Where are the bees?

We rarely go to the theater anymore. It has to be something special and something that my children sans attention spans can fixate on for more five minutes. Aside from some talking back to the screen, and several shhushes... our last trip to the Orpheum went well. We watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull, which in my opinion was just as good as Raiders. Slightly on the predictable side of things, but other than that a great flick.

The previews on that day had a promo for The Happening, M. Night Shamalamadamadang's lastest paranoid thriller. It starts out with all the bees leaving, and then apparently humankind begins to be eradicated. (Not too far off of all the dolphins leaving from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).

I notice there are no bees here in Kodiak this year, well few I should say. There have been two that have managed to enter the screenless windows all summer, where any other year there are usually three or four a day buzzing around if you leave the window open for more than five minutes. Possibly our late winter killed them off? The salmonberries seem to have managed to fruit, and look to be a better crop than last year, but without the bees what was pollinating them?

Hmm. Things to ponder... do we have any entomologists out here?

***
Three seconds later I realize there was a news report on KMXT that kind of scooped and answered that question. It says there is no discernible drop in our native pollinators. There it is again the factual versus the anecdotal.