Bzzzzzzz

I read a number of blogs about couponing and frugal living.  These blogs often post links to download free Kindle books.  I have the free Kindle app on my phone and tablet, so I happily feed my book addiction almost daily.

A few months ago, I downloaded a book on beginning bee keeping.  Some day, some day waaaay down the road, I have intentions of owning bees and I thought this book would sit on my virtual book shelf until I was good and ready for such a venture.  The trouble is, every time I download a book onto one of my devices, the other members of my family can also access that book on their devices. I only download books of the most benign sort, but my family can read those books if they choose.

Lydia has a Kindle that we purchased off of Craigslist as a Christmas gift for her.  I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. Yes, Lydia chose to read the book about bee keeping. Then she came to me and said she was certain she wanted to get bees.  After all, what good is merely reading about being a bee keeper?  In my mind I was thinking, "Another Lydia project.  That's not happening until waaaay down the road, miss."  However, knowing that answer was not going to satisfy my ten-going-on-thirty daughter, I said, "Lydia, we have to research bees for a minimum of one month before we even discuss getting them."

In the meantime, Lydia watched a bunch of You Tube videos on bee keeping.  She asked our friend Suzy, who is a bee keeper, lots of questions.  She attended a lecture given by the owner of  Glory Bee.  I took her to the local bee keeper association's monthly meeting.  And all the while I was thinking, "Not gonna happen."  The expense to get into bee keeping is pretty hefty.  The work is rather involved.  Not gonna happen.

But then . . .God.  One day I got a call from Suzy saying she had an extra "nuc" and Lydia could have it.  Alright.  So we had bees, but none of the other accoutrement.  $$$$.  Well, a man from church who saw us at the bee meeting (we had no idea he was a bee keeper until that night) called and said he had built Lydia a bee hive.  Then Suzy said she had located a smoker, a hive tool and gloves.  All we needed now were bee suits.  So I ordered those from Amazon.  When they arrived, Lydia said, "It's the best day, but not the best best day.  That'll be the day I get the bees."   I told Lydia the Lord must really want her to have bees if He provided nearly everything she needed for them.

One night after dark, Suzy and her husband Roger showed up with the bees. Bees are active during the day and less active at night, so night time is the proper time to move them.  They put the bees in Lydia's hive.  All went well.

A few days later, Suzy and Roger came over to help Lydia check on the bees for the first time.  Lydia was ecstatic.  Roger showed her what to do, then Lydia got to try.  She did great. They marked the queen with a dot of paint so that she can be easily spotted.  Apparently, she's a "beautiful queen" of the Italian variety of bees.

Lydia has faithfully tended to her bees every day.  So far, they seem to be doing very well.  We might even be able to get a little honey from them before winter.  And the two babies, Rachel and Joseph, have learned all they need to know about the bees.  Rachel got stung and has steered clear of the hive ever since.  Joseph also got stung.  He learned his lesson well.  As I walked over to check on the bees, he was toddling behind me with this warning: "ouch! ouch!"