I think you’ll be really proud of me.  I’ve now donned my bee suit, and stood inside a swarm of bees, and didn’t scream, flap my arms or run.  Because of my desire to save my poor bees from certain death, I made an appointment with a beekeeper who has 250 hives.  I figured he could probably help me.

I went over to his house on Friday afternoon, and he showed me how to build a smoky fire in the smoker.  Then we put on our bee gear and marched over to the vast area of hives.  He opened the top of one, took out the screen, and then smoked the bees a bit.  After that he started to pry the frames apart in preparation to put in a feeder frame.

Soon enough he was making me pry them apart, so there I was in the midst of hundreds of thousands of annoyed bees.  I pretended I wasn’t scared spitless, as I’ve read that bees can sense fear pheromones and will sting en masse.  So I used every bit of my mental powers to remain calm.

Then I was sent home with a feeder tray and a pail of syrup and told to do the same at my own home.  Luckily Bev came to Kelowna for the weekend, and I asked her to take bunch of photos of me to update my website.  When I told her about the bee assignment, she coerced me into getting at it so she could document it in photos.

I suited up  and started the fire in my smoker, and we went down to my hive.  I couldn’t believe it, but I had the nerve to open the top, pop out a frame, put in a new one and close the top.  I felt triumphant.

We spent the rest of the weekend doing our favourite thing, which is thrift store and garage sale shopping.  There was a large garage sale at the college parking lot, so we started there.  A woman was selling some willow China that said Japan on the bottom of it, so I bought it immediately for $6.00!

I got a lovely storage cabinet made of maple, and miscellaneous adorable items like a CD of Marilyn Monroe singing songs like Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.  Bev got a cute wicker plant stand, and some kind of a Gucci knock-off purse.  We made two trips in and out of the sale, we had so much stuff.

Last weekend I was in Osoyoos for Thanksgiving, and so were a couple of good friends, Jim and Bernard.  We stuffed a turkey and thew it into the oven, and then didn’t look at it for another five hours.  We learned that unless you cover or baste a bird, you’re going to end up with something resembling Maria Shriver.

This weekend with Bev here, the food was more successful.  I made Jerralynn’s salmon, which is baked with butter and brown sugar.  Then on Saturday night I made Thai chicken in coconut milk and red curry paste.  I gave Bev some of the bark to try, which she then termed “evil” and immediately bought a pound to take with her.

Now giddy with the new beekeeping knowledge and satisfied with a great weekend of shopping, I’m celebrating with a glass of very cheap white wine.  Cheers!