Sunday, March 25, 2018
Just a little note of the loss that the people of Maine who were touched by the Swans and stung by all the blessed bees that touched us too. OUCH! I was lucky enough to have known and grown up with their son, Steven. In the summer Steven would say can you help us unload the trucks. Little did I know that I would like it enough to start my own hives. It was one of the hardest and most rewarding jobs that I could ever have. We worked on tractor trailer trucks that had 5 gallon pails of honey. There were 800 to 1000 pails that weighed about 60 pounds each. Harold would say "you only can carry 2 pails?" Being competitive that we all were we would see who could carry the most. The most I could carry was 4 pails never could get the 5. My arms were only so long. I recently spoke with a beekeeper who lived in the Brewer area and he said that Harold and Hilda were his inspiration to get in to the world of beekeeping. He said that you could go to their house and ask questions. We talked for a while and he said "you're pretty big and you have really long arms?" I said it was those 4 pails of honey I'd carried. But anyway, the stories that we could all tell and how the Swans have touch everyone they met. We will always fondly remember them with a smile as we see the bees working hard doing their thing. Chris
