Author Topic: Awkward!!!  (Read 22555 times)

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Offline LazyBkpr

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Awkward!!!
« on: December 07, 2013, 09:55:24 pm »
So... how do you start to talk about yourself?  I am 6'6 and weigh 210 and can Bench 400 lbs...... 8-)
   OK, maybe not....     :oops:

   SE Iowa Beekeeper..   I assisted a "friend/Mentor" for a lot of years.. after he passed.. I worked around to getting my own bees...  So, my knowledge is pretty one way.. HIS way.. it worked for him, and so far it is working for me, but often the way I learned comes to odds with how everyone else does it..  I took that hard at first, but have since learned that pretty much every beekeeper can say the same thing.. so I'm good now, and trying to catch up on "others" methods.. I'll offer advice if I "think" I know what i am talking about, and welcome being educated if I really didnt!!!!
  17 hives, working my way UP...  have nucs and VSH queens ordered for spring.
   I have close to a dozen swarm boxes (traps) ready to be deployed, and REALLY enjoy getting free bees with good success so far..
   I also build my own equipment. ALL of it.. bottom board to tele cover. (And sell it if I have extra) I use all mediums with foundation-less..  all mediums for the interchangeability and three year rotation on wax, and foundation-less because I like to be able to cut the wax out of them, the queen cells out of them, and theres a rumor that it also may help with mites..
   Reading up on queen rearing methods, and working toward mite resistant stock with intentions to sell queens, Nuc's and even complete hives one day in the future...  
   See you all on the board!
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Offline Perry

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2013, 09:59:08 pm »
I haven't known you long, but I think you are going to fit in nicely here!
Bees and fun, Bees and fun!  :lol:
Welcome.
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Offline G3farms

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2013, 10:13:27 pm »
Welcome aboard lazy, you will do just fine. If you had an old time mentor to get you started then that is a giant leg up on most folks just starting out. Our club begs for mentors to help the new keeps get started.

Like you will read on most forums, it is what works for you and keeps your bees alive, no matter what your neighbor does.

Welcome to the forum and hope you hang around.
Bees are bees and do as they please!

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Offline iddee

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2013, 10:20:53 pm »
You wouldn't believe the smile I had when I seen your name as the latest member. THANK YOU for coming, and I hope you hang your hat here.
“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein

Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2013, 10:26:48 pm »
Thanks G3...     Having done it the way I did.. I sometimes find it hard to PICTURE, or Imagine knowing nothing about bees...
   I OFTEN state that I wish I had started out foundation-less  and get a LOT of opposition to that statement..   its true, I wish I had, but, by technical standards, I had been dealing with bees and frames for several years before actually getting my own...   Lifting that BRAND new frame of fresh wax, and having the wax land on my boot when I tried to flip it...  THAT would be OK.. except I did that more than once trying to get out of old habits.......

   So let me Introduce you to my avatar pic...   That is my wife.. NO! I am the one with the hairy face!!! SHE is the one with the MEAN look.. Yes, that look is permanant. That is her "normal" look.. you should see her when her jaw sticks out and the fire lights in the back of her eyes!!!!!!
  Maybe someone will recognize us so they can back me up about how MEAN she is!!!!!



   This is our 26th year, and I talk a lot about how mean she is, but she DOES make up for it, and I couldnt live without her.. JUST, dont tell HER I said that!
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2013, 10:28:22 pm »
Thanks Iddee..  That means a lot coming from you.  I look forward to learning from your wisdom!!!
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Offline riverbee

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2013, 10:46:42 pm »
lazybkpr.......
WELCOME!!!!........... :D
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Offline Riverrat

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #7 on: December 07, 2013, 10:50:26 pm »
welcome aboard lazy glad you found us
"no man ever stood so tall as one that  stoops to help a child"

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Offline BoilerJim

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2013, 09:44:33 pm »
Hello lazyBkpr !
Jim (BoilerJim)
Proud Member (Hoosier Division)

Offline apisbees

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2013, 02:57:56 am »
Welcome I do beekeeping my own way also. bought 2 packages put them in a hive and didn't look at or read a bee book for the first 2 years didn't know of the bee club or other beekeepers till after 4 years. But the bees survived despite me.
Honey Judge, Beekeeping Display Coordinator, Armstrong Fair and Rodeo.

Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2014, 12:15:08 am »
Welcome I do beekeeping my own way also. bought 2 packages put them in a hive and didn't look at or read a bee book for the first 2 years didn't know of the bee club or other beekeepers till after 4 years. But the bees survived despite me.

   I havent been back to this thread in a while, but wanted to post a couple things and saw your post Apis..
  I have to admit, that I was mildly annoyed at a couple of your posts, but in reading them forgot to BE annoyed at the bluntness..  it was apparent you knew what you were talking about. So in the end learned. Dont change a bit and keep on posting!!!!
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2014, 12:33:22 am »
Bored, its raining, thunder and lightning. I cant do ANYTHING with my bees...   Swarm boxes ready to deploy. New hives prepared ready for new queens to arrive and do splits....  sitting here twiddling my thumbs and tapping my foot....  and wrote a small book for perusal.   Enjoy!


       “Hmm... you don’t look all that strong. Think you can lift fifty or sixty pounds without dropping it?”
   “Yes Sir.”
   “Well, we will see. You scared of bees?”
   “No Sir.”
    “Not lergic to stings are you?”
   “No Sir.”
   “Well, cmon then, lets get to work. Days wastin standin here yakkin. You always talk so much?”
   “No Sir.”

   A lot of things seem very different, between the time you experience them, and when a few (A LOT OF) years have passed.
   Back on that day, I was intimidated by that fellow I thought was absolutely ancient. Leathery skin and piercing eyes that could stare clear through you.  Looking back, I can clearly see the sparkle in his eye and the half smile as he turned to walk across the yard toward the back of the house.
   I can still  smell the Red Man plug when he cut a chunk of it off to stick in his cheek. He kept it in his coverall pocket, and once in a while, he lit up his pipe. The tobacco he smoked in that pipe always smelled SO good. It wasn’t like the cigarette smoke that made me want to leave a room..

   HoneyBees. My only experience with them at that point had been when my cousin and I had thrown the grates off a gas stove in an abandoned house, at the wall to see if they would stick. The honeybees had come out of that wall by the million. There wasnt an inch of me that didn’t get stung as I ran past my cousin at Mach three. At least, thats how I remember it. In truth, I think I got maybe a dozen stings....

   “Don’t stand in front of the hive, they have work to do just like we do. Got a pocket knife?”
   “Yes Sir.”
   “Good, least your not completely worthless.”
   I watched him light the smoker with a piece of newspaper and drop some really dry road apples in. Then he used his pry bar to mash them up a bit while he squeezed the bellows. Before long he had some good smoke and snapped the lid closed. He turned to the hive and puffed a bit of smoke at the front and popped the cover off. He puffed some more smoke in through the top hole and handed me the smoker.
   “Hold onto that..  (He shakes his head as I drop it.) yah, gets hot so hold it by the bellows.”
    I picked it up off the ground after blowing on my fingers. Once again, that distinct twinkle was very evident as he used a strange thin pry bar to pop the next lid loose. I remember thinking it odd that it cracked loose like that.
   He didn’t say much, just went to work inspecting the hive. I got stung on the chin, then the cheek. We never used protective gear. I didnt know there was protective gear until i got my own bees.
   “Use your pocket knife and scrape the stingers out when you get stung. Won’t hurt as long if you get em out quick.”
   It was a long day, and I got stung a dozen times, but apparently I did OK. He smiled for the first time when we got back to the house, and he looked at my swollen face, with a couple nicks from my pocket knife.
  “Yah aint a sissy boy, so I reckon we’ll get on just fine. You come back here tomorrow and we’ll go down in the back and work the hives back there.”
   “I’ll be here Sir.”
   “Your Ma have bannanas?”
   “Yes Sir?”
   “Eat one, then rub the peel on them stings. Bring a peel with ya tomorrow.”
   “Yes Sir.”

   I have to admit, the bananna peel DID make the stings feel better. I thought that was a pretty wise trick to fix up bee stings. Once again, after some time has passed, and I look back, I do truly marvel at his ability to keep a straight face. The only give away was the twinkle in his eye, but, unfortunately for me I was too young to recognize such things...


   “Tap on that shed wall and put your ear to it.”
        tap tap tap....
   “Hear anything?”
   “Yes Sir, sounds like bees in the wall.”
   “Dang.. I wondered where that last swarm got to. I’ll go get a box and a knife. You pull off them lower boards.”

   The first time I ever saw him laugh, was as I went past him doing about seventy miles an hour.. barefoot on a gravel driveway....
   He was still laughing an hour later when I came back up the drive.
   “Naw son, you go home and rest. You took a fair number of stings. I’ll pay yer five dollars for the whole day. Come back on Friday.”
   “Yes Sir.”

  ( I really need to find a naive kid like I was to come help me just for the amusement factor.)

   “You reckon you can climb that high?”
   “Yes Sir!”
   “K, you climb up there and git hold of the branch they are on. Do it slow and easy, don’t shake that branch till I tell you to OK?”
   “Yes Sir.”
   Climbing that Walnut wasn’t easy, but I wasn’t about to give up. I did finally make it. About fifteen feet up, leaned out holding onto a branch that had a swarm on it.
   Under the branch was a blanket. One of those hand sewn blankets thats a patchwork of colors, and a hive body.
   “OK, When I say go you shake that branch for all your worth.”
   “Yes Sir!”
    “GO!”

   “I hit the ground pretty hard, branch still in hand, and laid there.. you know how it is when you get the wind knocked out of you.  Making an EEEEEEE sound as I tried to inhale, and only a VERY TINY trickle of air was going in. Of course, I jumped up to show I was unhurt, and stood there pretending I was fine while he chuckled.
   I had no idea what he was doing, but he was leaned over the blanket for several moments.  Today, I know that he was looking for the queen. He caught her, put her on a frame and pushed a metal screen cage into the wax to keep her in place. Then he put the frame into the hive, closed it up and didn’t look at me while his shoulders were still shaking.....
   I was still trying to breathe and HONESTLY didn’t care what he was doing as long as it kept him busy till I could breathe again and give my wounded ego time to begin repairs.
   Looking back, the EEEEEEE sound and his shoulders shaking should have been a dead giveaway that I had failed miserably in the attempt to not look like a fool.
   I do very clearly remember forgetting about my bruised ego a few minutes later as those bees started Marching, like thousands of little soldiers into the hive box. I think, at that time in my life it was the most astonishing thing I had ever seen.
   Looking back, I wish I had been a little less caught up in the pride of youth and thinking I knew everything so I could have asked questions. I wish I could have learned every little bit of his knowledge, be it folklore type knowledge or factual knowledge.

   I helped clean hives in the spring. I helped do splits. I helped extract honey by smashing it all up and letting it drain through a window screen screwed into the bottom of a wooden barrel that was cut off about a foot deep. I still remember that barrel, it smelled of cider, even over the smell of honey. Stirring the crushed wax about so it would keep draining, skimming the honey and pouring it through another window screen into a galvanized wash tub where it sat over night, then we’d skim it again. He had a water spigot soldered into the side of that wash tub. We set it on the wood stove in the shed, and put a handful of charcoal in it and lit it to warm the honey so it would pour. We put the honey in quart mason jars directly from the spigot, and I recall that being the best honey I ever had. Despite the galvanized tub and soldered seams.
   It was a long process of straining and stirring, and then skimming the honey. He had no outside faucet, so we used the well pump for the water to wash off.

   I helped wrap the hives, and I carried the sugar bags to pour on the hives on top the newspaper that he carried.
   I walked through snow drifts to get to his house on a sunny day in February, and popped the covers for the first time by myself while he stood on the porch and watched through the window. A cloud of smoke from the pipe filling the little enclosed porch.  He did get bundled up and walk with me down to the back field to check those hives.
   To me, life was....  life, it was forever, I had ALL the time in the world, so I didn’t ask questions, and to be honest, At that time, I wouldnt have cared about the answers. I got five dollars a day for helping. I daydreamed about what I was going to do with all that money.
  It WAS a lot of money. A pepsi was fifteen cents. The local grocery store had the pop in a horizontal cooler half filled with water. You opened the lid, pulled the pop you wanted out, and used the opener on the side of the cooler to open it. It was the coldest and best tasting pop in the whole world after a long day working in the beehives when it was 100 degrees. A candy bar was a dime. I got three pieces of bubble gum for a penny. I was RICH!!!!

   I left for the service a week after I graduated High school and it would be nearly twenty years before I came back again to stay for good.

  Standing in the gas station talking with old friends, and I hear the voice from behind me.
   “Hey! Aint you that Sievers kid?”
  I turned around and smiled. “Yes Sir, thats me.”
   “You all done gallavanting now?”
  “Yes Sir.”
   “Good, be at the house Friday, time to get back to work.”
   “Yes Sir. Should I bring a bananna peel?”
   His shoulders shook all the way to the truck, and his eyes twinkled just like I remembered.

   I asked more questions, and he answered them. But, I now realize I didn’t know what questions I should be asking, I didn’t know what answers would be the most valuable to me only a few years later.

   In mid April, we cleaned the hives and set them up for spring, but I didn’t get the usual call, so I went over..  There were half a dozen cars in the driveway I didn’t recognize. Illinois plates. A little concerned, I knocked on the door. A gal a little older than I was opened the door, and I asked for my friend. She shook her head, and told me he had passed away about two months earlier.
   I turned around and sat on the step. She stepped down and stood on the ground to face me. “Did you know my father?”
   “I.. helped him with his bees.”
   “Oh.. I am sorry, I thought everyone had heard.”
   “I stood up, and started to walk away, then turned and asked her...  “Will you be selling the hives? I would be interested in buying them.”
   She shook her head again. “When we got here I had my husband burn them.”
   I ran to the back yard in disbelief and denial, but there were only piles of cold ash.
   I remember yelling at her, and I felt quite bad some time later after I had a chance to think about what I had done. It was sacrilege, I was HORRIFIED beyond belief.
 The folowing winter, my wife suggested I get my own bees. She was opening a candle business, the wax would be perfect.
   I ordered my bees for the spring. Four packages. I ordered the hives, and everything I thought I might need. Installed them, and realized... I didn’t have a CLUE what I was doing!!!!!

   So I started reading, and remembering. I quickly learned that what you read for advice on the Internet was very little like the beekeeping I had done. It was frustrating knowing the motions, but not knowing WHY I was making those motions..  In that year I learned what most of the things I had done were, and why, and many things became very clear. I have not used a bananna peel on a sting since then.

   It was the following spring before I decided to go back. I knew there was quite a bit of equipment in the shed, IF she hadn’t burned that as well, or sold the house.
 
  There was a for sale sign in front of the house, no one was there. I knew the realtor well, and had him contact her, she surprised me by calling me, and I apologized for being upset with her.
   She said...  She regretted burning the hives. She was terrified of the bees. If she had known, she would have had me remove them.
   “If there is anything left, his old equipment, any boxes where he kept them in the shed, I would buy it all from you.”
   “All of his stuff is still in the shed. I didn’t go through any of it, I planned to let whoever bought the house worry about it. I will call XXX (The Realter) and tell him your going to go get it, whatever you find of his you want you can have it.”

   I drove the truck over, and true to her word, all of his stuff was in the shed. Some of it exactly where I had placed it three and a half years earlier.
   I loaded everything into the truck, and then sat on the concrete step going into the shed, staring at where the hives used to be.
   Something...   I do not know what, made me get up and walk down the path to the field.
    I wanted to walk, and it was an uncomfortable walk, painful, yet riddled with good memories. I walked  through the trees to where the field started. It took me several moments as I stood in the opening of the field to realize, that these hives were still there. She had not burned them.
   I ran to my truck, and drove back to the field. I found two hives still alive of all the hives back there. They were added to my Apiary, and I raised my very first queens from those two hives. Clumsy, making mistakes, doing everything wrong, but somehow those bees forgave me and made it work.

  Memories abound, but they are not painful any longer. They make me laugh, and smile at strange times. A very wise man once said something about the measure of your own life, being not what you do with your own life, but how much you influence the lives of others.
   My mentor is not gone, and never will be, if I can keep the many things he showed me, and the few things he TOLD me alive in those who will come after. Without my knowledge, he passed on the love of a bug that will be a part of my life.... for the rest of my life.
   The Internet is a wonderful thing for making new friends in far away places. It somehow brings those places JUST a little closer, yet at the same time, I find it a frustrating thing to try to TELL someone how to do something. Often, what I picture as I type, is not what they picture as they read. The one good thing, is that it gives me another way to pass on what I have learned, and in a small way, keep my friend alive in more than just my memories, while influencing the lives of others for the better.
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Offline Perry

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #12 on: April 03, 2014, 07:07:55 am »
That, is one of the nicest things I have read in a long, long time!
Thanks friend!  :nice:
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Offline Noronajo

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #13 on: April 03, 2014, 08:11:41 am »
What a beautiful, inspiring story- made me cry. Thanks for sharing, Lazy.

Offline G3farms

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #14 on: April 03, 2014, 08:23:53 am »
Great read and nicely written.............and yes I did see just what you were writing.
Bees are bees and do as they please!

.... --- -   -... . . ...   .-- .. .-.. .-..   .... .- ...- .   -.-- --- ..-   ... - . .--. .--. .. -. --.   .- -. -..   ..-. . - -.-. .... .. -. --.   .-.. .. -.- .   -.-- --- ..- .-.   .... . .- -..   .. ...   --- -.   ..-. .. .-. .   .- -. -..   -.-- --- ..- .-.   .- ... ...   .. ...   -.-. .- - -.-. .... .. -. --.

Offline rodmaker

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #15 on: April 03, 2014, 08:45:19 am »
 Great read enjoyed very much. Remembered my youth and mentor as i read.
joseph

Offline brooksbeefarm

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #16 on: April 03, 2014, 10:50:13 am »
Yep, been there and done most of what you wrote. Very well written you have a talent for writing, hate to tell you,but you got jipped paying .15 cents for a bottle of pop :o i got mine for a nickle and when i got through drinking it ( Grape pep, my favorite) i got two cents for the returned bottle. Hmmm, do they still make Grape pep(sp?) haven't thought of it for years? Thanks for the write, brought back alot of old memories.  ;D Jack

Offline Ziffa

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #17 on: April 03, 2014, 12:37:11 pm »
Breathtaking, Lazy.  What a beautiful tribute. 

love,
ziffa
"There's a spoonful of honey where your heart should be. . ." - The Wood Brothers - Honey Jar.

Offline Zweefer

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #18 on: April 03, 2014, 10:25:43 pm »
Thank you for sharing that with us. It is a wonderful tribute for your friend and mentor.


Keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.
Henry David Thoreau

Offline riverbee

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Re: Awkward!!!
« Reply #19 on: April 03, 2014, 10:27:38 pm »
"Bored, its raining, thunder and lightning. I cant do ANYTHING with my bees...   Swarm boxes ready to deploy. New hives prepared ready for new queens to arrive and do splits....  sitting here twiddling my thumbs and tapping my foot....  and wrote a small book for perusal.   Enjoy!"

well scott, you never cease to amaze me, and i truly enjoyed this story.  i printed it off to share with others who would appreciate this as much as i did.

you have a talent scott, and you have a talent not just as a writer, but a beekeeper, a husband, a father, a friend, and the man that you are.  and i am and feel truly honored to have 'met' you.  thank you for sharing this awesome part of your life in the bees.

ps. consider submitting this to one of the bee journals.....

i keep wild things in a box..........™
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