Hello all. The  March NewsLetter  is out, please click here if you have not seen it yet. I'm busy answering over 300 emails a day lately. Yes, you all get answers. Lots of new Newsletter Signer-uppers too! :)

Still updating many pages and two new detailed topics will be added to 
 Beekeeping Course home page by Monday, this week. Expect to see 4 new categories by the end of the month. 

March 3, 2001

Just heard, a foot of snow coming Monday again. I'm glad I don't have bees sitting out in the yard this Winter, we've had a few great days when the bees would have flown or had a healthy Hive Cleansing.

So that leaves me to ponder again, since I can't really do much else ( minus my 50+ hours working on my website every week ) until after this major storm blows through. Which leaves me to project 2. Fast and furious queen rearing and mating. I want to raise 20 queens the first month after installing the bees in April. But, my goal is to do it in the most frugal and photographic way possible. Yes, the Beemaster has a third dimension to contend with. I think I have an idea on how to mass raise queens in a way that I can easily share the adventure with you.

First, I don't want to ruin a queen excluder by hacking it to pieces, only because I have no excluders to spare. I can see that I'll be ordering some new equipment soon and probably an excluder and some grafting tools.

March 7, 2001

Well... the storm of the century missed us for the most part, but dumped as much as 30 inches only a hundred miles North of here. But that doesn't mean that the weather plans a favorable future for us here. I will be ordering bees by Friday of this week. Today is Wednesday and that gives me two days to figure out WHO I am going to order from.

I will not order from the supplier I bought from last time. The supplier packed the queens alone in their queen cage, a practice I totally frown upon. I believe that half a dozen workers need to be in the small queen cage for several reasons. Mainly, I don't want my queen jostled around in the cage - by adding the workers, the queen will have lots of soft workers to bounce into instead of the wooden cage.

The other reason is a matter of caring for the queen. Queens are cared for their entire life, including inside the queen cage. If the workers are outside of the queen cage, they need to feed the queen through the wired mesh of the cage. If workers are packed with the queen, workers outside the queen cage passes sugar water to the workers inside of the cage and then the caged workers feed the queen. This is more natural to the queen and a young queen needs all the "Normal" activities she can get during the long drive from the Southern States to here in the Mid Eastern United States.

March 9, 2000

I joined a Beekeeping News group last night called Bee-L which has obviously been around quite a long time. I found this Group through a link at Allen Dicks website ( Featured in my March 2000 Newsletter ) and I wrote the group asking them to checkout my Beekeeping Course. This group comprises Beekeepers of all levels, from the hobbyist to the largest of honey producers, so I gladly welcome comments from them.

One email bashed my site, not for it's content, but for a few spelling errors that the writer had found. She said, "How do you expect to be taken serious if you can't take the time to correct simple spelling errors?" Well, I admit, I built this site for the soul purpose of promoting Beekeeping to many folks who have had trouble finding "simple to follow" information that answers their questions and peaks their interest in this wonderful hobby. I admit, no matter how much you spell check, grammatical errors will always get through, especially when you put out the amount of content I do.

I wrote the Bee-L Group and mentioned my Slamming and I was floored to receive over 100 emails from them bashing the ridiculous acts of the lady who bashed this site. Some of the Group's Emails were down right vicious toward the Basher, because the group not only checked out the Beekeeping Course, but also praised it for the contents and for the mission. To all of you, thank you for your feedback and believe me, with over 50 thousand emails last year - I have no plans to stop creating a one-stop place for anyone with Beekeeping interests to come.

March 12, 2000

Today, this Beekeeping Course was featured in the Wall Street Journal in the E-Commerce Section. And, an amazing number of people signed up for the Monthly Newsletter - rocketing the count well past 2000 subscribers. I thank you all.

March 14, 2000

For the last few days I've been swamped with emails. Yesterday, a record 227 emails, many of them were new members for the Newsletter and I welcome you all. Most of the rest were first time visitors who read about my site in the Wall Street Journal. Lastly, I got some more feedback from the Bee-L Discussion Group. All together, I spent nearly 4 hours answering your emails, which is something I really love to do. I shy away from templates even though personal replies can be daunting.

I also received word from a local beekeeper who had found my site through so obscure search engine and She was delighted to not only find a handy resource to share with friends, but also found a new beekeeping friend local to her. 

Beekeeping is many things to many people. I received emails on Mead making, candle molds, early swarming, pets and bees, apitherapy, antique books and on and on. But it's all beekeeping related and more importantly, it's the "Parts" of Beekeeping that is important to the writer. So I do my best to answer their questions or point them towards the right answer if I can't help.

March 17, 2001

Today I saved a honeybee :) I was doing some work around the yard an noticed a worker dormant on my fuel oil tank in the shade. It's a simple matter of mercy for the smaller of God's creatures and I quickly moved her to the warm and sunny dashboard of my car.

It's always fun watching them come back from what appears to be a lost cause. She shook a hind leg, fluttered an antenna, pushed some cobwebs from her head and straitened herself out, standing on wobbly legs. I had the door open and after a few minutes, she flew out into the open air. I can only hope that this worker was from a swarm released by me last season and either way it's always rewarding to see feral honeybees in the yard.

March 20, 2001

Today I was interviewed for nearly an hour and a half by the Air Scoop - the Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Weekly Newspaper. The Editor Kathy came to the Steam Generation Power Plant where I work on the Naval Base and we had a wonderful time interacting about Beekeeping and our similar interests of photography and writing. 

By time she left, Kathy had a much greater understanding of the honeybee and also about the Varroa and it's plight on beekeeping. I enjoy the attention that Beemaster has brought to me, but even more so I was able to again share Beekeeping with many other people. When the article comes out, I plan to reprint the text for all of you to read.

March 21, 2001

Another major weather front dropped about 4 inches of rain on us again today. Winds of 60 MPH whipped up all day and again I wonder when this crappy weather will end. Also, I converted some images to grey-scale ( Black and white ) and emailed them to Kathy the Editor of the Air Scoop.

March 22, 2001

Today was a unique day that may change my life significantly. On the two previous log dates entered above, I spoke of the Air Scoop Newspaper published on the Naval Base where I work. It seems that the Editor and even the Public Affairs Officer ( PAO ) have visited Beemaster.com and are very impressed at my writing and photographic skills. The PAO in Charge has shown a possible job placement as a photographer and contributing article writer. 

Actually job details are fuzzy until I get to speak with the PAO. I'm can't wait to get a real idea of what tasks I may do, but it sounds challenging and I'm excited to work with the Editor, she is a wonderful person that I'm sure we will have creative flow together. I can see that our brainstorming will create a fantastic final product. There is much more, I think I'll work closely with the PAO and thus I'll have interaction with most of the bases officers and top civilian employees. Also, I'll be present for many wonderful events year round.

Honestly, my mind is flying in a thousand directions. 12 years with the Power Plant, 5 years as an operator in Charge - I would miss that kind of work. But ( and it's a big but ) our days are over in our Power Plant: it is being closed indefinite, with little chance of ever being fired up again. A hundred or so Package Boilers are placed throughout the base and are gas fired. These many units supply the heat to as many building, the same buildings we have supplied for for more than 50 years.

The crew of 7 men are hopefully be placed at either Power Plant Two, where Jets are shot off from a steam operated catapult system. Lakehurst  Naval base is Naval Fleet Support and the design, build, test and repair catapult launch and cable arresting equipment. It's a cool place with a very competent crew. I would hope to fit in and be a vital member of the crew at this Power Plant. I know all of these men and they are all professionals in their fields.

So what will happen??? I'm excited and scared and my mind is going in circles all day :) But the position as I think it could entail, include photographing events sponsored by Public Affairs, who book appearances and events in conjunction with the Base Captain, coming soon the Air Show and I'll have a thousand photos from the show and they, along with my writing and input  along with photos be used for the base website, scheduling fliers, and other tasks, including possibly interviewing people for featured articles. If you are a reader of my log sheet and you've read this, just email me and WISH ME LUCK!! Thanks to you all. No matter what, Beemaster will be here and all our projects will be captured as I promised, in super hi-resolution digital photographic wallpaper and prolific writings to entertain and teach you everything I can to help you be a better Beekeeper. I also hope that Beekeepers with shared writings to send your columns and I will place them in my on line E-zine of the Pros, coming soon.

March 26, 2001

What a busy few days. I went for an interview with the Pubic Affairs Office and the Deputy Public Affairs Officer. They were nice people with interest in what I can offer to the PAO. I submitted a resume detailing everything I have to offer.

The big if though, can Public Affairs Office transfer me through RIF avoidance measures - most importantly, will I get to do the neat things listed above? Tune in next time. Same Bee Time... Same Bee Channel. 

I need to go on a "No holds bar media campaign" to get this job, even though the entire department would kill to get me. Reduction In Force ( RIF ) is tricky stuff. But I can be important to the mission of the Base and with its Public Affairs Department.

March 29, 2001

My Father In-Law Pete had surgery today. He is 73 and had a few problems the last few years, but he is doing ok and I wish his a very speedy recovery. Also, I send my Administrator notice that I had interest in an upcomong boiler job ( still got my fingers crossed about Public Affairs ) but with Reduction In Force at our base, I need to apply for any opertunity that I qualify for. Someday, I might make money with Beemaster.com or at least using my Digital Content Creating Skills - but it is not a business adventure, it is my gift to the honeybee. 

March 30, 2001

So starts another 4 day weekend. I must say it was a long watchbill this time, seemed like a long four weeks anyhow. There will be no others after this one, as soon as the weather breaks we will be closing our power plant down for the final time. We'll spend the Summer cleaning the huge boilers, but come Fall we will be at Power Plant 2 - High pressure steam plant for Catapult Launching and equipment testing of US Navy Aircraft Launching.

March 31, 2001

So end the Month of March. It's been interesting in the Publicity end, Beemaster.com has been featured in some very prominent publications and a huge percentage of new visitors have joined in with my New Beginnings" project and this logbook. I end with over 2500 people signed to the Newsletter and please look for April Issue to the 7th or sooner. 

On to April Newsletter