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selling it anyway." People's ignorance really surprises me. Usually, I just give them the same look I give my kids when they do something dumb. Because it was a National Forest we were concerned about bears, so we left the honey packed in our small trailer and just took it with us. However, I left the candles and the beeswax bars there covered up in the display tent. The rangers said that when they opened up the next morning they saw one of the biggest bears every strolling down the road and into the wood.

Did you know that bears are not invading hives for the honey, they are actually looking for the young brood (bee larve) for the protein. The honey doesn't mean beans to them.

I made honey jelly this year from a recipe in a 1941 A.I Root beekeeping book we picked up at an estate auction. I made the half-pints and the pints. One of the ladies camping in the park campground bought a small half-pint jar and the next morning they showed back up with their camper in tow. She said that they were leaving and she wanted more jelly, when I asked here which ones she said all of them and bought the last 4 pints I had. Well, I was pleased as punch. So I reckon I have got to make more.

This will be a long post, because I won't be able to do another one until the first week in September. I am having Lasik eye surgery in 2 weeks. I was wearing hard contact lenses and they had to switch me to soft ones to re-shape my corneas. I went through about 4 different pair in 3 weeks, my eyes were changing so fast. Now that the corneas are fine they just left me in the contacts I got on the last visit. Up-close is double vision or with a halo, distance in ok as long as I don't have to read road signs. I also found out I had to wear my glasses for 3 days prior to my last 2 visits, they are from the hard contact prescription, I had them on last night trying to get use to them everything is either blurry or bowed out in the middle, they also make my stomach queasy. But it's just part of the process, hopefully my surgery will be scheduled for August 31st and they say that within 24 hours you usually have 20/20 vision. (Gee, it's a good thing I have spell checker on my computer or everyone might think I have taken up drinking)

Now, on to Beekeeping

Beehives or Bee Hives? Potato or Potatoe, Tomato or Tomatoe, depends on who you are talking to.

Why are the bee hives white? We paint our hives white and nail sheet metal on the top of the hive to reflect heat. The bees keep the hive a certain temperature and use their wings to keep the hive cool. So put your hive into a slightly shady place.

Always have the front of your hive slightly lower in the front that the back. That way any excess water will drain from the hive.

Face your bees in the direction of the rising sun. That way they will wake up and begin their day sooner.

Have a good water source for your hive. A birdbath, chicken waterer, etc. Or, you can do what we have done, taken our old satellite dish, turned it straight up and fill it with water. Always place bricks, stones and small pebbles in the water source to give the bees something to land on and they won't drown/

You need to check your hives about one time a week during be season and before winter sets in. You want to keep an eye out for wax moths, trachea mites, varroa disease, and so on. Next week we will be checking all of our queens and their laying pattern and to determine if they will have enough pollen, nectar and honey to do them for the winter. Some people use chemicals for bee disease and some use natural remedies.

See ya in a couple of weeks.