Sunday, April 26, 2009

We now have bees and I need an Ativan

A handle would've been nice.

This afternoon, Owen and I drove to Sonoma County to collect our bees, and found thrumming crates of insects stacked on every available surface of the Beekind shop. Stray bees were shooting around in the air and I pretended to be cool, resisted swatting them away from my face or shrieking. While she wrote up our receipt, the proprietor reached out her index finger and petted a bee that was clinging to the side of her clipboard. I may one day cease to fear bees, but doubt I'll ever caress one. The same woman proceeded to give me a peremptory 30-second course on bee installation, brusquely told me to watch the video I've already seen a half dozen times, and sent us home with our two throbbing 3-pound packages.

Though he disapproves of this whole project, Mark gamely "suited up" and we carefully did all the things you must do to relocate bees from packages into hives. The operation was not that complicated, just the tiniest bit scary, and very quick. I was stung once, Mark not at all. The only truly weird maneuver involved a screw, a cork, and a miniature marshmallow and I would describe it in more detail but am completely shot. 

Anyway, the hives are now filled with handsome Italian honeybees and one day I'll lift a lid and and take a photo to prove it. Not there yet. If you're an experienced beekeeper and see something obviously wrong with this hive set-up, which would not surprise me, I'd be grateful for a note.
Tomorrow, back to cookbooks.

8 comments:

  1. your readers would like a photo of mark suited up, if you have one.

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  2. We were too nervous to take any pictures, but he will be "suited" again on Wednesday and I will be sure to record.

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  3. Hey there! I am greatly enjoying your blog (directed to it by your great article on Slate).

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  4. MARK IS A HERO!!

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  5. Hi there, we'd like to interview you this week on the public radio show Marketplace Money! Please drop me a line at: etroeh@marketplace.org or 213.621.3440. I LOVE your insights on the cost/benefit of gardening and making items usually bought at the store at home. Thanks for really digging into the numbers and practicalities of these topics instead of falling back on the "feel good" factors and conventional assumptions. Yes!

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  6. Wish you luck with your bees.Ran into a friend who kept bees.His are all gone and his friend lost 30 hives.The colony collapse thing has hit hard here in PA.I'm one of those people who likes to know the source of their honey.Good luck, and stay away from the Ativan.It is more dangerous than the bees.Can't remember my password so this will be anonymous.

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  7. yeah I started hyperventilating just reading these. good luck with the bees! I'll stick to buying honey at the farmers market.

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  8. When I get the feeling a panick attack is about to happen, I stick one ;ill under my tounge and within minutes I feel completely calm and no longer anxious. I also use the medication if I drank too much wine the night before (too much sugar), I take one pill and the anxiety is gone. Ativan is though very habit forming and addictive. I have been taking it for over a year and feel as thought I cannot stop taking it.

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