In a message dated 97-06-26 16:52:00 EDT, Arron Morris wrote: << One funny thing at the trade show was that few people paid attention to the Backsaver display. Perhaps it was a macho thing - "REAL men don't have to worry about their backs!". >> I got such a kick out of this. One could paraphrase that "REAL women look for the easiest way to do things and don't worry about being macho." Strength (or lack of it) pervades. But seriously, wouldn't it be easier to run our hives with nothing but shallow supers - four for a "two brood chamber" basic hive and the rest for honey? That way everything would be eminently interchangable. As a beginner, I eagerly went out and bought all "the right stuff", i.e. deep brood chambers. It was quickly apparent that they were just too heavy for me to handle. A fully loaded super is about all I can handle, unless I can con my somewhat bee-phobic husband into helping. After l7 years of beekeeping and recently having hit the "half century mark," I'm moving slowly to the all shallow situation. Can anyone see a problem with that? Thanks! Faith Andrews Bedford, Ivy VA and Tampa FL