I keep my beejacket and gloves in the shed, put them on out there and take them
off out there.  I do have to keep my pants on to get from the shed to the
house since
I don't want to shock the neighbors.  (My pot belly does that well enough.)
I try to
ensure that there are no bees around me when I do take off my beejacket, and
do inspect myself carefully before I head for the house.

My wife is allergic to yellow jackets and bumblebees, but I don't know her
reactions
to honeybee stings.

I fully expect to be stung from time to time, it's the nature of the
hobby.  I just don't
believe that I need to make it any easier for the bees to sting me.  If
that means that
some folks think I shouldn't be keeping bees if I don't want to get stung,
I'd say that
they're probably right in their opinion.  My reasons for having the bees
was for my
wife's benefit, not for my own.  That does NOT mean that I don't care,
quite the
opposite.  I just don't feel like being the "Steve Irwin" of beekeepers.

I don't intend this reply to be belligerent or offensive to anyone, but
only to express
my own reasons for handling my hive the way I do.  I have traded correspondence
with George Imrie, and will continue to do so, just as soon as I get my
other computer
working - that's where all the correspondence is at, George.

Anyway, it's a beautiful day in Hampton Roads, Virginia (Norfolk, Virginia
Beach, Portsmouth,
Chesapeake, and Suffolk).  I hope you are all having as good a day.

Best wishes to all,

Joe Clark
President, Tidewater Beekeepers Assn
Portsmouth, VA
At 09:31 AM 8/3/01 -0400, Bill Truesdale wrote:

>Beekeeper's families are more prone to allergic reactions if the
>beekeeper changes his beekeeping apparel in the house. If a beekeeper
>tries to avoid all stings, they are possibly setting themselves up for
>the same reaction. I stress the "possibly" since it is not a given that
>it will happen. Just that it is much more probable.