Trade Days, honey, the cover, words

Mama and Victoria set up a table at Trade Days Saturday. They were trying to market Color Street. I do not think they were overly happy about the event. They sold some sets of nails, but nit as many as they had thought they would. Besides, it was HOT. They stayed from about 8 am until 2 pm. It was a great learning experience for them. They learned Sunday evening at church, that another stylist had set up a table in the air-conditioned area just behind where they set up. Just beside Mama and Victoria was a family selling a variety of items but one that caught Mama’s attention was the barrels they offered for sale. When Mama let me know, I took the time to drive to Bowie and buy two of the barrels. We will substitute the barrels for others we can them use as burn barrels. I do not burn items too often but the barrel we had been using for that purpose has disintegrated for what use it has seen. It was long overdue to be replaced. The price of the barrels was not great but buying them there saved me a lot of time and phone calls to find the barrels we needed. As far as Mama going back to Trade Days, she will not go back until September or later when things cool down a little.

Before I left to meet Mama and buy the barrels, I spent about an hour working the hives. Earlier in the week I got a bee suit I ordered. It was considerably more expensive that the one I originally purchased and have been using but the difference in quality and functionality was amazing. It is made of a special ventilated material that was very comfortable in the heat that morning. It also is quite a bit more secure as far as protection from the bees. I did not even pay attention to the ones that were around my face guard. It was very pleasant to work with the hives in that gear.  Now I need to save up and get Mama one.

While I was working one hive, as I lifted off the syrup feeder, the I split two rows of comb filled with honey that the bees had made on top of the frames. I scraped off the comb and honey and put it in one of the jars I had available from the syrup feeders. The bees were not leaving the comb, so I blew a little smoke into the jar to encourage them to vacate. that was a huge mistake. It made the honey taste like smoke. I allowed all the honey to drain from the comb over the rest of Saturday and all-day Sunday. I hated that I ruined our first honey, but it was a good learning experience.

Later in the day Saturday, I put the metal on the roof of the new covering on the little coop building. It was too hot for me to do too much outside, but I wanted to get that done. As I acclimate to the heat over the next couple weeks, I will be able to do more, but Saturday was a struggle. I soaked two shirts through the day. When one got too wet I would take it off an hang it on the back of a chair sitting in the garage to dry. When that shirt got too wet, I would exchange it with the dry shirt from the back of the chair and repeat the process as needed. Neither of those shirts smell too good this morning. But the roof is on the little coop. Now I will work on the porch. Always something to do.

A quick note about words. The issue with the spoken and written word is that we do not have exclusive rights to interpretation once a word is spoken or written. It can be misinterpreted, misquoted, taken completely out of context, twisted to mean whatever the reader imagines. Some of the ongoing Facebook spats are a case in point. Once you have aired your opinion or “voiced” your grievance, you no longer have control of the message. It is for others to determine the interpretation of your words. They can do so in whatever way they please. You can respond in rebuttal. “That was not my intent.” That is not what I said.” But both what you said and what they said in response become permanent records in the ethnosphere. Too many people have been wounded by a harsh word quickly spoken in the heat of the moment. All exacerbated by our current angry atmosphere.

As I have said in the past, and will repeat, anger will make you feel strong, powerful – but it will never allow you to act or speak wisely. What you say or do in those passionate, angry moments cannot be undone. It will live on regardless of your adamant denials of an erroneous interpretation. It will be used against you. Speak wisely. Communicate your thoughts wisely.

You will be stuck with those ramblings for years to come.