Bug Squad

Talk about good news. Honey bees will definitely benefit from the U.S.

If you want to learn more about ants, especially those in New York City, then here's a newly published book you can't refuse. And it's not only a book you can't refuse, but you can reuse over and over again. It's that fascinating. "Dr.

When a honey bee stings you, she makes the supreme sacrifice and dies. She's usually defending her colony. In the process, she leaves behind part of her abdomen. A beekeeper simply scrapes the sting with a fingernail or a hive tool to stop the pulsating venom and continues working.

The Pride of Maderia (Echium candicans) is blooming in the tiny Sonoma coastal community of Bodega. The purplish-blue spiked flowers attract honey bees, bumble bees and syrphid flies. And visitors. And photographers. The honey bees were buzzing all over the Echium last Sunday, Feb.

Just call them "The Survivors." They made it through the winter: the bitter cold with subfreezing temperatures; the 54-day drought (will it ever rain again?) and the heavy rain that caught us thinking about ark-building.