Sunday, May 15, 2016
Re: Letter 73 of 3
Dear Riley:
Whooooa! Somebody slow down the train. Halfway through the month and the wedding is a little less than three weeks away. The house is fairly overrun with wedding preparations, the stress is tangible, and bedtime comes at midnight nearly every day. Fortunately for men, they aren’t given much say in the planning or execution of the various aspects. I still need to work on the wedding video and just barely got the pictures. It was sort of funny last Friday when I asked your mom to accompany me to the movie for a date. She was quick to inform me that she couldn’t spare the time. I was quick to point out that if I had invited her to go on a 2 hour tandem bike ride she would be able to find the time. She acknowledged this was indeed the case. I’m still not sure if it was a compromise or the obvious incongruity of the situation, but she finally relented to go see a movie which she enjoyed much more than she expected. Early Saturday morning we took a beautiful 20 mile tandem ride along the Murdock canal.
It’s right in the middle of planting, thinning, spraying, and landscaping. Combined with work, church, and the added demands of an up and coming wedding, it’s difficult to keep on top of everything. We’ve had three funerals in the last four or five weeks and have a few more members who aren’t doing terribly well. In the midst of all this, I realized I once again had bee problems. My hive had no developing brood or eggs, but WAS full of honey. This was a familiar story and almost identical repeat of last spring. I called the seller of my bee package who invited me out to Payson to get a frame of developing brood in order to save my hive. I needed to build a special box to transport five frames full of bees to and from Payson. The mass of bees would prevent chilling and death of the brood during transit. This box is called a “nuc” which is short for a “nucleus hive” but this one was my own custom design for transit. (The bee farmer was duly impressed with my handiwork and very complimentary.) The transfer of brood went smoothly while I watched from afar without any bee protection. The trouble started when the bee farmer brought me some tools to hold. Unfortunately a few bees were ticked and followed him. One bee took particular interest in me and started dive bombing me in the face. I knew I wasn’t supposed to swat. I’ve seen up close and personal how bees respond to any sudden rapid movement while I’ve worked on the hive. However, all this knowledge seemed to fly out the window when the old phobia from being swarmed and stung by yellow jackets as a teenager returned. I took a few ineffective swings which only excited the already aggressive bee and I ended up getting stung slightly above my right temple. Since I was rather far from my vehicle and not thinking entirely clearly, I used my fingers to pick the stinger out (also something I had been instructed not to do.) I drove into town with my head throbbing and bought some Benadryl at the nearest pharmacy. I have been stung before and usually this will suffice. By the end of the day, there was a rather large red swollen patch on my forehead. The following day it had expanded to below my eye and my right side of my face was misshapen and grotesque. By the third day, the swelling had extended down to my upper lip and completely filled out the right side of my face. I awoke being able to see my right eyebrow, my upper eyelid, and cheek all with my right eye. Vision was a little blurry and I felt a little self conscious about my appearance. It was at this point I conducted a funeral. Your mother tried her best to help me with various remedies which were about as useless as anything I was able to come up with. Her constant laughter was about the best motivation for me to recover as quickly as possible. Every time she looked at me was like a new revelation for her. By Saturday I was pretty much back to normal, but this incident impressed on me my earlier resolve to always wear a bee suit when working with my bees. This was just a single sting. Imagine if I was attacked by a dozen or more…Some people responded with “and you have bees?” “Dude...get an EpiPen!”
I just received some sad news a few days ago. When I worked for Grandpa years ago, I had a mentor named MK. He had the mind of a mechanical engineer even though I don’t think he ever studied this field. He was inventive, careful and meticulous, and a fundamental part of the business for many years. I learned much from M and I attribute my knowledge of the processing equipment I currently use largely to him. A number of years ago he moved to Blanding Utah. A few years ago he survived a rather serious stroke, but reportedly never fully recovered. He passed away from respiratory failure on April 9th. The funeral will be held this coming Saturday. He was only 60 leaves behind a wife and three children. It’s so sad. We just never know how much time we have. A number of my siblings are considering going with Grandma and Grandpa to the memorial service. I’ll probably go too, but will need to work on the wedding video during the nine hour round trip.
Well, we sure loved the Mother’s day call. The following morning we sang Happy Birthday to Josie Thai fashion. (We laughed about it for days!) Keep up the good work and don’t get discouraged by the fact that you seem to be constantly opening new areas and revitalizing old ones. Someone needs to plant the seed before it can bear fruit and be harvested. Often times this process can take years, but it’s all part of the work and recognized by Heavenly Father. We got some great feedback from Sister G regarding your work ethic, and contribution to the work. Chin up and shoulders back! Till next time.
Love,
Dad
No comments:
Post a Comment