After reading some of the posts where things don't quite go as planned I
thought I would share this quick story.  On July 2 I fell and broke my
wrist/arm (first broken bone ever).  A co-worker said to keep a list of all
the strange that will happen.  I laughed.
 
 In a cast past my elbow, lifting full supers is impossible. On Sat (5th) I
mentioned to my wife Carol "Gee Honey, I really should check and add supers
at "X"  out yard.  (It's a small yard, about 40 mi. away, and tends to get
neglected.)  She replied, feeling sorry for me, " I'll go with you and help
out."  I promised 10 minutes, max.  A quick look, add supers, leave.  Upon
checking the first hive, the supers were full.  I said "Gee Honey, if I were
here alone I would pull this honey, but we can just put the empties on top."
 She looked at her watch and said "we have time, it would be foolish not to
do it now."  You can see who has the brains in this match and why I married
her.  (Actually, no one else would put up with me.)  We pulled the supers
and left.  She did all the lifting.
 
When we arrived home I had my son Jon (12) and daughter Sara (16) help me
unload.  They don't really like bee work, but they will help when I ask.
 With the supers inside and the kids about to leave I said, "Gee guys, these
supers are nice and warm, it would really be a good time to extract."  They
looked at each other, smiled, then agreed to help.  Sara did all the
uncapping, by hand, and Jon filtered.  He also bottled 100 lb. that was
already in the tank.  It started out that I was giving the directions, but
by the time we were through they were ordering me around and finally told me
I was just in the way.
 
On Sunday (6th) my older daughter Jess said she would help us at the Farm
Market because "dad wasn't too good with one hand".  On the way home, she
drove over a nail.  First flat tire in years.  (Her car has new tires.)
 
On Tuesday night (8th) we in town, Jon had a ballgame.  We were talking to
the family that owns the farm 1/4 mi. up the road.  They told us there was a
bear on their front porch at 10:00 the night before eating the bird feeder.
 We are not suppose to have bears in our area.  We got home from the park at
10 PM.  You guessed it, the bear was paying us a visit.  He was knocking
over hives when we scared him off.  He was a good size, 300 lb.
 Fortunately, he was at some splits I had made and had not gotten to the
hives with honey.  While my son held the flashlight, Carol and I stood them
back up.  The bear did not return that night.  The next day I contacted the
Game Commission, they were no help except to tell me not to hurt the bear.
 I decided to move the hives.  This time I couldn't get any volunteers to
help.  Even Carol had this please-don't-ask-me-to-help look on her face.
 She has helped me move many hives in the past.   At 6:00 PM I called a
 beekeeper friend.  I told him what happened.  He asked when did I want
help.  I said now.  He laughed and said he would be over.  He lives 20 miles
away.  We started to get the hives ready to move and a thunderstorm rolled
in.  We finally got them moved and had a good visit the rest of the evening.
 
Sorry if I went on a bit, but this story shows the importance of a good
family and friends.
 
My broken arm is 12 days old.  It has been exciting.  On my way out the door
to work this morning I noticed my wife had a  flat tire.  I can't wait to
see what will happen next.  I think God is testing my patience, for which I
am failing, or he is showing He has a sense of humor.
 
Ron Bogansky
Kutztown, PA