Honey bees, and other flying objects
Jul. 7th, 2011 11:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
doodlemaier posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
bee_folkIt was already late in the evening (or rather, very, very early the following morning) after arriving in sweat home Front Royal from an extended weekend in Philly for the 4th, Momma and J-man were curled up together in bed and I could not sleep. I quietly collected the little kitchen flashlight and stole down through the backyard for a peek at the hives at a time when the bees of Lada and Brigid were most unaccustomed to my observations. Although in a smaller sense than Brigid had cast her swarm earlier, Lada's bees were bearding thickly on the front porch with the contented roar of a hive busy making honey. . . and preparations! The guard bees at the periphery of the cluster were quite active for this time of day (I guess) and were increasingly willing to fly into the night or, at least, into the fading beam of the little flashlight as I stood in the sweet, warm, floral scented breath from the mouth of the hive. I switched off the tiny beam and stepped back a few feet sensing that my presence was becoming disruptive.
Over my shoulder just a few degrees above the southwestern horizon I saw a peculiar "star" shimmering brightly where I'd never noticed one before. Granted, I'm not astute enough with astronomy that I'd notice a star here or there out of place but this one attracted enough attention for me to stand and stare for a while like any other hillbilly at his first UFO sighting. The star had a odd multi-colored shimmer to it that, at first, I attributed to the angle at which the lower (therefore, thicker) atmosphere tends to distort light on humid evenings. First blue, then yellow and, I think red, as I don't "get" those frequencies of light very well due to a mild red/green color blindness, and the lights didn't blink in a regular interval like the markers of an airplane. Instead, they displayed a cluster-like behavior such as one might observe from a giant distant disco ball and was suggestive of a random pattern of rotation. I looked closely at its position in regard to a distinctive cluster of trees on the horizon and two visible stars flanking the strange lights to try and determine a trajectory, assuming that it must be a satellite.
After a couple minutes of blinking and eye rubbing I discerned that the object was indeed moving but in a completely different manner than I'd ever seen any other airborne object or creature move before. It hovered gently in a tiny space between the other stars almost like a wasp caught inside bubble, or the twinkling focus of a laser pointer spelling out long lines of text one character directly atop the next. I watched the thing for twenty minutes or more before getting almost bored with its antics to go inside and post crazy updates to [stupid social media site] about watching a UFO from my backyard at 2:30AM.
When I came back outside a few minutes later to look for the thing from the original spot in the lawn I had marked by leaving behind the little flashlight it was still in the same general area of the sky between the two stars. As I watched, trying to recognize a pattern within its gentle hovering bounce, I notice that it was also slowly drifting further away from me, not only in relation to the trees but also that the lights were becoming dimmer and, I assume, more distant. Soon it was practically to the point where I could barely make the distinction between it and any other star in the night sky. I waited patiently only to see it return to what appeared to be very close to its original position when I first noticed it. It continued the tight little hovering motions which, at times, very much resembled the waggledance as performed by honeybees through which they communicate the location of nectar and pollen sources to their hive mates. Eventually my UFO drifted off into the distance, whether the outer or orbit or merely over into West Virginia to hassle some other hillbillies there. What better place to test secret military technology than over the once wild, craggy hills of West, By God, Virginny!
Over my shoulder just a few degrees above the southwestern horizon I saw a peculiar "star" shimmering brightly where I'd never noticed one before. Granted, I'm not astute enough with astronomy that I'd notice a star here or there out of place but this one attracted enough attention for me to stand and stare for a while like any other hillbilly at his first UFO sighting. The star had a odd multi-colored shimmer to it that, at first, I attributed to the angle at which the lower (therefore, thicker) atmosphere tends to distort light on humid evenings. First blue, then yellow and, I think red, as I don't "get" those frequencies of light very well due to a mild red/green color blindness, and the lights didn't blink in a regular interval like the markers of an airplane. Instead, they displayed a cluster-like behavior such as one might observe from a giant distant disco ball and was suggestive of a random pattern of rotation. I looked closely at its position in regard to a distinctive cluster of trees on the horizon and two visible stars flanking the strange lights to try and determine a trajectory, assuming that it must be a satellite.
After a couple minutes of blinking and eye rubbing I discerned that the object was indeed moving but in a completely different manner than I'd ever seen any other airborne object or creature move before. It hovered gently in a tiny space between the other stars almost like a wasp caught inside bubble, or the twinkling focus of a laser pointer spelling out long lines of text one character directly atop the next. I watched the thing for twenty minutes or more before getting almost bored with its antics to go inside and post crazy updates to [stupid social media site] about watching a UFO from my backyard at 2:30AM.
When I came back outside a few minutes later to look for the thing from the original spot in the lawn I had marked by leaving behind the little flashlight it was still in the same general area of the sky between the two stars. As I watched, trying to recognize a pattern within its gentle hovering bounce, I notice that it was also slowly drifting further away from me, not only in relation to the trees but also that the lights were becoming dimmer and, I assume, more distant. Soon it was practically to the point where I could barely make the distinction between it and any other star in the night sky. I waited patiently only to see it return to what appeared to be very close to its original position when I first noticed it. It continued the tight little hovering motions which, at times, very much resembled the waggledance as performed by honeybees through which they communicate the location of nectar and pollen sources to their hive mates. Eventually my UFO drifted off into the distance, whether the outer or orbit or merely over into West Virginia to hassle some other hillbillies there. What better place to test secret military technology than over the once wild, craggy hills of West, By God, Virginny!
