September has arrived

Yikes I have no idea where the time has gone. . .It's so hard trying to do it all. . .I've got to get out and pull supers off as soon as it stops raining. The days that I should have pulled them off I have been at market so I am way behind schedule. I never thought that I'd be so overwhelmed with everything but right about now I feel like I'm in a row boat with no oars.

I realize the most important thing at this point are the bees so I plan on spending the next three days out in the yard from morning till night. I hope that it stays dry. I have three hives that I'm really worried about. I finally had to bite the bullet and realized that one was gone. . . . so instead of four that I'm worried about, I'm back to three. What the heck, I'm thinking after I get a good look at them I'll give Uncle Ted a call and see if I've got the best plan laid out for them. I'm hoping that I'll be able to put two honey supers on one of them (the strongest) and get them through the winter. The other two I'm thinking I'll combine. When do you know that it's toooo late?

I have to say, I remember when I first started I foolishly thought that this beekeeping would be a piece of cake. Boy was I ever wrong. Do you ever get to the point that you feel like you know what you are doing? I try, and I ask for help but sometimes when you do something real stupid you think that maybe you shouldn't be doing the bee thing. Then the you look out over the bee yard and see them flying in the air and you think. . . Ok, maybe if I try a little harder. It's hard to explain how it gets under your skin and you find that you think about it constantly, and you seem to be a magnet for anyone who had ever wanted to keep bees and you end up having a great time talking "bee talk." I think about the people I've been fortunate to meet who have been beekeepers for many years and I think to myself, "Please let me be where they are, let me have the knowledge they have, please don't let me kill bees forever." I know you aren't born with all the wisdom in the world, but it makes you feel bad that you don't know it all.
Ok, it's like having kids, they don't let people keep kids if they don't know how to take care of them right. (I wonder if there are beekeeper police out there?)

I love the market because I have been real lucky to come across people who are new and are learning and have as many questions in their minds that I do. Here is the scary part. I can actually answer some of them. When I hear the words come out of my mouth I think. . . Holy Moley where did those words come from. Usually though I'm able to answer because I've failed at something they are trying to do. So I suppose that Uncle Ted is right when he says, "It's all about learning."

I also had two really great things happen this past week, first of all my stepson David came home to spend a few weeks before he heads out to his first permanent duty station (Air Force) and it's been really great to see how good he is doing. The military was obviously the right choice for him. He loves what he is doing and feels challenged which is a good thing. The second thing was a suprise visit by my neice Elizabeth and two of her friends Handy and Amanda. The girls are headed back to college in MA. The poor things didn't get in until the wee hours of the morning and only got to stay till a little after 1:00 the next day but it was wonderful seeing them. I was sitting at the table talking to them and listening to all the plans they had and I have to tell you I just smiled inside. Hearing them talk about what they wanted to do and why they chose the fields they chose made me realize that the world is in pretty great hands. We always hear about the bad things in the world and this week I was given the best gift. I got to spend time with four remarkable young adults, all different, yet all very amazing in their own way.