The Latest Buzz

So I drove the Wifey SUV over to Deb and Norman's house for a lovely FD brunch.  Deb puts out quite the spread -- we all ate like kings, and she made sure to invite all Dads to hit the buffet line first.  It was like being Dad for a day...

The best part for me was chatting with Max, the patriarch.  He's turning 90 the day D1 gets married, and he was sharing with some grandkids the latest photo app -- you can BUY it rather than lease, and it works better than photoshop.  The man has the mind of a much younger man -- D2 always remembers how, years ago, he was "jailbreaking" his I Phone.  I still don't even know what that means.

So this man, with 4 kids, tons of grandkids, and great grandkids -- asked me about the Ds -- how they were, how D1's  practice was going.  If I'm somehow blessed with his quantity of years, I hope I have a fraction of the quality of them...

Our families have overlap.  Rachel, Norman's niece, is a year ahead of D1 at UF, and turns out they have good friends in common.  Rachel is now our family pharmacist, and the mother of 2 adorable kids as well, and I enjoyed her lighting up an already bright room.  Her mom Susan was D2's math teacher at Palmetto, and it was great to catch up with her, too.

And the real thrill was watching Norman's boy and his best friend Ramon play dominoes -- on the UM table -- something they do at Canes tailgates, which are precious months away...

Then I came home, and noticed a bunch of bees buzzing by the front gate.  And then I saw it -- a moving, dark circle -- large pizza sized.  It was a swarm!

We've had bees before.  The strangest was when we noticed golden colored goo on a staircase.  It was dripping wax from a hive in our attic -- which luckily relocated.  Years later, I saw bees again buzzing outside of that part of the roof, and I called Willie the Bee man, our local maven.  His man Omar sealed off some openings, and sprayed, and we were bee free.

So I called Willie's number, even though it was FD, and Sunday.  He answered and we caught up -- he remembered me because of our friendly talks.  He's in his 60s and a hippie type who's made a VERY nice living removing bees -- his biggest client is FPL.  In fact, they paid him to remove a hive living inside out security light, that FPL owns.

I apologized for bothering him, but he was fine -- you can "only watch grandkids run around for so long..."  He told me to save my money -- a ground swarm would likely leave on its own, but if not, one of his bee men could come by later today and dispatch them.

I texted Wifey and the girls in NYC, and realized I could have simply NOT told Wifey -- she walks around outside at night these days -- and had the best practical joke of all time, as I filmed her running from the disturbed swarm.

D1 noted that it WOULD be a great practical joke, but that they're less funny when they turn fatal.  That's not likely for Wifey, even if the bees are "Africanized," or more aggressive, but they could sting one of our hapless dogs to death.  Nah -- the bees will either be left alone, or committed to Willie's crew...

Wifey returns tonight -- turns out she was a great help to D2 and Jonathan -- getting them organized, and being the Mom general with unpacking.  I really, really despise moving -- I look forward to my visit this Friday sans schlepping.

And by then, this buzzyness should be resolved.