Is this why I came home????

Last week I was sitting around looking at the options I had as far as working my way home for the summer.

I could head over to Upper Pahrangate Lake region of Nevada to hang out for a few days, I could head back over to the Bundy Ranch and hangout to see what happens......get more photos and take some time to share more of what I have been learning about States Rights and the Fed's fiduciary responsibilities concerning the BLM and the Land Trust out government is held under. Very interesting.....A tease for one of my next posts, here is a very short video:

http://americanlandscouncil.org/myportfolio/rep-rob-bishop-explains-how-lands-are-crucial-to-funding-education/

As you can see our western states would be much better funded if the feds were not stealing from them.


Here is a longer, but very informative video of the problem that lead us to the Bundy Ranch Standoff and many more just like it:

http://americanlandscouncil.org/myportfolio/the-need-to-transfer-the-public-lands-anthem-az/

Just then I got a phone call from my daughter Randi......who had ordered a new Queen bee for one of our two hives. 

We lost a hive over the winter and still do not know why, we just know it is a sad thing as the hive we lost was a very friendly hive that was a joy to work with, unlike the other hive which is extremely aggressive. Hive #1 was so friendly and easy to work with that it felt like the welcome mat was always out.....everyone should get the chance to work such a mellow colony of bees....they will be missed.

Last year I had a brain fart or TBI mistake of moving the friendly hive in my own crazy way......I just picked up each box and walked across the garden loosing bees every step of the way......the correct way to move a hive is to strap it together from top to bottom and move it as a unit.......I realized what I had done as soon as I was done......the hive may not have had time to build back up

or

I may have hurt the friendly bees by placing them side by side with the aggressive bees? 

Anyway, Randi told me the bees would need to be picked up that weekend........ I told he she would have to deal with them on her own and also added the extra job of tearing down the hives to rebuild them is such a way as to be able to paint the boxes I bought last year so they would not go another year unpainted. That would mean someone would have to open the live aggressive bee hive, pull all the frames out of the boxes and move them into painted boxes and reassemble the hive........

Here is a good view of a box or super and a frame. It is also a good example of how to dress for a date with bees.

I began to wonder if Randi would be able to do what I needed her to do?

I have not explained just how aggressive these bee, I'll call #2, became.....last spring when I purchased the queen and a few pounds of bees, they were no different than any other hive I have worked with ( oh ya.....I know they are called a colony, but hive has less letters to type )   :]   As the summer went on and the hive #2 had gathered more honey, they began to get a little aggressive, they would buzz around me every time I got near them. 

I have always preferred to work the bees with no protection, no hood, no gloves, short sleeve shirts, short pants and flip flops work for me.......

One time a small group of bees not only buzzed around my head, they chased me out of the garden and even after I had swatted them to the ground a few times they continued to attack......first time I had ever been attacked. I got a sting both on my left check ( FACE not rump! ) and on my left ear.....both of which got very swollen and the ear hurt like blazes !!!

Did I mention, I am allergic to be stings and I still have not built up an immunity to the bee stings....   !!!!!

So I started to do something I never ever wanted to do...... wear the hood. As time went on the bees got even more aggressive, I began to wear long sleeved shirts and long pants, I taped my legs and tucked in the shirt tails, I wore gloves and taped every place I thought the bees might get to me.....just as a precaution.

Did I mention, I am allergic to be stings and I still have not built up an immunity to the bee stings....   !!!!!

I began to keep everyone at a distance from these bees instead of encouraging them to stand right next to me.........so I had gone from having my grandsons stand right by my side without hoods to simply go stand far away.   

That sucks......my last time working the bees was last fall just before I left Utah for the winter. I did suit up, I did tape up......and was I ever glad I did!!!!! 

This is not my hive, but it looks like it is ready to swarm.

#2 attacked me the moment I opened their hive......it was like something out of a horror movie......hundreds of bees immediately flew into my face with force and they did not give up trying to get to me till I was done removing the top supper from their hive......I had to remove the frames one at a time and brush the bees of the frames onto the remaining two boxes.......the whole time being shocked as to how aggressive these bees were.

One thing I was told is that aggressive bees aggressively build their honey stores......we got a lot more honey from that hive than any other hive I have harvested. 

Did I mention, I am allergic to be stings and I still have not built up an immunity to the bee stings....   !!!!!


So any way to get back to my story......I packed up the 5th wheel and decided to just head straight home on I-15. I drove past the turn off to go to the Lake, I drove past the exit to the ranch, I got all the way into Utah past St. George when Randi called to tell me the good news that the hive #2 was already painted, they could be left alone !!!!!!

Being that I do not like to back track, I just kept on heading north......I did end up letting Sandy and Randi know I was headed home and that they should expect me in a day or two.

I spent the night in Nephi, Utah which meant I had driven about 330 miles that day. I was feeling rather tired so I just grabbed a fish sandwich at Burger King and slept in the parking lot after getting permission to do so. The next morning I was feeling a bit rundown so I grabbed a real restaurant breakfast of gravy and biscuits.  I got a nice surprise when I walked into the place...

 The whole place was set up as a train set.....even had a bridge you needed to walk under to go to the restrooms.

Sorry I did not get the name of the place, but it is just south of Burger King which is south of the Flying J truck stop on the south end of town.......they food they serve is great and way too much to eat in one sitting.

I was just 100 miles of so from home so it was an easy trip and I missed the heavy traffic.....

Here she is parked for a bit....notice how green things look.

I did go help Randi work the bees........I put on the hood, long pants, long sleeves, gloves and tape!!!!

Here is what I got .....

 

That was the back of my hand....got stung on my Bird finger on my left hand....these photos were taken that night, the next day the swelling was worse, but today it is mostly back to normal......if my grandson and I did not like the bees so much.........what a pain lol!!!

 By the next morning you could not see my knuckles at all and I could barely bend my fingers.......itching and burning for about 3 days

The swelling did move up my arm a bit as did the itching...and something weird.....my left ears felt like it did last year when I got stung there, not fun at all !!!!