At 07:05 PM 7/29/98 -0400, you wrote:
 
>Kathy (wondering whether ABF or AHP are half as much fun)
 
Hi Kathy,
 
You bet they are and then some as what you see during the active bee season
is nothing compared to what happens after bee keepers have been caged up by
winter weather a few weeks. I really enjoy reading of yours and others
experiences at EAS or any bee meeting.
 
You could easily write a book on some of the crazy bee keepers and the fun,
funny, and sometimes almost dirty tricks pulled at the America Beekeeping
Federation meetings. A maybe not so funny story..
 
Well a lot of big bee business goes on at these meeting as you would
suspect and way into the wee hours and some rich foods and spirits are
consumed and even a few Cuban Cigars smoked (in the old days). Honey
packers, big honey producers from all over the world, importers, exporters,
and even men from Washington, (that's all I am going to say no names).
Anyway this man from Washington fell asleep in the late hours of one of
these meeting, I am not saying we did not encourage him to consume a
certain amount of stronger drink then he could hold, but he did fall into a
deep sleep. His mistake was that he did it in a chair with casters on it.
DING... so I got an idea, (that's only half true, I had an idea all along
that's the reason his chair was different). All know I am not overly found
of men from Washington no matter how high they are on the ladder, but I
have always done my part to help beekeepers get what they need even if it
meant working with some people I would not normally be around, and this guy
was really acting like a hard case and we were not getting anywhere with him.
 
Anyway I got a person or two that will remain nameless to help me move this
sleeping bureaucrat into the automatic elevator, and pushed the lobby
button knowing he would take a little trip from the upper floors to the
lobby and then the doors would open and soon close as the elevator waited
for the next passenger to push the outside button. At that time of night or
morning bee keepers and their wives would be returning from a night on the
town and would find the elevator operator sleeping on duty which would be
no problem as it was self service anyway until they recognized who it was.<BG>
 
The next morning we found out that this was indeed what happened and it was
the high light of many who returned from a night on the town. The man from
Washington never mentioned it the next night or even years later but after
that experience he was not very interested in strong drink for sure. He
also seemed to be a much nicer guy and more interested in the bee keepers
side of problems at the Washington level.<G>  Actually we collected up the
remains and put him to bed in one of our extra rooms kept for such
emergencies a little before daylight returned.
 
I won't say much more but another one of these hard case bureaucrats from
the government who came to help us at another time brought along his very
young attractive executive sectary but he could not have been such a bad
guy as he saved us all tax money by sharing a room with her which a friend
in the hotel informed me, (always pays to be nice to them who waits on
you), and even the same bed we found out when it was necessary to pour him
in it. He had a much different attitude about bee keepers the next morning
also and us hay seeds are not at all surprised when we read about our high
government officials today and understand why the British burned Washington
a long time ago but it seems a few have not learned by our history or the
Bible as to what to expect when personal gratification is put above man's
or God's Law's.
 
These bee keeper groups also have had some very lively ways of displacing a
bee keeper from his money such as honey auctions and the like. The best
part of all these meeting is the chance to make new friends, see old one's,
and talk bee keeping from sunup to sundown with the biggest and the
smallest of operations and the friends of the industry who attend.
 
The American Honey Producers also have a good time and usually a smaller
group so more time to discuss the issues with each other and any guests.
Also the cost is usually less because of the group size and the more choice
of hotels that can accommodate them.
 
I use to surprise my fellow commercial bee keepers who wondered how I could
maybe give a presentation on the latest greatest most expensive newest
commercial bee keeping equipment that all would want to run right out and
buy, then keep the party rooms in order and  spend the next day listening
at the hobbyist meeting.  But I learned early on two things, drink a lot of
soft drinks as drinking too may hard ones and you can't take notes of what
you hear or see, and that all bee keepers regardless of the number of hives
or years of experience have the ability to pick up on bee keeping through
observation and trial and (t)error and if they have any communication
skills at all and most do if they will just try, and all can pass on
wonderful ideas and I have never been disappointed.
 
I don't get to bee meeting much anymore but I always will have good
memories of the large number of them I have attended and encourage all that
can to support all of the bee organizations and attend their annual
meetings when they can. I can say compared to other farm meeting and I have
been to some with 10,000 and more in attendance that would attract the
President of the US or would bee presidents which are memorable for sure
but nothing compares to the honest information that is passed at bee keeper
meetings bee keeper to bee keeper and I include all bee keepers,
scientists, academics, and government officials, who for the most part have
the best interest of all bee keepers at heart. (Not always, but most of the
time. In any case God has blessed us all with the ability to separate the
Grain from the Chaff.)
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
http://beenet.com
 
 
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