Bees?

Welcome

You have found my blog.  This is a place where I want to record the crazy things that happen to me from day to day.  It is mostly about work and all of the names of my co-workers have been changed.  To protect their anonymity of course.  But, one of the constant characters will be Edgar.  The tried and true student assistant.  He is my partner in crime because...we work in an office at a university.  This is an office suite with 5 offices situated around the main office.  We have two large desks in the middle of the room and, honestly, it feels a lot like cubicle life up in here.  All of this is to say that we hear, we see, and we experience a lot of things in this office.  

The people who work here are almost all Ph.Ds and they can be a bit zany at times.  Their personalities are interesting and very diverse, but they have one thing in common:  they are funny as hell.  Given my job, I work with a lot of students.  When I say a lot, I mean a lot.  We have at least 700 students enrolled in our department, that is a lot for a regional institution!  They are also funny and weird and fascinating all at the same time too.  But, really.  I won't write bad things about the people or students I work with, just the funny situations and things that happen in the office.  These are mine and sometimes Edgar's adventures in secretarial work.  

The common honey bee from National Geographic.

The topic of this blog is bees?  Why is she writing about bees?  Who cares about bees?  The answer:  beekeepers.  Someone is trying to convert me into a beekeeper.  Edgar picked up the mail today.  I received a beekeeping catalog.  Why?  Why do I need a beekeeping catalog?  The first page talks about “Man’s Love Affair with the Honey Bee”.  I don’t really need to know about the affairs of man and bees!  Those are private!  As I perused through the rest of the pages, I was met with images of industrial beekeeping equipment and instructional materials about bee breeding.

It seems that there is a population of people who are particularly concerned about the American art of beekeeping.  The frequently asked questions page is filled with questions which need answering.

 When do I order packaged bees?  When should I hive my new package of bees?  What do I feed the honey bees in the Spring?  These are all interesting questions, but they are not questions that I want to know the answers to.  I didn’t know that bees come in packages. I certainly didn’t know that bees could be shipped via mail, though I have heard of bee trucks overturning in Oklahoma.

If this material isn't enough to calm your nerves, you may also find suggestions and references to the following books:  Contemporary Queen Rearing, Mating Biology of Honey Bees, Honey in the Comb, The Honey Connoisseur, and Bees – Tales from the Hive.  Again, not something I’d like to purchase, but more power to the beekeepers of America!

I'm not sure if any of this is useful, but this beekeeping catalog seemed to be an official authority on beekeeping resources!

I actually remember that one of the students ordered something from the company that sent me the catalog.  Any educational institution requires a lot of equipment, apparently that includes beekeeping supplies!  It was a promotional item, but I swear.  They are not turning me into a beekeeper.  

DISCLAIMER:  I mean no disrespect to keepers of bees, be they hobbyists or professionals.  I felt that this story was ironic for people who know me. I am the last person who could use a beekeeping catalog.  

Until next time...when I fight on the phone with a German Man! 

Random auf wiedersehen sign I found on the internet.