This will be a long post. I would like to tell you a couple stories, recollections of events that took place years ago.
The first took place in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The year was 1971. I had been living in a remote village in that country for a couple years, and as the time went by, was becoming more and more a native than a foreigner. I had a good friend who was a member of the Bee clan. He had only one arm, the result of an accident with a truck somewhere. One day, he invited me to go with him to harvest honey from a tree. We went out into the forest, and found the tree. It was located not far from a footpath often frequented by people. Dressed only in shorts, we began hacking at the tree with machetes and a small ax. Immediately everyone in the vicinity began screaming and running away as bees attacked them. Everyone but us. We continued hacking, and after awhile the tree fell. My friend then asked me to reach into the hive entrance and pull out any honey. I did so, scooping out handfuls of bees in the process, feeling around for combs. There was not much honey. After that, we went home. Neither one of us had been stung once.
These were African bees, Apis Mellifera Adansonii, noted for being vicious.I don’t know if you believe this story, but it is true even in the details. If you can believe this story, I want to go on, because you obviously can accept that inexplicable things do happen.
Now, another story. One day in that same village I was feeling pretty depressed. It had been a tough day, I had fought with a friend of mine, and it just seemed everything was pointless. I went to the local medicine man/herbalist and told him how badly I felt. I ended up actually breaking down in tears in front of him. He did some sort of ritual. It was incredible what happened next. Suddenly I understood everything about his belief. I felt my heart had completely changed. It honestly felt like I was a different person in my basic nature! He had summoned a spirit, and it had entered into my heart, and somehow replaced it. I wasn’t frightened. Rather, it felt as if I had woken up after a very long sleep, a sleep that had lasted all my life. And the things that I knew, that were somehow put into my heart and mind, were so true to me that I believed them with a knowledge so strong that it could not be doubted, because I was those truths, my heart had actually become them.
Now, tell me. Can you believe this story?
Some of you can, perhaps.
As I said, the first story is true in all the details.
But the second one is not. I lied about the details. I did so for a reason. I am hoping that those of you who find the second story believable will run a reality check on yourselves if you find the story NOT believable when I correct the errors. Because if you are one of those people, who cannot believe the following corrected version and yet belief the first one, you are in a box, a mental prison constructed by the hypocrisy of others, and you should set yourselves free at all costs.
Here is the true story. It happened in America, in my parent’s home. There was no medicine man. There was only me, with tears streaming down my face as I saw the shallowness and emptiness of the world. I did kneel down, and in despair asked for help from God, whoever that might be. And I was changed, and I was filled with knowledge that I had never had, and my heart desired truth rather than lie, love rather than hate, mercy over cruelty; in short the animal I had been was gone, and I was left a new person. And yes, suddenly everything Jesus said, which had always been totally unintelligible to me, made perfect sense. Maybe that is what they call being “saved”. I don’t know. I only know what happened to me.
And that is why I am writing this. Try and be free of the mental prison constructed from your experiences with “Christian” hypocracy and lies. Surely if the first version could be true, the second could be also. I meet people who can believe the first, but not the second. If you are one of these people, please, ask yourself: Why not?
This is shaping up to be the Winter that wasn’t. Here it is early February, and the bees are bringing in pollen like crazy…there must be lots of flowers out there! I tried giving them some pollen supplement, and they didn’t even touch it. Elms are blooming, and a fisherman friend says that the crappie have eggs already, which usually happens in April. May be a strange year….
It has been a really tough year for the bees, with the severe drought and temperature, but they manages to kae a small crop, about 400 pounds. This honey is really thick, dark, and excellent in flavor….I think it is about the highest quality honey I have harvested yet in Oklahoma. It was so thick we could barely get it extracted!
- Really enjoyed your honey,how long before we can purchase this years ?
- Lloyd,really enjoyed the honeycomb filled with honey.Would like to buy some of new crop of honey.
trapping out bees from a house. This hive was West of Stillwater....it took about a month for all the bees and honey to be removed from this home. You can barely see the funnel up above the hive.
- This year has seen a LOT of people with beehives in the walls of their houses. We set up four more trapouts last week. Also a couple cutouts (see attached pics).
Honeycomb removed from the ceiling....about 60 pounds.
here is a great link a friend sent me (my webpage designer Bryan, actually) which summarizes why bees are able to reach 100% consensus on matters of importance. Unlike people, they have a system that results in complete agreement! Check it out: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/05/24/136391522/natures-secret-why-honey-bees-are-better-politicians-than-humans?sc=fb&cc=fp
I’ve been doing this with Ace Bee Removal for over 22 years, and have never seen such demand for bees. So many people are calling me, wanting to buy a beehive, that there is no way to keep up with the orders. It wasn’t that way three years ago. Even as recently as 2006, beekeeping was regarded as a little strange….when people found out you removed bees and kept beehives, they were pretty quiet. Now they say things like, “Oh, thats so cool, bees are amazing, we need to protect them, etc etc” It is amazing how public perception can change so rapidly….Interestingly, the majority of people who are buying beehives are those who believe that the U.S. is in for some very tough times, and feel that they need to prepare for the worst by becoming self-sufficient to some degree. It’s a little spooky; these people aren’t wearing tin hats, they are mostly middle class working folks. Oh well, I bought an insurance policy against this eventuality a few years ago. Ruger .22 mag, 8X scope, Bugs Bunny better watch it if I get too hungry.
If you lived here you would think bees were taking over the world. Removed three big swarms of bees from Tulsa, one as big as a basketball. Then off to Perry, to remove bees from a house built by a wealthy individual in 1930. They were in the upper wall. When I said we needed to open up the wall, instead of a sheetrock saw the owner gave me a sledgehammer. I mean this house was built like the proverbial brick outhouse. What a job. Then a call from an apartment in Tulsa, to remove yet another swarm! I farmed it out to my son Wren, who got it way after dark. I need a rainy day, these girls are workin me to death!
There is a reason why people enlist the services of trained website developers. Those of you who had the pleasure of visiting the previous version of this site (which I created, not knowing anything about HTML or related) will understand completely why. Here is the reason: Your site will look like crap if you don’t, like mine used to! It’s simple. Just look over this new site. I am so impressed, and at the same time thankful that I ran across one who is I really believe one of the best webpage developers out there, Bryan Erwin. If you want it done Right, by someone who is not only a computer expert but also able to work closely with you personally, contact Bryan. The truth is he pretty much did the entire remake of the old site with minimal input from me, INCLUDING some excellent improvements to the text and photos, and marketing details! That’s a lot more than you would expect. If you need a webpage, or improvements on an existing one, I highly recommend emailing him at bryanraceerwin@gmail.com, or calling him at 918-605-5271. You won’t regret it.
Originally published 2/9/2011
Well. Like I said, it’s just me and the dog here in eskimo land. I need a parrot.
People have about booked me up already wanting bees for the Spring. I hope I can fill all the orders, this weather is pretty tough on bees….they need to stay warm all year, and with -7 degrees tonite, gonna be a tall order for them. Makes me wish I was still in Uganda. Nice and Warm.