Five To Three, and ANZAC Beeman

My hives at Cherry Valley Farms have reduced from 5 to 3. It has nothing to do with the location, which I think is really great, but just bad luck. I lost one because, I think, when I installed the queen, she flew off, and I didn't see her, which is like 35 bucks  flying out of your wallet and hiding in a bush somewhere. Sort of like that anyway. Maybe more like buying a bunch of Scratch tickets and forgetting where one put them. I mean, something to do with not paying attention.

But I love going to this farm- because in general- there's always sunshine coming from somewhere, and there's always a heifer mooing, and there's always a beat up building, which fits my beat up truck, and of course, it always smells like silage. Which actually, I don't think is that great, but its part of the scene. And the people are nice.  I had friends who owned this farm a long time ago, but it all went south for them, and I don't know where they are now.  But the new people have really made it nice, and its in a very sweet location, a historical one.  

I also still have 7 hives at Denny and Meg's, just south of town up on Cemetery Road. They are all power house hives, but I don't know if I am getting much honey from them. In fact, I don't know how much I am getting from any hive here on in- blackberry is over, and I don't feel like they collected much at all (in part, as I already pulled off 35 gallons of Maple , which may have skewed my estimates). I hope I get a lot- as this has taken a lot of effort.  But who knows. 

It's June- and the weather is warm, but the feeling is like September.  And the weeks go by so quickly, because, unfortunately, the economy is doing well, which means I have to work a lot, and while the day is a beauty, with perfect air and a perfect warmth-on-skin ratio, and a perfect mix of summer floral scent and vibrant life- and there is no question that there would be great benefit to spending one's whole life, despite the consequences, soaking in a day like today, or yesterday, or tomorrow...instead I sit  in as dark a room as I can muster, on the computer, doing my work, from early, to late. Not complaining, just observing. 

Below is an image from the web- this is a total non-sequiter- of a fellow named Robert Ford ( not the one who killed JJ), who was a Brit in Tibet when the Chinese invaded in 1950- and was captured by them, and imprisoned there and reeducated for four years. He wrote a book, which i just read, no longer in print, called The Wind Between The Worlds, and it was quite good. He was hired by the Tibetans to install some radios, and there were three other Europeans in the whole country at the time, and the Chinese invaded, claiming that the country had been taken over by imperialists, such as he. 

Unfortunately for him, the Pancha Lama, selected by the Chinese, and a Communist, died while staying at his house in Chambo, and died from poison. So the Chinese convicted him, though he claims he had nothing to do with it.

In any case, he is here wearing a flight jacket, and a Tibetan skirt of some kind-and being hauled off. He was born in 1923, the same year as my father, and lived a full life. When he was released from prison (as the Chinese felt he'd been reeducated enough), it was the year that Everest was climbed the first time, and he heard about it as he left crossed the border into Hong Kong. 

But of course, the segue is that Everest was climbed by the most famous beekeeper of all- Sir Edmund Hillary, ANZAC beekeeper.  No one hearing the story of Sir Edmund ever asks: "so Edmund, while you were up on the Mountain, was anyone taking care of your bees?"  Did he lose hives? Did he go back to beekeeping? Was he any good at it?