The Bee's Knees

This is Ray, who is the Man at the National Agricultural Center 

and Hall of Fame, in Bonner Springs, Kansas. 

That's his fiancee, Judy, with him. 

I am privileged to volunteer there... I started last week. 

The Center was closed last year, it is 50 years old, but 

had fallen on hard times. 

The new (part-time) director is trying hard to get 

the place rolling again. I am in awe of her, because she is working almost full time hours to make things happen. 

So, back to why Ray and Judy are pictured here. 

Ray is an apiarist, and that's a bee-keeper. 

Recently, he worked with the second grade class at 

Delaware Ridge Elementary School, of Bonner Springs, Kansas, 

learning about bees and bee-keeping. 

They built two hives under his supervision, and also decorated them. 

Ray then built an area at the Ag Hall so that people can 

safely watch the bees going to and from from their hives. 

It was made of cattle panels with chicken wire attached to them, so no little fingers can get through. 

The "door" has a window in it so that you can stand there and watch the bees going in and out of their hives. 

First, he put on his "bee jacket", as he called it. 

And then took the first hive from the back of the truck. 

And carried it to the display area. 

Here, Ray is setting the second hive. 

Then, he removed the wood pieces that closed the 

entrances to the hive with his hive tool. 

Can you see the bees boiling out?  

You can click on it to make it bigger. 

I was standing back a ways (!) and the camera

was focusing on the fence instead of the bees. 

He placed the door back on, and secured it. 

And then calmly and deliberately walked a short distance away, 

followed by a lot of bees!  He stopped there, and watched them for a while. 

He told me that it would take them about an hour to settle down and orient themselves to 

where they live now. 

This is a tiny view of the beautiful grounds. 

I'll have better pictures later this week. 

On Tuesday morning, the class that made these hives will be at the Ag Hall to 

meet the Master Gardeners. 

The hives are sited near the Master Gardener's Display Garden, and the kids 

are going to plant bee-friendly plants.  I'm going to run over and take 

pictures of the proceedings, which I'll share with you. 

If any of you travel to the Kansas City area, I hope you'll visit the 

National Farming Center ... and I hope to share a lot of it with you in the months to come. 

I took many, many pictures of nature this weekend... I hope to share those with you this coming week! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! 

So does Lil!