzzing in my ears. I tore off my watch, threw it at nearby husband and ran at full tilt to dive head first into the pond. Amazingly, I only had one sting.
Yup you were being buzzed and like i say you do need to watch out for their flight paths.. how clever of you to dive in the pond, i hope it was not too weedy!! c
Sad to have to go out AFTER the nice hot bath! I hate that.
I do it every night.. never learn!! c
you must have used a very high shutter filed to snap those bees in flight! Amazing.
Your Spring is ahead of ours – though I have seen lots of lambs out and about, I haven’t seen forsythia in bloom yet.
G’morning, Celi! (Every time I write your name I’m reminded that there’s work to be done on the family tree.)
TonTon is truly a wonder dog! It’s an old joke that Lassie barks, “Timmy’s in the well!” Not so funny anymore when you learn of a dog that barks, “Daisy’s in Pat’s Paddock!” And I think he’s staying with Mama because, unbeknownst to you, he’s a trained doula. That dog is a wonder!
What a fantastic dog! So intelligent. I just love reading your farm adventures. You have such a way with words. It’s like reading a great short story every time. It’s always such a treat. I love the bee pictures too!
Morning kristy and thank you.. c
I love your bee bombers: amazing photographs! And I just grow more and more attached to Mama every day. Fingers crossed that all goes well for her.
Good old Ton Ton 🙂
I feel so badly for her, I don’t know what we will do if she goes two more weeks.. c
Love the old truck photos!!!! And never get tired of seeing Ton Ton!
Thank you jim, hope things are going well over at your place! c
What spirited animals you have, fence-jumping and all.
She has always been a fence jumper that cow, she thinks she is a horse! morning Sharyn.. c