Bee's Wings A Mystery!

The Mystery of How Fat, Heavy, Pollen-laden Bees can Fly Using those Tiny Wings

          Until the advent of high speed cinematography and robotics,  science could not explain how a large bodied bee could fly, much less explain how it could  hover or carry pollen equal to its weight back to the hive. Using slow motion photography, then reproducing the bee wings actions in a large robotic bee wing, scientists have found some pretty miraculous movements that have little to do with traditional aerodynamics. Bees have two pair of wings, the hind pair being the smaller of the two. In 2005 using the above technology, Michael Dickinson and his Caltech colleagues studied honey bee flight and found the bees wing beat frequency flaps approximately 230 times per second. This is faster than a fruit fly (200 times per second) which is 80 times smaller.

 

Honey Bees on a Cactus Flower

           There is another unique feature besides speed to these wings. Caltech's analysis revealed that sufficient lift was generated by "the unconventional combination of short, choppy wing strokes, a rapid rotation of the wing as it flops over and reverses direction." Add this to the very fast wing-beat frequency and you have lift off with great weight bearing capacity.

Short, Choppy Wing Strokes with Rapid Rotation as it Flops Over and 

Reverses Direction Could be Described as 

The Figure Eight Sideways Symbol of Infinity

This BEE's Burden has Infinite Overtones

          I've had a seriously stressful month, starting off with a case of the Norovirus Flu that I probably caught in a nursing home where I was visiting Mary who had knee surgery. For two weeks, four days each week, two + hours a day I spent visiting teaching her...well, I'd say getting to know her better, being a friend and learning about her life. But, locally this flu had outbreaks in nursing homes. I got sick General Conference Sunday with vomiting and severe diarrhea; My husband, Bob, got it the next Friday, and we had lots of decisions about who would GO where!!!
          My Husband then went into a rapid decline. To bring you up to date (because I don't talk much about personal stuff here; but am rethinking that) he was diagnosed with end stage prostate cancer that had metastasized to his spine last November. He went into hospice at home the first of December and now the cancer has spread lesions into his shoulders, and ribs. The bottom line is that his knees are often very weak and he falls; and the pain is pretty severe. The doctor has increased his pain meds so that is under control but each month there is more "breakthrough" pain. At the end of that first week in April a milestone in this decline process was reached. He was catheterized. This is great because he doesn't have to get up every couple hours, thus is less apt to fall. But, he doesn't go out of the house anymore. This means that I have added responsibilities.

BEE's Wings Strengthened to Carry the Load

          My husband and I are having lots of discussions about death and dying. We've shared some very sweet moments and felt the joy of God's love for us. We see his hand every day in many, many ways as our prayers are answered, needs met and dear friends visit us. Here are a few examples of what I mean.    
         A 13 yr old deacon in our ward, Mikey Seno, heard that my husband wanted a laptop so he could read books from the library and play DVDs in his bed or chair, but that we could not afford one. He came up to me before sacrament meeting and handed me his. He said he was not using it right now. WOW. It turns out a new neighbor (remember we live out on a country road and don't have access to comcast, etc.) has a wireless connection and at Bob's bedroom end of the house there is a connection! Now he has to learn how to use this new lap top. What fun! It's a great excuse for my daughter to have one on one time with her dad.
          Yesterday, Dwayne Rosemore came by to install a shelf on the wall over Bob's bed so that we could attach a light for him to read by, this is also handy for the wireless phone, books being read, and a mug of water. I'd been helping Dwayne with finding and entering family names into NewFamilySearch for them to take to the temple. Last week I mentioned our problem of needing a light on that wall by the bed and he said that he'd found two shelves at Dessert Industries but had only used one of them. It is exactly the right length, the right width and was installed with lots of "man talk" to my husband's delight. Dwayne rehung a painting, added 4X4 blocks of wood so the bed would not be pushed too close to the window air conditioner and new shelf.
          Today Roy Lacey, from our ward, came by to talk "politics" and a myriad of other subjects the two of them enjoy and will return library books and magazines for us. For several months he'd been taking my husband to the library and then go for a chocolate shake at In and Out Burger. Can you tell from this that my husband is a bibliophile? Last week Roy and his wife Karin came over with a couple frozen lasagna's from Costco. I think this was just wonderful, because by the end of the day, I just don't have much energy left to cook dinner. Bob has finally said, "Since I'm dying I guess I don't have to watch my weight anymore, do I? His recent delight has been chocolate bunnies then when they disappeared... Hershey's nuggets. Today, he says, my tastes are changing again...I like some shortbread cookies; you know the really good, buttery, sinful ones. Yep, I know the ones. My biggest challenge is not to eat what he's eating. I tell him to keep them on the shelves of his room. I've lost 35 pounds since this saga began last November, and I don't want to gain any of it back.
          So my burden's are made light by loving friends and family. I am so thankful for the gospel and the eternal perspective that it brings to living and dying. Bob and I have been sealed in the Lord's temple for time and all eternity. In the infinite scheme of things, we know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going when we die. We pray only that God's will and work will be done through us and that we may be found standing on His right hand. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the restored church that Jesus founded in the meridian of time. The gift of the Holy Ghost is a practical guide and comforter to us in our times of trial and sickness; I see this every day. I know that God lives and that he specifically loves Bob and specifically loves me. He hears my prayers and they are answered. This is my testimony.