Hello All, Bob Walker of Sebring ,Florida did the following post Fathers day on the Florida Beekeepers list I belong to. I liked the post so well I asked Bob to let me run the post on BEE-L and he agreed. I had a old beekeeper I used to pick up and take to the bees until he crossed over so the post hit home with me. Bob wrote: I have a BEEKEEPER EMERITUS friend that I learned about from a newspaper article written about him. He will be 100 years young in October, I pick him up every once in awhile at the nursing home where he lives with his wife and bring him to my beeyard to see his beloved bees. Ostensibly for his pleasure but in reality to pick his still very active brain. He boasts of more than 80years in beekeeping. He doesn't get around too good so I let him sit in my airconditioned van and pull up near a hive and let him inspect the frames with bees. Although he wants me to lower the window , I insist on leaving it up for fear he has probabbly lost any immunity that he might have had . I tell him I don't want the bees in my car. Even so , he is just a few inches from his beloved bees. HE TALKS TO BEES AND THEY RESPOND TO HIM. I asked him why is it that sometimes I can do anything I want with my bees and they just act like I am not even there. But there are times when it seems they are just waiting at the ready to attack as soon as I open the hive. Time of day and colors of my clothes doesn't seem to make a difference. *100 year old beekeeper talking to Bob* He says they tell him its because they might just not be feeling well at the time, maybe they picked up some insecticide somewhere and are about to die, maybe they have been fighting with a beetle ,an ant or some other hive invader. They were probabbly having a problem before I got there and were just looking for a fight with whatever might come along that disturbs them further. Bob Walker wrote: Do we have anyone around with more experience that can refute this 100 years of beekeeping experience? I have only slightly over 40 years of beekeeping experience and the old beekeeper seems right on to me. Sincerely, Bob Harrison "Happy Fathers Day".