I was talking with my buddy Neal (who bit the apple) about the bumblebees that spend all day sucking the juice from some of our flowering plants and as it gets dark stumble about until they eventually pass-out like a drunk on the flower, and without hesitation he said,
"Dude! You can pet those!"
"Come on."
"No, really. They don't sting. I had like a science class or something and the teacher said you could do it. He said they're like dogs. They like it."
"They're like dogs."
"That's what he said."

Raegan had already tested the limits of the bumblebees' tolerance, pulling weeds that grew among the plants they suckled from. They didn't mind her much. Didn't seem to realize she was even there. And since Neal was right about the apples, we decided to give the petting bit a shot. The results were anti-climactic. The bumblebees were so docile, so focused on their work, that after petting them a bunch of times without so much as getting their attention, we proceeded to try to annoy them. And even then, the most protest the bees put up was a slight leg jerk in our direction.

The point of the story is: when you're as allergic to animals as Raegan and I sadly are, and yet are possessed of a deep, inescapable fondness for them, it's nice to have something in the back yard you can run your finger along without getting a rash.

Now, if we could only get one of them to fetch a stick.