We woke to this(sorry the pic is blurry, my hands were shaking from anger):
If you aren't a beekeeper you may not know or understand what I felt at that very moment. I put my heart and soul into my bees the same way I do into the life of my dogs. I don't care about getting honey but I do care about the time and energy I've spent managing my hives, making sure the bees are surviving. Aside from the cost of having bees a lot of emotion goes into making sure they thrive. I spent countless nights awake worrying that they would be washed away by all the water and this was the very first time I didn't worry about the downpour we received overnight.
Plus, there are three things you don't do to me, in general, or especially if I've paid you for a service:
#1 Promise me that you can fix problem, bill me for it, and then NOT fix the problem.
#2 Talk to me like I'm stupid. You can try to divert the problem away from the real issue but your only pissing me off. I guarantee you that my mind remembers every conversation we've had and every detail of that conversation and I will regurgitate verbatim the "guarantee's" you made.
#3 Don't ever raise your voice to me, especially when I've paid you good money because I can assure you I can be even louder and angrier than you could ever be.
My migraine, the one that will soon leave me debilitated for the rest of the day, is what's left over of my anger, frustration and debates I've had with the landscaper this morning. I've now been "promised" a fix and only a weeks time will show whether or not those promises will be fulfilled.
On a side note, well sorta, we disassembled the hive in the rain (the bee's love that < insert sarcasm here) and we put some pallets underneath to raise them up enough to keep them out of water. Thankfully, they all seemed to be ok, only a few dead on the bottom, but try disassembling a hive when you have to stand in calf length of mud. It is next to impossible.
The bees in water: although half of the frames were sitting in water in the bottom deep the bees managed to stay working above it. Not sure what, if any, damage occurred to the frames. Unfortunately, this was not the time to open a hive and not the time my husband should have chosen to go without gloves. He NEVER works the hives without gloves and even though I reminded him he'd get stung without them he was so worried about the bees he moved too quickly to get out there and in the process smacked a hive body against another and the girls having been calm became angry over the vibrations they felt and hubby got stung 3x's in the hand.
As I was putting the hive back together all the men (hubby & landscapers) scurried for higher ground trying to find a way to scrape the stingers out before all the venom pumped out. Not as heroic on my part as one may think... I had the full beesuit and gloves, the other guys had no protection at all. The hive is back together and all looks well in that area. Now I need to go lay down in a dark room. Not to sulk because I'm seriously past that phase, I just need to recover from this horrible head pain.
Please note: I'm just venting here. I know that THINGS COULD ALWAYS BE WORSE.
Plus, for those who may wonder why we don't just move our hive to higher, dryer ground. Well, it isn't that easy. #1 it would have be done at night, #2 our hives are sitting in the best location for sun, #3 there really isn't a dry area in our yard, #4 moving hives can create a problem for the bees in that they aren't able to find there way home. We were told by Marla Spivak that if you MUST move a hive it should be no more than a foot each day otherwise you run the risk of bees returning to the same spot and we just don't want to risk that problem.
Wow, Michelle, that is really too bad. You're absolutely right--you hire someone, they screw up, then they have the nerve to raise their voice to you? Incredible. Not the way to go about business. On the bright side, bees are pretty resilient and will probably come out of this in pretty good shape, and by the looks of your husband's hand you may have come up with a good, natural alternative to botox--I don't see a single wrinkle in that hand! (Sorry--just trying to ease the headache) Good luck!
Jim, THANK YOU! Your humor made me smile and smiling definitely helps today.
I was really surprised that the bees didn't die. They are a lot more intelligent than I give them credit for. Though I think they blamed my husband for the water issues... they should have stung the landscaper. LOL!
I am sorry to hear about the flooding. You might have to invest in some wood and nails and build yourself a hive stand. I think I might have pictures on my blog of the ones I built for about $15 per stand. Each stand can hold 4 hives.
Keep in mind, there is a reason he is a landscaper and not a NASA scientist.... lol
Lol! Thanks Jared :) Do you have plans for your stand? We are only minimally handy but we are pretty good at following instructions :) I will check your site and see if the hubby can make a copy because it would surely help.
Ugh. Glad to hear the bees seem to be ok! Hope your head is feeling better!!
Oh no! I'm so sorry that you woke up to such an unpleasant surprise. I know how frustrating it can be when other people meddle in something that you have invested so much time and effort in. That's no fun at all =(
I hope things are going better now and everyone's drying out!
Oh honey, I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that! Sending huge hugs to you...even though I know it won't solve anything. Hope your hubby is not too allergic to the stings and that it didn't hurt for too long. :(
That was funny what Jim said though. :}
I've been out of the blog loop for a number of days so I'm late in responding. I am SO sorry for you and the bees (and your husband...looking at that picture of his hands reminded me why it is recommended that beekeepers take off jewelry before working a hive-- but do I follow that advice? Never, even though a sting near a ring could be very unpleasant). Beekeepers must be hearty souls and you are indeed that. Hope now, a week later, things are better. On Thursday night I gave up my hive -- a very, very sad decision which I'll (probably) write about on my blog when I'm emotionally prepared. Which isn't now.
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