Ohio Honeybees

Purely my own recollection, but when I was growing up in Athens, Ohio in the 70’s I can remember being scared of all the honeybees in the summertime grazing the clover flowers. If there was a field of clover (and there were many), I recall there were always lots of honeybees. So many, in fact, that you couldn’t walk through without having a honeybee in your next footprint. I remember always dodging the bees at almost every single step, especially when barefoot. Yes, I was stung many times over the years. Today, I live in the very same town but the bees are not here in the same numbers., having nearly disappeared. Now, the clovers don’t carry many honeybees. I see more of other bee species, but still not as many as the quantities of honeybees that I remember from my childhood. I long for being scared of so many honeybees again. I wonder about what caused this decline and what effects this is having on our lives.