Shelton-Mason County Journal - Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886

Here’s how your existence will unfold if you’re born a female mason bee in the state of Washington:

You’ll grow from an egg into a larva, sealed inside a tubular chamber between two thin plugs of mud. The plugs keep your bee neighbors from taking your stuff.

Your chamber will be about one-quarter inch in diameter and maybe one-quarter-inch long. The sex of your tube neighbors, from the front to the back of the tube, will be male, male, male, female, female, female, give or take a few males and females.

After spending spring and early summer as a grub eating all the nectar (carbohydrat...