Just a short post. I’m going to close down for most of the next three days. Will pop in occasionally to check comments, but otherwise be out in the sun hammering and nailing.<\/i><\/p>\n
—–<\/p>\n
We had a big old bee swarm on our street a couple of days ago. I could have seen it from my windows had I known. But the woman with the trees full of bees didn’t have my phone number handy and wasn’t venturing out to inform the neighborhood. <\/p>\n
Never saw a “live” bee swarm. I think it would be cool. The beekeeping neighbor who eventually dealt with the swarm looked at me incredulously when I met up with him yesterday and told him this was something I’d seen only in pictures. He and his girlfriend said, “We had four swarms last year.” So I guess eventually I’ll get to witness some swarming and humans dealing with it.<\/p>\n
My next-door neighbor is also thinking of getting a hive, and I wouldn’t be averse to having a few myself someday. <\/p>\n
—–<\/p>\n
I learned all the exciting details at a party. Yeah, not a party person. But every few months, a pair of neighbors hosts a lunchtime get-together for anybody who happens to be having a birthday. The birthday people get envelopes full of scratch cards and everybody catches up on things.<\/p>\n
I’m gradually noticing that my neighbors are a bunch of very smart people. The regulars at the party range in age from 30s to 86, with three little schoolboys showing up toward the end. We’re of diverse backgrounds, from a former California vineyard owner to a Finnish housewife (and widow of a cop). Yet when hot-button political topics arise, I never feel like an outsider. <\/p>\n
People like me (and you) are supposed to be so radical, so fringe, so out of the mainstream. Yet on every subject that’s arisen at these gatherings — from the woeful treatment of boys in public school to government curbs on free-market genetic testing<\/a> to (of course) guns — we’re either in agreement or able to work with each other’s points of view.<\/p>\n Very liberty-oriented these people are. <\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n Finally, I just did something a little scary but wicked good. Put the emphasis on both wicked and good. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Might be a couple of months before I can say more about it, but for now, picture me with a cheshire-cat grin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just a short post. I’m going to close down for most of the next three days. Will pop in occasionally to check comments, but otherwise be out in the sun hammering and nailing. —– We had a big old bee swarm on our street a couple of days ago. I could have seen it from my windows had I known. But the woman with the trees full of bees didn’t have my phone number handy and wasn’t venturing out to inform the neighborhood. Never saw a “live” bee swarm. I think it would be cool. The beekeeping neighbor who eventually…<\/p>\n