Hi: I have been a subscriber to this list for almost a year now and I really enjoy the technical and practical discussions, but I thought I might lighten up the discussion with the details of the bee removal I completed yesterday. Before I give the details, I had better tell you that I live on the Big Island of Hawaii. I received a telephone call from a property management company looking for someone to remove "a giant swarm of wild bees" from a rental house on the north end of the island. They were paying "whatever it takes" to remove the bees. Now I usually don't do removals, as they can be an all day job and are seldom successful on the first try, but since I am going on vacation in ten days the money would be helpful. I followed the directions and ended up at a beautiful multi-million dollar house sitting right on a beautiful beach. The place was owned by the heiress to a large oil company, who ran it as a vacation rental. The "giant swarm" turned out to be a small puny bunch of bees that were trying to build a colony under the wooden shingles on the second floor. Although I had to use a ladder, the job was done in less than half an hour. The view of the beach from the ladder was fabulous. Fortunately I had my emergency swimsuit in the back of the truck! After collecting the money ($100), I walked out the back gate and right on to the beach. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the sand, sun and bikinis. Yesteday I realized that even with all the stings and the hot, heavy work, there are some fringe benefits to beekeeping that are unlike any other business!