Oh, the other day I laughed my guts out. I was working in the big garden on the west side of the apiary, readying it for the next year's bee flowers. I was digging, hucking rocks into my wheelbarrow to tote to the rockpile and I was pretty much engrossed in what I was doing. It was a sunny day, the sun was warm while I worked and the kids were outside playing. I was pretty much faced with head towards the ground, looking up now and then at the bees, they were having a good day too. I saw my Nephew doing something weird (well, in my eyes, it looked weird) around the fence of the apiary. I paid no mind, knowing full well that the kids don't like to mess around with the bees. Out of the corner of my eye, I could still see his body doing something. I finally came to my senses, (the rocks kind of get to me, trying to see them all and grab them before the go back down into the earth, they are sneaky things!!!) and looked up really hard to see what he was doing.
He had these long, long sticks and he was poking them through the fence. Oh rats, what on earth was this kid up to? Was he gonna push over one of the colonies, my mind began to go wild, thoughts in my mind, that ding dang kid. This would have been totally out of character, they are nice boys, all of them, narry a piece of mean in their minds, bodies and souls. So, I thought I had best go over and see what he was doing.
He was so deeply entrenched in what he was doing, he paid no mind to me either. I went up the hill and watched what he was doing, with extreme interest. He was up to something pretty ding dang cool and he had let his imagination go wild....with what he had designed. I asked him what he was trying to do. He said that his arrow had shot over into the beeyard and he was trying to get it. Oh my poor Nephew. He worked so hard to make these contraptions to go through the fence, not daring to enter the world of the bees. I looked at him and smiled. I told him I would go and get his arrow for him. I opened the gate and went into the beeyard, all along telling him that if he ever needed to go it, just open the fence and go in. I told him that there was a 99% chance that he would not be stung by the bees. These bees of mine have never had aggressive traits, not once during my tenure with them (well, except for that swarm that I caught my first year of keeping bees, but they are gone anyways, they swarmed that next year and I said good ridence. Now, where was I? Right.....I retrieved his arrow and again reassured him that he could go in the apiary anytime that he chose.
He had spent a long time getting these long extensions of his arms made, so he could grap his arrow. He must have gone to the bush, cut down some long branches, tied some socks around them at the end to act has hands, to assist him with this very serious job of getting back his arrow that had flown to the bees. Oh these young men make me laugh, they make my day, and I am lovin' every minute of it. They are innovators, they are the master of making things that make things work for them, and I take my hat off to them.
Have a most wonderful and awesome day, love life. Cindi
This is my Nephew, showing me the wonderful, wonderful invention he had created, with his own mind.
This is what the apiary looks like, this is the immortal fence that my young Nephew put his hand extensions through, to safely retrieve that arrow for his bow.