Winnie the Pooh's honey tree

Does anyone know how to get in touch with Winnie the Pooh? I think his winter supply of honey is in my yard.

I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but decided to detail it here.

A couple of weeks ago, I was surprised while taking down the laundry to hear a hum that seemed to be coming from an old cottonwood tree near the end of my clothes lines.

I checked it out and discovered that there was a bee hive in a hole about 10-12' above the ground. Obviously that means there is hollow space in the tree. Looking at the picture above, the hole is above and to the left of the left clothes line pole.

Cottonwoods, if you don't know, are notorious for rotting from the inside out. We had 2 of them as big as this or bigger out in the pasture - one of which came down all by itself in a storm, the other one became hollow enough at the bottom that several of the kids could sit inside, so we took that one down before it fell on anything.

The tree above is old (100+) and we had placed it on our list of trees to remove at some point in time. It has now moved to the top of the list. If it came down in a SW wind, it would land on the house. If it came down any direction but south, it would cause harm to other trees, buildings or farm implements. So, after the corn field to the south is combined later this fall this tree will come down. As you can see from the picture, taking this tree down will be a major project. One of the neighbors has agreed to help and it will take a good chunk of time.

The honey will be a nice bonus, but the tree itself will keep us warm as we heat our house with an outside woodstove. We don't waste much of anything. I will feel sorry for the bees, but I will be interested in the honey. It would make an interesting Christmas present for the kids.

we will have to contact a beekeeper to remove the bees before we take down the tree.

It has been an interesting experience with the bees in the yard.

I have watched them quite often and they are so busy.

So... if you know Winnie.... just point him in my direction.

Oh, and the copper colored circle hanging from the clothes line is a double 3-D Butterfly spinner one of those we sell at work.

Happy tatting

Ladytats