Many times on this forum I've said that a beekeeper should never be surprised when bees do the unexpected. No matter how long you've been keeping bees, they will always come up with something unexpected that will set you off balance.
But that is said for bees, not for beekeepers. They are supposed to be cool and calculating, doing just what is expected of them.
So now I have hit the extension of the "rule": Beekeepers too can do the unexpected.
This is my story.
A few weeks ago, one of the moderators (Global at that), asked for my personal address, just in case he would want to send me something like a card. Well, it was the time when "Sesason's Greetings" were all around, so I figured, why not? I'll give him my address.
Last Thursday I got a note from my post office that I had received a mailing from abroad that was too large to go into my mailbox and I would have to pick it up in person. Okay, so I figured I had received one of those oversized cards with a "don't fold" request.
Thursday also brought me a PM from the forum with a double apology: one for having misled me into thinking that I might be receiving a card and two, for not including a note with the mailing he had sent me, explaining that it was being sent from the administrator and moderators of the forum.
Our post office is closed on Friday and Saturday, so I had to let my piqued curiosity test my patience till Sunday.
This is the mailing I picked up on Sunday
Certainly not a Season's Greetings card.
This is what I saw when I opened the box:
AND THIS IS WHAT CAME OUT OF THE BOX:
I was so surprised by the World Wide Beekeeping shirts that it took me a moment to realize that the inscription below the emblem was in FLAWLESS HEBREW. How you managed that is beyond me.
The weather outdoors was too chilly for me to show my newly received gifts to my bees, so I tried on the shirts indoors, over my shirt.
Have a look at this:
and this:
And now we'll let the "cat out of the bag"---the moderator who did the maiing was none other than Perry, who included a bonus of his own doing:
So, now I return to the subject line of this post: How does a surprised beekeeper say "Thanks"?
Anything I say will really be inadequate. All of you, my friends, have totally bowled me over. Your gifts have left me speechless.
Iddee, Riverrat, Perry, G3Farms, Poderac and Riverbee, as the administrator and moderators of this forum, I send you my sincere and special words of appreciation. In case there were any more forum members, not on the "Staff list" who were involved in pulling this one over on me, forgive me for not mentioning your names. When I find out who else participated, I will add them to my inadequate words of "Thanks".
You all make this forum such a special place to be part of.
I'm glad to be part of it with you. Really.
Efmesch
