Today is Don’t Step on a Bee Day. You might recall a blog I wrote called Insect Inspector: Murphy’s “Bumble Rumble”. If not, this was the gist: Murph knows bees as bumbles and takes great pleasure in chasing them.
Well, when I stumbled across Don’t Step on a Bee Day while compiling my list of July daily, weekly, and monthly celebrations I laughed and couldn’t help but think of Murphy. I thought I might have to write about it, so I made a note of it on my list of topics and sort of forgot about it.
Until today.
And I didn’t remember so much because I referred back to my list but because of Murphy chasing a bee in the backyard this afternoon. But he didn’t start out looking to chase bees. He was scouring the backyard for the baby bunny we’d seen there last night. During his search he came across a bumble and briefly zig-zagged after it before again finding the bunny’s scent and resuming his patrol.
He hasn’t really been interested in chasing bumbles lately. When spring first sprung and bees were aplenty it was a daily phenomenon. But now that the dog days of summer are upon us, he’s not as inclined towards friskiness. Today was an exception because we went out right after the rain storm, which cooled things off nicely and led to an above average burst in Murph’s mid-day energy.
I’m not sure what Don’t Step on a Bee Day is all about. I checked the internet and didn’t find much except:
• It’s summer and people are more inclined towards going barefoot. Perhaps the day is about reminding people to watch their step?
• I found an Educating About Agriculture site which also lists the day. Perhaps to educate people about the importance bees play in the ecosystem?
• CyberKisses allows you to send customized Don’t Step on a Bee Day cards.
• In Alexandria, Virginia a bakery called Buzz is giving away free “honey cups” today.
• In Aliquippa, Pennsylvania a place called Pat Catan’s is hosting an event for kids to make free Bright Bee Puppets while learning about bees.
All I know is that today we’re supposed to try and not step on bees, and if it wasn’t for Murph chasing the one in our backyard I would have forgotten about it completely. So I’m taking note and watching my step and if we see anymore bees out today I’ll respect them even more by keeping Murph on a short leash.
Related Families.com Bee Articles
Pet First Aid: Bee and Wasp Stings
Travel Tidbits: It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s…A Swarm of Bees?
The Secret Life of Bees — Sue Monk Kidd