Ninety-Five and He Still Climbs Ladders...

Tuesday dawned fair, sunny and warm and we spent a very happy morning tackling some long-delayed jobs.

I was just taking a treat to Little Red Hen when I became aware of an all-pervasive hum. I was surrounded by it.    My first thought was that I must have some bees or wasps flying around my head ...mild panic began to set in!

Indeed it did turn out to be bees -  they were swarming onto the branch of a tree.  In that funny way of coincidences, I had only been chatting the previous day to John, (I have posted about him here) one of our wonderful Village Elders, and he said his hive lacked a Queen, so he was hoping for a swarm...

I practically ran up the road to John's house, to see whether these bees would be suitable.   John has been keeping bees since he was 10 years old -  he is 95 now - and still very highly regarded, far and wide, for his knowledge on the subject.  At one time he had 30 hives all in full production.

I was getting very nervous - not so much about the bees - but because I was wondering how on earth John was going to collect this swarm of bees which were located about 7 or 8 feet up a tree.......remember, John is 95 years old and slightly shorter than he used to be!

There was some discussion, with George offering to collect them, but John was insistent that he would do it...we did some rapid thinking and I suggested that perhaps we could get the scaffolding set up to give him a secure platform.  I still wasn't happy at the idea of him scaling the ladders, but one problem at a time...

To cut a long story short - here is John, up the ladders and sweeping the bees into a box.  I was terrified that  he would trip or fall.  I know John's family sometimes reads this blog:  Please accept my apologies, we made it as safe as we could, we tried to dissuade him from climbing, but he is a stubborn man!    

George only got stung twice while he was supporting the ladders and making sure that John would have a reasonably soft landing if he took the short route down...

I am happy to report that everything went well.  John is remarkably spry, all things considered.  Apart from having to use a stick, he moves like a spring chicken.  As I type we are still waiting for the last few bees to go inside the hive and then John will come back and take the box of bees to his place where there is a hive ready and waiting for them.

I'll keep you posted!
Hot off the press......

This is John and George wrapping the bees ready for transportation...a couple of hundred yards up the road, by car...

George carrying the buzzing box out to John's car....brave man.  Apologies for the poor quality, night was falling, the light has gone.......and so have the bees.  Yippee!