A taste of Honey

Today I signed the contract for my book. Marilynne came here, intending to take some pictures of me working in my bees. Right when she got here it started raining, and that is not a good time to go into bees, so we went inside, chatted, and then I opened and signed my contract! I also showed her the piece that Lisa had sent with the public notice of my agreement with Storey.

Whee!

It needs to be complete by June 1, 2012. Time to get going.

In bee news: I did not find a queen in hive # 1. This is not good news since it is the third time I've tried to get them to grow a Queen. I'm not sure what the problem is, but there was not Queen, nor any sign of one. No brood. No eggs. Nothing. I moved a frame of capped brood from Hive # 2 and also a frame with a few eggs into Hive # 1. Then I added supers to Hives 2,3, and 4. I closed everything up and put everything away and then realized that those bees cannot make a Queen with capped brood. ARGH!!!

I should have just gone back in but I was spent and everything had been put away already AND the bees were all riled up. I'll give them a few days and then will visit them again.

The good news was that there were significant populations in the other three hives. I hope they will do what they need to do to make themselves some honey to go through the winter. We'll see.

Tomorrow is the second treatment. I'm nervous but also kind of interested, not quite excited, to see how it will go, how I will feel, what will happen. I do not want to get sick, or, if I do, I want it to come and go quickly. I kind of feel like I am on a swiftly moving river that is coursing toward the waterfall. I am not in control. The water is moving very fast. And there is nothing I can do at this point except hope and trust that I'll be okay.

And I want to be more intentional this time, want to be clearer about my intentions for the treatment: that I believe it is the right thing to be doing, that I trust it will work, that I believe that the medicine is going to the errant cells.

That's what I think.

Another good thing is that I have been feeling much better and have been eating and drinking much more. It'll be good to remember that I might not have an appetite all the time, but there will come a time when I feel okay and can store up. I feel like I can be easier on myself even if I don't feel like eating or drinking a huge amount every single day. And it is good to know that the coconut juice is drinkable and doesn't taste bad.