Victoria’s party, rain, feeling puny, one too many stings

Victoria’s Launch party went well Saturday evening. It started at 6 pm and lasted late into the evening. Only four ladies came but it was still a success in my opinion. We are still dealing with times of isolation and fear. That will not likely end until this Fall. No one wanted to leave the party. It was after 10 pm before everyone started stirring themselves to go home. For women, that is a process. Victoria did not get a lot of sales out of the party, but she did generate a lot of interest in her product. And everyone had fun. It was worth the effort and the house got cleaned again. I stayed outside as long as I could just to be courteous, but when I had finished watering and closing up the chickens, I went inside and hid out in the bedroom. It was a rather long wait.

Later that night – Friday night – we got a little over an inch of rain. We got another inch Saturday night and a third inch-plus of rain last night into this morning. We are soaked again, but in a good way. It is always better to get that much rain over a period of time than to get it all at once. But it did interrupt some of my weekend plans.

Saturday morning, after feeding the animals with Mama, I worked to get things ready for the time I needed to tend to the beehives. I was feeling kind of puny all-day Saturday but there was so much to do that I just forced myself to keep going. My plan was to work the beehives before I tried to load the tractor onto the utility trailer so I could take it to Bro Daniels to move the concrete beams he needs to have rearranged. I was sure it would fit on the trailer but I’m still a little concerned about the weight of the tractor on that trailer. Once it was safely loaded, I discovered there are two tires that I need to replace in order to feel that I can transport the tractor safely. So, it was a good thing Bro Daniel called to let me know not to come. His yard, he said, was a bog from the recent rain.

 I waited until after 10 am to look into the hives, but once I did open the first hive, I realized I should have waited until later in the day. I was instantly swarmed but an angry mob. The fliers that would normally be out foraging for nectar and pollen were all in the hive that morning. Thankfully, the new bee suit keeps them at bay, but a couple still managed to sting my right wrist. I did not think much about it at the time. Once I had rearranged the fabric of the gloves to better protect my wrists, I continued what I needed to do for my inspection all the while the bees were doing their job in trying to get me – the intruder – away from their hive. In other words, I was being swarmed.

The next time I go out to work the hives, I will look for a lot of activity to confirm the fliers are out of the hive. That will limit the response from the hive. By the way, I was a little disappointed to find that not much of the outer three frames of the ten frames in the hive had been drawn out – filled with comb. There was a bit more than a week ago, but not as much as I had expected. So, I did not put the honey supers on the other two hives even though I had spent Friday evening getting all the frames built to equip to more supers. Maybe by the end of the month they will be ready. At any rate, with all the rain we have gotten there will be plenty of fresh blooms to keep the bees supplied with the raw materials to build the comb.

It was not until I got out of bed Sunday morning that I realized I had maybe gotten stung one too many times but the closer I looked at the most angry spots on my wrist, the more is started to doubt it was just the bees that had gotten to me. The swelling and itching were bad enough that I went to Urgent Care for some help. If the swelling had stayed local – at the wrist only – I would not have sought help, but my entire forearm was swollen, red and hot. Whatever got me, I reactor poorly to it. Mama and I missed church because we made that visit and then waited for the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions I was given; a steroid shot at the office with a pack to take over the next week, an antibiotic and something like Benadryl for the itching. When we got home, I went to bed and slept until about 5 pm. I am a little better this morning. The itching is under control – but still bothersome. The swelling is receding. The angry redness of infection is fading. I hope to recover quickly, but if not, I have two weeks to get better before I have to do this all over again.

Hopefully without the stings.