I don't really know how or where to start with this thread so I'll blunder thru it. You can agree or disagree with me if you want. This is just a few things I've learned in life from just living it. ......When I was growing up back in the 1930's & 1940's into the early 1950's in the Cumberland Mountains of SE Kentucky, people had much different views on everything than today's people. From an early stage we were taught to be on constant lookout for snakes of all kinds, especially rattle snakes & copperheads. Usually by age 6 or 8 years we didn't even think of them till we came across one. Garter snakes & various black snakes & common water snakes were everywhere. We paid little attention to them. We were taught rattlers & copperheads were very dangerous. There was plenty of  both around. I found rattlers to be relatively "friendly" until touched. Copperheads were another matter. It seems they are even tempered. Mad all the time. Rattle snakes would bite but didn't immediately run away like a copperhead does. I was never bitten by a rattler. Copperheads  are a different story. I never had any ambition or desire to get intimate with either one but have had rattlers as "pets" of sorts. I learned if you don't harm them & feed & water them they become relatively docile. ......Bees & wasp of all sorts  were another no, no. That is generally true. Ball hornets, ground hornets, yellow jackets, bumble bees & wasp of all sorts have a natural nasty disposition. Sweat bees are harmless but vile when mashed against the skin. I would be too. There is several kinds of honey bees & each variety seems to have different dispositions. All of them will sting if not treated with respect. The little German or black honey bee has a vile temper. I don't care how you look at them. Common European honey bees are relatively harmless. They can be robbed easily with little or no trouble unless you do something to provoke them. The Russian black honey bee is possibly the most friendly bee of all. I was NEVER stung by one. They're also the laziest bee I've worked with. Poor producers but high on laziness. ......One thing I learned over the years working with honey bees is  develop a "relationship" with them. That means visit them often. Let them get used to your scent. In summer after I got home from work I would strip my clothes off & put on an old pair of cut off jeans, grab a beer & go out & sit among the bee hives & just watch them work for a couple beers. They become accustomed to you & for the most part ignore you when you're working in them. As a kid I donned all sorts of  sting prevention gimmicks. Actually all for nothing if I had been more knowledgable. I think I have an old picture of my father & I putting a huge swarm of bees in the hive back around 1947 or therebouts. Usually it's too hot to be wearing all that "protection" & it's not necessary anyway. ......I'll post more later. Have to rest my eyes. ......Paul H

Paul

My Uncle Don had a couple of hives in his back yard in Boulder. My cousin JL and I would trap bees in hollyhocks and would they ever get PO'd! One day I had just let one free and I was running back to the house when he nailed me right behind the right ear. That took care of my bee trapping. I love honey.....eat it most every day.

Oh I forgot.....great post my friend......really good stuff.

Rick, I've had honey bees most of my life.  One of my uncles who liked bees wanted  bees but was very allergic to stings. We agreed on a deal where he was supposed to furnish everything & I would take care of them & do the work. Wound up with 15 hives but he quit furnishing needed supplies. He still got half the honey. I was only 12 or 13 years old & doing the "dirty work" & furnishing supplies myself & he was still getting half the honey. My father stepped in & broke the deal up. turned out my uncle wasn't so allergic to bee stings after all. One night he brought a truck to take his half of the bees. He was gonna take 8 hives & I get 7 hives. It didn't happen. He wanted all the equipment too. He got none of it. He didn't buy it in the first place like he agreed to. Things got pretty testy for a while. He didn't know it at the time but found out later he got the hive with the mean "German" black bees. He was married into the family. A retired Army captain. I love honey. I have honey every day. It's probably the best food in the world & never spoils. .......Paul H

Family, huh...

I make my own bread and have this recipe , "Honey Wheat Bread". It calls for 2 tbs of honey.....I use 3 and it's delish. I put Honey on my ice cream too. I buy my Honey from a local guy who lives about 9 miles from here. It's important to eat local honey they say...don't know why.

Rick, the story about eating local honey sounds like the one about the benefits of eating local bee pollen. Supposedly it helps prevent pollen allergy from local pollen. Most likely about the :cens: going around  about flu vaccines preventing flu. .......Joe, the uncle in question married into the Hoskins family. He was a scoundrel in my book. A two bit politician on city council of Harlan, Ky. in Harlan County. He had 3 children in the military. Only one ever amounted to much. He was executive officer of a destroyer  division in the Navy. The only Hoskins in the military that ever amounted to much was R. Adm. John M. Hoskins. His dad said he was doing real good at Annopolis cause out of the 300 in  his class he was number 299. I'll admit he had more guts than most people. He was no quitter. There was a movie made about him back in the mid 1950's called The Eternal Sea. .......Paul H

Honey is a truly extraordinary substance. In my opinion, second only to the most important substance in the universe. (No exaggeration or hyperbole there.) Care to guess what I think the most important substance in the universe is?

Paul

]Hydrogen?? Oxygen?? I suppose if you were a hippy, LSD.

Paul, I'm not sure oxygen is a substance like food but is pretty high in value but not a nutrient in my opinion. It's not "made" like foods either. ......Paul H

In the picture of me robbing the bees, the only thing I'm wearing is cut off jeans & a wrist watch. No shirt, no shoes or socks & probably no underwear. When working in bees I wore as little as the law allows in public. Once in a while I would get one under my arm & let my arm down on it or get one in my shorts & mash it against the skin. That gets your attention but never bothered me much. A bee sting, like all pain, feels better after it quits hurting. I'm not allergic to bee venom but they do smart for a few minutes. Paper wasp of all sorts are different. It seems they not only sting but bite & scratch at the same time. Especially yellow jackets. Nasty little "buggars." Ball hornets are another beast & don't know when to quit. At least they kill flies. They're experts at hitting your eyes too. In the picture of dad & I "saving" a swarm of bees, note how big the swarm is. That is a GOOD swarm. I once made a mistake saving a swarm this size with no clothes on & got the entire swarm on my naked back. Got over 100 stings in my back alone. Mom scraped bees & stingers out with a butcher knife. I was working them alone that time. I went right back & put them in the  hive. ......Paul H

Water.

We take it for granted, but it is really "magic". Think about everything that DISOLVES in water. Almost anything on earth EXCEPT the "chemicals" we humans make. No life without water. Go without food for 30 days "easy". Don't go many days beyond 3 without water. We really take it for granted. Until you don't have it!

Paul

I was just sitting in the living room watching TV & that hit me, Paul. Came in here & you had already been there. .......Paul H