Honey Bees in Peril?

We’ve come down from the mountains and its back to urban life. I have to say that although I miss the mountain air, walking into a grocery store that has an abundance of green, crunchy things to eat, is pretty sweet.
Sweet. Makes me think of honey; that other sweetener. Which makes me think of bucolic fields of flowers with busy bees buzzing around. Apparently I need a little upside the head slap to bring me back to reality. Bees are  a business, a commodity that is trucked around. Literally, bees are trucked in 18 wheelers to different places in the U.S. to pollinate crops, particularly almonds.  Who knew?
This article  in today’s NY Times is talking about the plight of the honey bee. Seems the bees don’t like a nomadic, commercialized life and are either dying off, or not coming back to the colony. When you read the article,  it makes  you wonder: what happened to the beekeeper’s common sense? why can’t the colonies’ be ‘planted’ in one place and allowed to settle there?  shouldn’t the farmers who are dependent on the bees work in tandem with the beekeepers? It makes me wonder about a lot of  things,  including worrying about importing Australian bees. Come on…we’ve all seen this plot line before! Next thing you know, those cute little Aussie bees will be unstoppable….carrying off small dogs and hanging around in playgrounds…!