I'm BACK!

[LazyBkpr]

   Okay, I got back to Iowa Yesterday...  After being gone for seven and a half months... I haven't had time to check bees yet...  I have a lot to do just cleaning the house and yard, but I have a lot of plans, provided I have ANY bees that survived the winter.  I need to build my apiary back up, and that starts this year.  Maple syrup first... were going to be tapping this weekend...  As the weather warms up, I will be into the bees to see what I have left....

   Now;
   I have noticed, that winters where we get warm spells often, 40 to 50 degrees, and then it gets back down into the teens has been pretty hard on my bees. I have a plan that I hope will even that problem out a bit, but I'll have to try it to see if it will work.

   I will also be on here regularly again, no that I have internet. Can't wait to get caught up!

[Jen]

Scott! You have no idea just how welcomed back you are!!!

We don't hear from Iddee, nor Riverbee (Becky), nor Perry, nor Lazyshooter, and once in awhile Jack. This forum, and has been stated by others, has turned into a ghost town.

Welcome Back Bee Buddy! and just in time for spring.

[neillsayers]

That what Jen said!

[Riverrat]

Forums usually slow down this time of year.  Unfortunately forums across the board are slowing down as more people join fb groups.  Sad as the information shared on fb is soon lost and unable to find unlike forums where you can pull it back up.  Good to see you back scott

[Wandering Man]

Yes, good to have you back.

Riverbee, I hate to think we are losing our participants to FB, home of the perpetually angry and divisive.

[Jen]

Wman, if we do go the fb direction, I'm pretty sure it would be a 'closed group'. It would be just us, and we can let who we want in. Keeps it more civil.

[Riverrat]

There is no talk of us going to Facebook.  Forums across the board are shrinking in participation as fb takes over the social media world.  On both sides it's easier.  A member can join and be approved on as little as a minute and the staff has very little maintenance.  Most forums have started fb groups to help keep members.  What usually happens the members migrate to fb and the forum shrinks.   The sad part is if this discussion was going on in a Facebook group you couldn't find it for reference in 6 months where if it was on the forum it would be easily found years down the road

[Bakersdozen]

I thought our low participation might have something to do with F/B.  I have to admit I started my own F/B page last month so that potential customers, family, friends, and old customers could find me.  I also wonder if we are experiencing the back side of the honey bee phenomenon.  Colony collapse was on the news constantly 8 +/- years ago.  Many jumped on the band wagon to "save the honey bee" only to find that keeping bees was a lot more complicated and expensive than it seemed. I think the prepper movement might have had something to do with it too.  Unlike the stockpiles of canned goods and grains, honey will keep forever. 
Sorry Scott if we stole your thread.

[Jen]

I think that would be my error, how about we start another thread? I don't know what to name it tho? 

[Riverrat]

Baker I think you are correct on the media hype.  People are quick to jump on the bandwagon.  We are experiencing this with cast Iron now. A few tv shows talking of the benefits of cooking on cast iron.  The price of cast has went through the roof and getting hard to find anything in shops.  I was in Tulsa this weekend and picked up a couple hard to find pieces at a large antique show.  I bought them early on the first day.  By the end of the day walking through almost every piece of cast I passed on was gone.

[Bakersdozen]

Don't you hate it when something you like becomes a trend? 

[Les]

Welcome back Lazy!

[LazyBkpr]

I wouldn't know about the facebook thing...  I signed up for it when my son went to Afghanistan so I could text back and forth with him, send pics etc...     Apparently, they didn't like that, and they kicked me off facebook. They wanted a photo of my license, my ssn, my address, and a bill with my name and address to prove to them I was a real person.....

   Yep... NO! I am not sending anyone on the internet ANY of that stuff... I wrote them, I emailed them, I tried to call them... They NEVER replied to me one time.... I finally gave up.
      But.... My SON's CAT has a facebook page?   

[riverbee]

scott.............
it's been a long time.......and a long time without you here. i have missed you and i have greatly missed your presence on the forum. i have missed your posts, your insight, your experience from your iowa arm chair; pitching in helping others out, your stories, your humor and just plain missed you. you have this thing, you engage others, you have a fire about you or fire a discussion up! (good thing)  and i have missed that as well. ok, i will quit now...........

it is very good to see you back!

i have read the posts here, i don't do facebook.........this is my home for sharing about bees and whatever else, that's it. i enjoy this place, and i won't be going anywhere else. we all make this forum what it is, sometimes we all have other things going on.

not to take away from scott's thread, i have been absent, but i am here........just a little misadventure with a ruptured appendix and subsequent infections.  the surgeon literally saved my life. now dealing with elderly parents. the past few months have been hard on me, and some months to come.
i appreciate your comment jen, and wm. thank you.

so to scott's thread.........thanks scott for checking back in, looking forward to having you back here and reading your posts!

[LazyBkpr]

ok, i will quit now...........


   NO NO keep going!!!   

   Argh, ruptured appendix!!   That happened to me when I was thirteen..  I got to spend three months in the hospital because it DID rupture before they got it out.. yeah infections etc... it was bad, but. I AM STILL KICKIN!
   VERY glad you are too Mrs. River!   Hope recovery etc keeps getting better and better!