i received my 6 week injections on friday the 13th......albeit 2 weeks late, put me at 8 weeks.
my appointment was scheduled for the 2nd of february. had a gray moment i guess and totally missed it, i had neglected to put it on the calendar. oops. they give me the full dose anyway of all three injections. oh, did i say friday the 13th?...........
friday the 13th, i went to dinner with a popeye arm on one side, and a golf ball sized knot on the other, itching and trying to ignore it. for some reason, this injection and the last injections have brought some localized reactions. this one larger than the last. perhaps it's the venom mixture, or perhaps it was because i was at 8 weeks instead of 6. i will report it next time (6 weeks).
back in january, mr. rb sent me an email from his smart phone while in a meeting and asked me how many bees are in a standard hive with 2 deeps and four supers..............
my reply:
"
depends....lots of variables and time of year, weather, available forage, and if the bees and queen are healthy.........is this bee trivia day, or are you getting questions from a politician or city administrator?" ..........
turns out, i didn't know he was in a meeting with a mayor, a city administrator, and a city planner at the time, so the DEPENDS answer didn't fly. but that's what attorneys say......
so i gave him a scenario of winter, spring, summer, fall , averages, AND i gave them some 'queen math'. i flunked math but politicians and city planners/administrators and attorneys love facts, math and logic. i think this is the only language they speak, and i am here to tell ya, it's true. oh, and also proper grammar when preparing a city ordinance.
mr. rb is a city attorney for this particular suburban city who is allowing the keeping of bees, and he was fielding questions and getting ready to prepare a proposed ordinance for the city. how cool is that? so my legal hat spent this past weekend finalizing and preparing that ordinance for the city. he had questions for me. a lot of questions. there are some model ordinances out there, some are very restrictive, some make no sense and some are very generalized. he is very anal retentive, and pays attention to detail. public safety is a concern, as is costs to the city.
my first comment to him was:
"
whatever you do, make sure you write an ordinance in the best interests of all to make everybody happy, the beekeeper, the neighbors, the mayor, the city administrator, the city planner and whoever has to enforce the ordinance. don't use generic language that opens a can of worms that you can't get the worms back in the can because the city won't be happy ."
reply on the 'can of worms'.....deer in the headlight look...........
my reply to the deer in the headlight look:
"
okay, an analogy, don't let the bees swarm, cause you will be hard pressed to get them back in the box, you know that. management. manage the ordinance now before problems occur as we do with bees to keep them from swarming. the city won't be happy when complaints start rolling in, and won't be happy with the ordinance. be specific and use beekeeping terminology. for example, from some models, ' must keep bees in a receptacle', bees aren't kept in a receptacle, it's a box/boxes of some configuration. you will have someone thinking they can keep bees in a cooler, or something else. define it, you will look smart, and the city will look smart and you won't be getting phone calls from the city complaining about how the original ordinance was written or them thinking they want to further restrict because of errant beekeepers"..............
point made.
seriously funny stuff, but was frustrating for me sometimes for the appropriate legal ease and appropriate grammar used in ordinances.....another:
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requeen is not a word."
"yes it is." "
it's a noun then, i need a verb. replacing the queen."
"
okay, requeening, that's a verb".
"
that's not a word".
"
yes it is. abc xyz says so and that's the terminology we use as beekeepers"
pull out the 'bible' and make him read requeen and requeening....
definition: replacement of the queen........
i could go on and on, permit costs, setbacks from neighboring properties, providing a water source, definition of a nucleus, definition of a colony vs hive, and who's charged with inspections or fielding complaints...........much more. i swear my brain was on overload by 6:00 pm last evening.
i feel honored to have input on this ordinance. i am anxious to see the end result of the proposed ordinance, and what the city adopts. when they do i shall post it here!
