Maverick Beekeeper

Well, here I am. Keeping bees. On Saturday I performed a successful hiving of a package of bees. Sadly, I am not very digitally capable, so all I have is one photo of me after the successful hiving. You can see the smile of a job well done on my face. You can also see, in my hand, the book The Circle by David Eggers. I used it to cover the hole of the bee package after I removed the sugar water feeding can that comes with the bees. I always knew Eggers was good for something... I decided to get some bees because my friend Solar Chaucer told me last year up on Lake Bill about how a couple beehives tripled the amount of fruit he harvested from the fruit trees on his property. Intrigued, I started doing some reading. "Self," I said, "you can do this." So I took my daughters, Bubbles and Carlos, down to Sacramento Beekeeping , bought a box, and ordered a package of bees. We built the box and painted it. I let Bubbles and Carlos choose the colors. We decided on a camoflague(ish) of brown, green, and gold (ish). I don't think I took any photos of that event, but I am going to try to better document this new undertaking henceforth... Back to the bees. Or rather, the beesuit. Even though I am a rogue beekeeper, I was very concerned about being fashion appropriate while working with my new ladyfrens. Solar suggested coveralls for all the pockets they offer. Looking for a dowel at Emigh Hardware last week, I stumbled upon apair of white coveralls made for a Shaquille Oneal-sized painter. Sweeeeet! Now, not only am I covered head to toe in white, I also sport the sagging look favored by most of the sophomers that I teach. Tomorrow will be day 3 of the the new hive. I am supposed to open the hive and check to make sure the queen has been released from her cage. I'll try to take some photos.