1) I am working overseas and will not finish this contract until 1st week of April. If I had all my supplies and hive(s) (- bees) set up before I got home...would it be too late to start a hive(s) from a NUC or package once I got home 2nd - 3rd week of April? Answer. It's important to get your packages ordered early. They always sell out. I order packages from Betterbee in Greenwich NY It's about 1 hr 1/4 away from me. They'll be taking package orders starting on Jan 4th. They usually have 3 or 4 delivery dates (saturdays) starting around april 15th Picking a date is hard because it all depends on the weather both up here and in Georgia where they get their packages. Delays from one week to 3 weeks aren't uncommon. You want to get your bees off to a good strong start but anything can happen. My first year I had a late delivery date. I was thinking that all the established hives would be building up while I was still be waiting to get bees. Well the weather here was cold and steady rain so the delay didn't hurt. Nucs usually come later because they have to be established already. I'd advise starting with package bees because you will be learning right from the get go. You'll have to install them in the hive, check for queen release, check to be sure she's laying a good brood pattern. In other words you'll be involved every step of the way and you'll learn more, and things will be gradual. 2) Everything I have read...the Italian bee seems to be the most docile bee. Would that be the bee for the beginner? answer. Italians are what I started with and still have the most of. I also have some Russians. It's all a matter of opinion. I don't find my Russians to be any more aggressive than my Italians. Russians have many good traits. One thing I definitely noticed with mine is they overwinter in a smaller cluster and consume much less honey. When buying a package, you may not have a choice as far as the type of queen you get. 3) How much time do you average a week working your hives? I have read numerous posts that "you experts" suggest starting with 2 - 3 hives (to gauge potential problems). How much time per week to manage my bees effectively with 3-hives? answer: You have to remember that this is agriculture so anything can happen and will, and it's all variable You'll plan your sight and get everything ready to go ahead of time which will take some work. On the big day, plan to spend a couple of hours being your first time. Once you have the hang of it you can install a package of bees in a matter of minutes. The first time you'll be double checking instructions and going over all of the details. You will be very excited and nervous at the same time. After your successful at that you do a check back in about 3 or 4 days, only to see that the queen has been released. At one week you'll check for signs that she's laying. You'll probably be feedin 1:1 sugar syrup to help them build up. In general there's lots of work in the beginning, less in the middle, lots toward the end. It's not an everyday thing and sometimes more than a week between any actual work. You want them to do their work without too much disturbance 4) I would like to sell my honey (- what we eat of course) and my wife is really into crafts so I am sure she will be interested in making candles etc. If the market was available in my area (which I am sure it is)...how much money could I expect to gross from my hives on an average season? answer: That's the toughest question of all. The saying goes the first year is a building up season, the second is a harvesting season, but it's all relative. (remember the agriculture thing)I've had 1st yr hives that gave a surplus of over 100 lbs and others that only made enough to get them through the winter. This year with some established and some new hives I got 375 pounds from the 5 that produced surplus. It ranged from over 100 to 35 lbs. We kept about 150 lbs and gave some away and are selling some. I'll probably gross about a grand but I'm not making a profit because I'm putting it back into bees and equipment. I hope to make another few hundred selling lip balm, salves, candles and soap. My first year I made enough to cover about half my costs. You'll get some wax from cappings but it won't amount to very much. You'll need to buy more for any real amount of crafting 5) I know I have read in several posts that an average hive produces about 110-lbs of honey (some 200-lbs). How does that compute into 1/2 pint, 1-pint, 1-qt jars of honey? I would think honey would weight a lot more per gallon than say water or milk? answer: Honey has to be sold by weight, so you'll be dealing in half pound, one pound jars etc. Do not get the idea that I am thinking strickly about the money...because I am not! When I get home in April, I want to semi retire (it pays well over here) and I would like to know what to expect. We have a huge garden, goats, chickens and soon to have meat rabbits. I have been slowly building a nice herd of goats the past 4-yrs and think I might break even or be in the "black" on them for the first time this year. We love the country life and if I could start these bees...who knows...diversity is awesome. I am just excited thinking about my little black / gold pollinators in my own garden. No more flowers falling off my pumpkins because "ZERO" bees to pollinate them. Sorry for rambling...I am just excited! I will continue to hang on "your guy's & gals" every word...so keep the posts coming. I am only up to about the 10th set of posts so far...so a lot of "back dated" ones to read. Hopefully by April I will have it all figured out (the process anyway). Sorry...one last question. How many times a week do you get stung...and...do you ever get used to it? answer: That's pretty variable too. A lot depends on the demeanor of your bees (demeaner dey are, da more you get stung)Actually if you work them at the right times and move slowly you may not get stung very often. This past year we worked our 10 hives mostly without gloves and sometimes in tee shirts, moving slowly and being as gentle as possible. I probably got a half dozen stings over the course of the season. If the bees seemed like they were getting angry we just backed off and waited, and wore gloves and long sleeves when it seemed necessary. A friend with a feisty hive got a half dozen at once, so you never know. Thanks, You're very welcome

Karen, Thank you for helping me look! I'm looking it up right now, and... argh! It is so close! 'Elizabeth Francis Woodall' has black tips on the stamens while mine seem a brownish/orange and a EFW has a very light yellow edging to the ruffles. The rest of the coloring is dead on. Going to check out 'Broadway Pink Slippers' and... that is much pinker than mine. Thank you for the name of that daylily nursery. I'll keep looking through their dl's. What a great assortment! Alana, I love baby shops. When Gymboree opened here I was having a blast picking up little outfits for my daughter and niece. Love that girly stuff. I hope things go quickly for you in Dayhoit. Never heard of it either. Thanks be for Google, eh? It has helped me get in and out of places that were too small for most gas station maps. Hurry home and keep an eye on these thieves. Hey Vic! We have rentals here in Cleveland and Lakewood. One is our old house that we used to live in. The guys are usually late with the check and it takes a phone call or two. Once they switched to new cell phones and I did have to drive over there. Nothing like me showing up with a van full of kids to make them want to get that check there a little quicker. Want me to drive to Michigan. Shouldn't be more than a couple hours. I'll threaten them with having to babysit. That might do it. I'm sorry about what happened with Jamie's job. Ed's customers are pretty slow paying right now. I told him he better start getting some money up front. It drives me crazy when he floats the cost of materials and they take forever to pay him at the end of the job. He is finally starting to listen to me about it. Deb, I think no one wants the game to end. They all know it's over when your box gets grabbed. LOL! Does the garage sale start tomorrow? I hope you have a great turn out and the weather stays beautiful for it. Sweet Dreams! Nighty night Sassy, sweet dreams to you too.

Hi... i've posted my story on the stepfamily forum- am currently breaking up with BF after 13 months- came to realization that he is a controlling person. Just posting here to vent about his terrible gift giving. Some of this may be selfish of me: Birthday - his daughter's birthday was 2 weeks before mine. For her birthday, he told ex he would pay for the party ($300). Ex bought snacks for the kids (?$50)We went together to get her birthday presents- he picked out at least 5 or more outfits for her, wanted to make sure she had lots of gifts to open (his own words), spent $150? My birthday two weeks later: I got flowers sent to my work. Got home, he gave me a birthday card, handed me a small box & said "Sorry, I kinda ran out of money, but I wanted to make sure you had something to open". Inside the box was a decorative coin jar, the lid had a baker figurine, and the jar was titled "Extra Dough". I was very disappointed, but hid it. He explained that since cooking together was a thing that we liked to do together, he thought it would be cute. Then took me out to dinner at a really nice steakhouse (I don't eat meat except for seafood- which they had), and given his money comment, I was very budget conscious that night. I tried to let go of if, but it kept eating away at me so a few days later I brought it up that I felt he didn't place much importance on my birthday - compared it to how he basically spared no expense for his daughter (didn't ask ex to split cost), but then when it came to my birthday it was "sorry, i ran out of money". Wanted to make sure she had lots of presents to open, but got me a coin jar! He then told me I was wrong for making him feel bad about spending money on his daughter. He told me that he could have chosen not to take me out to an expensive dinner, and not to get me flowers. I just felt that he could have budgeted better - knowing he had two birthdays, he could have asked ex to split the party costs, but chose not to (another issue that always came up). 1st Anniversary - relationship was already on the rocks. The week before, I mentioned I was thinking of buying myself some jewelry (had some gift cards to use). He didn't want me to, said that he was thinking of doing something nice for our anniversary and buying me a necklace to match a ring that I have. I said he should do that if it's what he wants to do - me buying a necklace for myself would not be as meaningful as something from him, and that besides I hadn't bought anything with the gift cards yet, and might still choose to buy something else. I didn't have much enthusiasm when discussing the anniversary, but since he brought it up, after that i kept bringing it up - asking him what he would like - should we go out for dinner, cook a special meal, etc - he said we'll play it by ear & never made any definite plans although I kept bringing it up. Day of our anniversary, he said "happy anniversary" in the morning. We met up after work. I had my gifts and card laid out for him on the bed. He got me nothing. I was furious and hurt. Even afterwards, he didn't make it up by planning something for us, or even getting me a card or a gift. His reason - he didn't think I was very interested in celebrating b/c I didn't seem very excited about it so he didn't plan anything (true I wasn't all energetic & excited, but I did get him card & gift b/c I thought it was the right thing to do), and he didn't "want to be the jerk who shows up with a present" when the other person doesn't (so I was the jerk?), and that he never made it up afterwards because I made him feel so bad about it.

I remember reading that...but it's still just as funny.... I am completely surprised that I didn't find a post from me on there...My DH has done a few things during our 42 years that I tell on him every now and then. patti