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Author Topic: The Beekeeper's Wife  (Read 4200 times)

Offline Hemlock

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The Beekeeper's Wife
« on: June 14, 2012, 10:23:21 pm »
Many thanks to my Wife who today wanted to do, and did, the weekly hive inspections herself.  She has assisted in all the inspections (taking the notes) and other work involved with this hobby. She has been the best cheerleader & booster a beek can have.  Today i wasn't in the mood for bees so she volunteered and expertly performed the inspections and i simply took notes in her place. Unfortunately the bee stands were made for my height not hers but she soldiered on without comment.  So to her i say

THANK YOU




...And thanks should be given to all the Spouses who put up with all of our shenanigans as beeks.
 

Make Mead!

Offline Sparky

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2012, 10:28:20 pm »
Way to go Mrs. Hemlock !!! My wife will not go into a hive to this date. She said the bees are your thing. She will make the candles and do a little to help when it is harvest time.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2012, 10:47:22 pm »
My wife will occasionally watch me work in the hives and has video tapped a removal from a squirrel box. I was in Pa, for my parents anniversary, about a month ago and I asked her if she would open the 3 large hives to see if they needed a super. Well, she opened up and looked in all of the hives from smallest to largest (with no veil or jacket) and when she opened the last one a bee came out and got her right between the eyes. She called me up during the party, told me what happened and asked if it would be OK to leave the top off the hive because she had highlighted it out of the apiary. I sheepishly said no and asked her to try to get the lid on.

After I came home I was working on a hive at home and lit up a smoker. She asks me, was I supposed to use a smoker when I looked in the hives. I told her that I will go into a small hive with out a smoker, but I will not open my full size hives with out one. I at least have it lit in case I need it.

By the way she did put that lid back on, a real trooper.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline shinbone

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2012, 05:21:47 pm »
What a great lady!  You are a lucky man.
Zone 5B, elevation 5400 ft.

Offline Joe D

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2012, 09:24:03 pm »
I have a great wife also but like Sparky's she says that is your thing, she will watch while I am messing in the hives from the bathroom window.



Joe

Offline annette

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2012, 11:52:05 pm »
And Beekeepers Husband!!

My Hubby will not go any where near the bee hives. He supports me and is happy to listen to my stories, but that is all. The bees are mine alone.

I used to feel a bit badly about it, especially the time I placed him in a suit to help me and after a few minutes he said "Can I leave now"?

After that I knew I was on my own.


Offline AllenF

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2012, 12:26:03 am »
I have been trying to get my wife to clean the extractor up for a couple of weeks now, but she has just been "too busy", or at least that is what she had been telling me.    

Offline L Daxon

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2012, 12:51:07 am »
Annette,
I am in the same situation you are.  The bees are my thing and mine alone, except for when it comes to consuming the honey.  My hubby is good about alerting me if he sees something unusual (at at least what he thinks is unusual) going on at the hive or elsewhere in the yard. And he seems to get a real kick out of telling other people about his beekeeper wife.  I am trying to get my 27 year old son interested in bees so he can keep my husband in honey if I kick the bucket before hubby does! :-D
linda d

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #8 on: June 17, 2012, 06:56:30 am »
What a great lady!  You are a lucky man.
Thanks, I think so too.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline PeeVee

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #9 on: June 17, 2012, 07:54:52 am »
My wife has helped me on several removals. I hand down comb of brood (usually covered with bees) and she bands it to frames. She doesn't like to get stung though and let's the bees and me of that fact!
-Paul VanSlyke - Cheers from Deposit,NY

Offline winginit

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #10 on: June 17, 2012, 11:30:37 pm »
Annette and L Daxon, ditto! And mine's biologist that studies bugs. Non-stinging ones. He's supportive, from a distance.  :th_thumbsupup:

Offline AliciaH

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #11 on: June 18, 2012, 12:19:41 pm »
Hemlock, that's an awesome picture, I love her smile!  What a great lady!

My husband does everything "bee" with me except for the hive inspections; he even went to class and got his apprentice certificate!  When I found 8 virgin queens in one hive last week, he was right there with #8 mesh and snippers making cages so I could try and bank the ones I couldn't house right away. 

So, to all the spouse's...THANK YOU!!!  We love it, but it wouldn't be as much fun without the understanding, help, and extra set of hands from time to time!

Offline jhs494

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #12 on: June 19, 2012, 11:55:14 pm »
My wife does it all as well. In fact she gets a little upset if I go to the beeyard without her. She is a school teacher and has the summer months off so from catching swarms to adding supers, she does it all, especially when I'm at work.
Every removal we do, she does all the fitting of comb to the frames and rubber bands them in.

Last year in the early Spring we had a windstorm come through and knock over four hives at 3:00 AM.  It was a freak 60 mph wind.
She was out there with me, in the rain, getting stung in places that you shouldn't. We still laugh about this today.

That's the way I want it. It is our hobby together. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Joe
Joe S.

Offline jaseemtp

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #13 on: June 20, 2012, 10:41:24 am »
My wife is just now starting to warm up to the idea of the bees.  I am not sure if it is the honey, money, or her trying to have some interest in what I'm doing.  Either way I do not care, I am just glad when she does tag along.
"It's better to die upon your feet than to live upon your knees!" Zapata

Offline Larry Bees

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #14 on: June 20, 2012, 11:31:36 am »

Last year in the early Spring we had a windstorm come through and knock over four hives at 3:00 AM.  It was a freak 60 mph wind.
She was out there with me, in the rain, getting stung in places that you shouldn't. We still laugh about this today.

That's the way I want it. It is our hobby together. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Joe

About a month ago the winds knocked over 4 of my hives. I noticed it around 11 PM and was going to wait till morning to fix the situation cause it was still raining. My wife said " NO ", we will do it tonight! So we put on our bee suits and got them put back together within a half hour. My wife helps me with "my bees" all of the time as long as she can wear a bee suit. She swells up when getting stung.

She calls them "my bees", but actually they are "our bees".

Larry

Offline AndrewT

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Re: The Beekeeper's Wife
« Reply #15 on: June 20, 2012, 03:59:04 pm »
I asked my wife to help me to collect a swarm many years ago.  The  swarm was about 15 feet up in a Chinese elm tree, clustered on a limb.  I propped my ladder against another nearby limb and climbed up, instructing her to hold the ladder as firmly as she could.  There was a pretty good breeze going, and the limb that was holding my ladder was going back and forth.  I had a 5 gallon bucket taped to a 6-foot pole, and used another pole to whack the branch the cluster was on.  It was quite a rush, holding onto the ladder with my knees, using both hands to get that swarm into the bucket, all the while swaying back and forth in the wind.  Of course, when I whacked the branch, I didn't get all the bees dislodged and I had to whack it several times.  Way up on that ladder, swaying crazily back and forth, whacking that limb, I was only comforted be the fact that my wife was firmly holding the ladder down below.

When I figured I had as many of the bees as I was going to get, I dropped my whacking stick and climbed down.  I got to the ground to discover that my wife had gotten stung on her leg early on (she was wearing shorts) and had run to the car.  I love my wife dearly and she is very good at the many different things that she does, but bee-keeping isn't one of them.
Give a man a fish and he will have dinner.  Teach a man to fish and he will be late for dinner.

 

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