Today's lunchtime was a little odd.
I was looking out my window on a nice clear day when suddenly hundreds of bees were swarming. Something had angered them. For months I had been battling the bees before leaving for furlough. There are 3 places they really like to swarm on my property. So I would get all gussied up in my bee uniform:
-denim pants
-denim coat (hot but thick)
-leather hat
-leather gloves
-flywire (screen) over my face, and tied at my neck tightly with a rope. (because if the bees get in... they're stuck in flying around my face.
Then I battle the bees.
And they move on or die or both.
Typically they move on to another place around my house and I find this out in a few days.. and we go again the next weekend I have.
I had all but obliterated them before furlough and today I find out, the hive is bigger than ever. Big enough to be dangerous if we or our kids were caught up in it.
So the fight rages on. Seems like there are a lot of things like that keep popping up right now. I'm tired just thinking of my 'todo' list.
While I was outside, a man Mayas came up to me to 'stori' which means sit around and talk. I didn't know him, and I had to get to work, but culturally it would be rude to run off, so I decided to be a few minutes late to work. After all I'm here to spread the Gospel to people, not punch a clock.
So we talked for a bit, he was very nice, offered to even help me with my bees. We debated over whether or not smoke killed bees or simply put them to sleep. He told me the best way was to make a small fire, put paper on it, and smoke the bees into leaving.
I told him I didn't like fire close to my house, and that the smoke would more or less make them sleepy but not kill them.
Anyway, he asked me if he could take a few garden cuttings, and then said he could trade me for some others, and I told him if he saw something he liked, to come talk to me later... he said he would.
After thinking of the conversation, there was no exchange or askims (favors) which is typical. I think Mayas was networking, making a relationship, offering friendship. Those types of interactions are pleasant to me because you get into a bad habit of waiting for someone to get around to asking you a favor, but he never did... not yet anyway.
So my lunch break was atypical, but enjoyable.
