An inevitable and necessary activity which enables "Play" (see below). Also intimately related to "Time" (see below), and can preclude other activities such as bee keeping, blogging, hammock testing, and beer/wine tasting. May also extensively involve yard maintenance activities.
Use: "Bill was too busy with work to keep up with the bee blog."
The paradoxical mate to "Work" (see above). While considered by most to be necessary for relief from work, it is almost always dependent on "Work" for existence. The balance between "Work" and "Play" can be notoriously difficult in Northern climates where one year of activities are carried out in three or fewer months when temperatures allow. Like "Work", "Play" is intimately related to "Time" (see below).
Use: "Bill was too busy at play to keep up with the bee blog."
A mythical concept. Can be consumed in large quantities by both "Work" and "Play". This relationship can be difficult to quantify, however, as "Time" will always be too short during "Play" and too long when at "Work". Through an unknown quantum mechanism, "Time" is also known to accelerate as one ages.
Use: "Bill was too busy with both work and play. He ran out of time to keep up with the bee blog."
Quality required of bee blog readers.
Use: "Please be patient with Bill as he consumes too much time at work and play to keep up with the bee blog."
Oft repeated tidbits regarding bee keeping which are well known and masquerade as fact. They typically appear in the form of books, magazines, on-line forums and 'old timers' advice. Caution should be exercised when using "Common Wisdom" as they represent only one of several possible outcomes from a bee keeping event which will almost certainly turn out differently than as advertised in the tidbit.
Use: "Common wisdom - A swarm will settle out on a tree where it can be gathered to start a new hive; Reality - The swarm leaves the tree and balls up in the grass directly under the original hive."
Well, it has been a while! Ok, so here's the low down... After all the swarm business, the Blue hive sat empty, the Green hive was buzzing with activity. I was waiting for the Greens to produce a new queen. After a while I checked. The queen cell was empty and I could not see one in the hive. I decided to let them try again. One hot evening, while Beth and I were in the garden doing "Work", we noticed bees clumping outside the hive. This is not unusual in the heat (called bearding) when they are trying to keep things cooler inside. I peeked inside through the window. "Hmmm, sure are a lot of bees in there!" I expanded the number of bars they had available, just to give them a bit more room.
The next evening, after "Work", I went out and looked in the hive window again. A lot less bees. Like, one third to a half as many! They had swarmed again! A quick tour around the property revealed no AWOL clumps hanging around. So, they were gone ... again. The remaining bees were busy, as usual, but the hive seemed so vacant after the night before. I'm now suspecting that when the Blue hive failed to stay the last time, they had actually returned to the original Green hive and were waiting out another new queen hatching. I inspected and did find the queen cell and decided to give it some time, i.e. we went away for some "Play" and I couldn't do anything anyway. When I returned, I inspected again. I could not find a queen or any eggs or larvae, although the queen cell was empty. They were apparently queenless. So I ordered a new queen. I picked her up in Spokane last night and put her in the hive this morning (in a cage). I will release her tomorrow. They may or may not accept her. Requeening can be tricky (so the "Common Wisdom" says). Nothing to lose now anyway. There are several combs with honey (very heavy), so, if they don't take to her, I will wait it out to spring time, see if they survive on their honey, and then combine them with a new package when I can. As you have seen before, now we just wait.
I guess I'll finish up now as the hammock is calling me to "Play" and the garden is screaming at me to "Work" ........."Time", "Time", "Time"! I seem to have lost it. Have you seen it anywhere?
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