Bees (this posting dedicated to Dad)

I hate to admit that I have been ignoring the ladies for a while now, focusing all of my energy on my little tower. It paid off -- I passed my plumbing and electrical rough-in inspections on the first round (more in another post). Luckily, bees don't require daily care. I had thought about splitting one of the hives, and still might if it's not too late, but haven't gotten around to it.

Despite my neglect, I promised Dad that I would finally post the pictures of he, Kai, and I playing with them when Dad was out here in April. The poor guy did get stung a few times, after all. I wanted to move the hives away from the house site -- they were harassing me every now and then and I didn't want visitors to be scared away (I get so few of them as it is!). I made Dad hang out with me until almost dark, when most of the bees were back in the hive for the night, then tried again to strap them together. Needless to say, I wasn't successful. They shifted while driving them to the new site, so Dad and I ended up carrying two very heavy hives with some very angry bees swarming around us. I didn't realize it, but the gloves I bought for guests are a lot shorter than my regular ones, and Dad was too stubborn to mention it. At least one angry little lady found her way into his sleeve and went to town on him. For some reason, he feels like a few tiny stings (leading to huge purple bruises on his arm) give him a special connection to the whole beekeeping adventure. Seeing as I will be putting him to work again in a few weeks when he comes to visit, I figure I had better go ahead and appease him.