I made another fountain. For probably no reason whatsoever.

So, I don't know what's up with the muther effing bees.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I love those bitches, but I fear that something has gone awry in there. There's just not that much activity at the entrance and I've peeked into the top honey super that I (apparently stupidly) put on a few weeks ago and nada.

Seriously, I'm lucky if a single bee wanders out to see who's taking the roof off.

But, I'm paranoid about checking them too often and fucking up their shit, so I've been leaving them alone since my April 29th visit that entailed adding a honey super and trying to leave them as unmolested as possible.

NO TOUCHING

So, instead of getting all, "What's going on in here, bees? Are you going to make some honey this year and NOT DIE and stuff?" I've been doing any other bee thing that might magically divine me some honey.

Things like making another fountain.

Because the first one was such a raging success as a water bowl for the dog and not much else.

Also, it's missing now.

As are most things that can't compete with lavender or lamb's ear. AKA - everything.

But, no matter, I forged ahead with my ill-conceived plan to lure the bees into making honey by placing the much needed water source nearby.

OK - honey now.

My plan for this self-filling bee fountain is pretty simple:

Materials
1 shallow and wide ceramic pot with pre-drilled drainage hole
1 sprinkler emitter
1 wide washer that covers the drainage hole but is big enough to accommodate your emitter
A bunch of random rocks of different sizes and pointynesses
2 pavers leftover from our patio makeover
Silicone adhesive
Enough sprinkler tubing to reach from your sprinkler manifold to the beehive.

To make

1. Glue the washer to the drainage hole.
2. Glue the emitter to the washer.
3. Once dry, attach the sprinkler tubing to your sprinkler manifold like you would for any plant you might want to water and then, gently attach the business end to the sprinkler emitter (AKA The Squirty Part).
4. Set your future fountain on the two pavers.
5. Stack rocks on top of the emitter (GENTLY I SAID) so that the water doesn't go rocketing into space and as such that there are varying levels of rocks leading to the top edge so the bees don't drown.
6. Walk away and let it fill up whenever your sprinklers are already set to go off. Mine's set for 3 days a week for 15 minutes.

The hope is then that you'll see your bees flourish since they have a new source of water with which to cool and transform that nectar in their tiny bellies into honey inside the hive.

In my case, I think the reality is that there are five bees in my hive as a result of a die off, sudden swarm with the new queen and/or a daily blue jay feast and those that remain see this fountain as some sort of side show to mock with great sarcasm and joviality much like people treat the fountains in Las Vegas.

I suppose having it up on blocks like so much abandoned car isn't helping.

Let's hope that when I go out to check the bees next time that there's something better to report than, "Yep. I was right. It sucks in there."

At least it looks good from here.