B is for Babies and Bees
B would not be complete without sharing a photo of me with the two grandbabies in my life, Rosalie, 6 months old, and Aspen, 2 weeks old in this photo. My other granddaughter, SweetPea, is now two and a half–how did that happen? But being as she’s not a baby, I didn’t include her photo in this post.
I love being a grandmother. It totally makes it worth being over 50! In the years before being blessed with babies, I was noted for stealing other peoples’ infants at church.
At the end of June, my family had a reunion. The highlight, of course, was having all my sisters, all our kids, and all our grandkids in one place for several days. In this photo, all five of us are enjoying our youngest babies. (Aspen was born after the reunion, so my youngest was Rosalie.) I probably don’t need to tell you we’re the pair on the left. From left to right, the babies were 4.5 months, 3.5 months, 2.5 months, 11 months, and 14 months.
No discussion of the Letter B would be complete without mention of our 75 hives of bees! Four years ago we began learning to keep bees with two hives. The next year we expanded to three. The next year our son and daughter-in-law joined us on the farm and we moved to ten hives between us. Then. . .the jump! We bought out our mentor this past spring and are revving up now to extract all that honey. We’re expecting 3-4 tons of honey and it will be that many tons of work to accomplish it all!
In this photo Jim’s working the hives while a family friend is mesmerized by the bees all around her. I love how the light reflects off their wings in this shot.
People are fascinated by beekeeping while (nearly always) expressing fear of bees. May I just put in a plug for honeybees? They are not aggressive. Hornets and wasps have a hate-on for everything that moves and half the things that don’t. They can also sting repeatedly. Bees sting once–and then die.
Bees are very docile in comparison. They will attack to protect their queen, who stays in the hive. So yes, when we’re working around the hives we suit up.
The other time bees sting is if they are protecting themselves. For instance, if you reach in to pick a flower and squish a bee, it will sting you. Can hardly blame it for that!
Please don’t perpetuate a bad name for bees by lumping them in with hornets and wasps. They are very different creatures.
This has been a public service announcement from your friendly Canadian beekeeper.
Bees also sting you if you step on them barefoot. Go figure!
Around here, we have more wasps (recognizable from the paper nests I have to knock out of the mailbox periodically), some honeybees, and carpenter bees (ick!).
As for grandbabies — I hope to be well over 50, probably even over 60 before I have any of them, given the current age of my children!
True on the grandbabies. My kids were all in their late twenties when babies started coming, so I figured it was a good time. We did have ours young. No regrets, for sure, but it doesn’t work the same for everyone.
My father was a bee keeper too. Till today I ‘love’ bees. People look at me strange for not being scared of it, but when there are any around I am the fist one they call.
They call my hubby, not me! But I know what you’re saying. 🙂
Thanks for posting on babies and bees. I don’t have either, so it’s fun to read what others are doing. Best wishes with those tons of honey. I probably shouldn’t admit it here, but I can’t digest honey so I don’t eat it even though I like the taste. My friend eats it to boost her immune system against allergies. She says it’s best to buy “local” honey for that purpose. She claims it works, a teaspoon a day or some such. 🙂
Yes, local honey is often touted as helping to build immunity toward allergens. It seems it doesn’t work for everyone, though.
Love them babies…and all those little baby feets & toes! Don’t you just want to smoosh em all the time? I love my grandbabies (my oldest one is 6 now & the youngest is 10 mos.) ~ We used to have a couple of bee hives. So I understand about the “ton of work” you’re getting ready to have as well, with the honey. But it sure does taste good, doesn’t it! Good post. ;-]
Those little toes ARE as sweet as honey. You’re right!
Cutest baby and grandparent picture ever. Just think of the fun once they ALL are walking!
I know, right? Two crawlers at Christmas will be FUN. And then next summer? We need a fence around our yard, lol.
Very sweet grandma picture :-).
Thanks, sis 🙂
Those sure are a lot of babies! I agree that being a grandmother makes up for getting older.
I love babies. But maybe you could tell!
Oh my! I’m on BABIES too, my first granddaughter arrived just last night! And as for bees… my folks lease a section of property to a local beekeeper. I ventured a bit to close to the hives last month and found out all about the “sentinel bees” that guard the hives. $300 later, OUCH! I will be sure to give them a wider berth next time!
Yay Niki! You will love having little girls (that you can send home)! My three granddaughters are my biggest treasure. As for bees–whoa! What was the $300 for? But yes to the ouch. We wear bee suits for a reason!
I got stung twice on the face and reacted badly… ended up at the doctor’s office for steroids, then a sinus infection… I’m tempted to suit up, myself, before I go walking again!
Ah, I don’t do well with stings, either. We keep antihistamines handy, and I’m very careful, suiting up when I’m near the bee yard. Being careful isn’t always enough, of course, but it sure helps. Thanks so much for commenting!