Married with Bees

A husband and wife beekeeping team sharing what they learn.

[marriedwithbees]

Can I Make Peace With Christmas?

Christmas is my least favorite holiday.  There.  I said it.  As a child, I loved Christmas.  As an adult, my relationship with Christmas is more temperamental.  This post is one I wanted to write for a while but was afraid to write.  I thought, “Do you really want to fly that freak flag?”  I turned 50 this year, and there is something liberating in that.  You realize if you don’t start doing the…

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Honey Bee Homicide

Anthropomorphism is the term for when human characteristics are given to animals.  Humans love to project their humanity onto animals.  This is why people think their dogs want to be dressed in Halloween costumes and why once a year you read about a person who thought it was a good idea to jump into a zoo enclosure.  “The gorilla was just so cute and cuddly.  I didn’t think he would try to rip my…

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One Beekeeper's Review of The Barbie Movie

My favorite question to get to know a person better is, “What is your favorite book, and why?”  It’s a great ice-breaking question and reveals a lot about a person.  (Click here if you want to know my 10 favorite books of all time.)  Recently, I have switched to the question, “What do you think about the movie Barbie?”  That question is far more interesting.  Here is a smattering of the…

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The Summer We Decided To Dig A Hole

If you are going to war, you need a fox hole.

Parenting styles were different 50 years ago.  Back then, a parent’s primary job was to keep the child alive and get the child to school.  Parents didn’t coordinate their children’s entertainment and social schedules.  Nobody shuttled us back and forth to activities.  We were responsible for entertaining ourselves while the adults did grown-up things like iron shirts and pay for homeowners’…

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Stop Counting Carbs and Start Counting Friends

There is more to good health than diet and exercise.

BLOG UPDATE:  When Married with Bees started, I wrote about beekeeping.  I don’t know if I changed or if the bees changed me, but the blog definitely changed.  Now I mostly write about my thoughts on life.  You know how therapists tell you that you should journal to work through your personal issues?  Well, I do that but then I hit the PUBLISH button when I finish writing.  When you read my…

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Can I Learn To Love January?

Do you hate January as much as I do? Let's see if we can turn that around this year.

I hate the month of January.  If January was a person, it would be the kid that reminds the teacher that she forgot to assign the class homework.  If January was a food, it would be creamed spinach.  January is like a pile of dog doodoo that you don’t see when you are at the park.  You are skipping along through the month of December, and then BAM you step in a big steaming pile of…

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How I Celebrate The Winter Solstice

How I Celebrate The Winter Solstice

Last year on the Winter Solstice, I was wandering around outside taking nature pictures to post on social media, and I captured a picture of the sun rising over the frozen kale in the garden.  I don’t know what inspired me to write these words, but here is what I posted to social media on December 21, 2021:  Today is the Winter Solstice. The days will begin to grow longer, and the mud and gray of…

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I Can't Sleep

Since I can't beat my insomnia, I'm writing about it instead.

When I was a child, my love of bedtime was so great that it has now become the stuff of family legend.  My mother still tells the story about a family birthday party being held in my honor when I was turning 5.  The party was in the evening since my father and grandfather worked.  After time passed, my mother noticed that I wasn’t in the room any longer.  She did a quick check of the house only…

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Why Happiness Is Like Big Foot

Americans are getting everything about happiness wrong.

“On a scale of 1 to 10 what is your happiness score,” my boss demanded.  My boss was a German engineer who drank far too much coffee.  Some mornings when he was highly caffeinated, he would barge in my office and demand to know my happiness score.  His sentiment was well intended even though his delivery was abrasive.  On the day I resigned, I began the conversation by saying, “My happiness score…

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How We Got Back Our Beekeeping Mojo

This is not just a post about beekeeping, it is a post about life.

Last year my husband Doug and I were ready to quit beekeeping.  The hobby we started just three years earlier felt more like a job than a recreational activity.  The bees didn’t feel like our pets.  They felt like our bosses.  Imagine having 250,000 different bosses at work, and all of them have the capability to sting you when they are unhappy with your performance.  “I don’t want to do this…

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What Does It Mean to Age Gracefully?

What Does It Mean to Age Gracefully?

Growing up, I had a great aunt who I will refer to as Aunt D.  Aunt D. grew up in the Great Depression, saw all three of her brothers drafted to fight in WW II, and outlived her husband.  My cousins and I loved to go to her house because she was so much fun.  She would cook us hot dogs, and we would play Bingo.  She ran through the yard with sparklers on July 4th.  Aunt D. rode a go-cart through…

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How Many Dogs Is Too Many?

How Many Dogs Is Too Many?

Doritos are my love language and my compulsion. I don’t buy them at the store because I can’t control myself when they are in the house. My husband, when he knows I have had a trying day, buys me a small bag at the corner store, which is just one of the many reasons he is awesome. Years ago I was at my in-laws house, and a bowl of chips was sitting out on the table. Like an alcoholic drawn to the…

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Pot Pies, Pintos and Parrot Heads: Life Lessons from A Friendship

Pot Pies, Pintos and Parrot Heads: Life Lessons from A Friendship

“You can’t microwave frozen pot pies.  They won’t turn out right,” I said. (more…)

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Life Lessons from the Tattoo Shop

Life Lessons from the Tattoo Shop

Spring is off to a cool start.  The radishes and turnips have sprouted but the sprouts are not growing because of the temperature.  Broccoli, cabbage, spinach and onions are patiently waiting under my basement grow light to be transplanted to the garden.  The bees are getting brief tastes of spring, but the persistent cool temperatures are keeping them in the hives.  What is a gardening beekeeper…

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Carmen: A Rescue Dog's Story

Carmen: A Rescue Dog’s Story

I knew we needed to get a second dog when my husband and our German Shepherd kept overruling me.  “We need to turn up the thermostat.  The house is too cold,” I would say. “Forte and I think it feels good, and that’s two against one,” my husband would say. (more…)

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Should We Quit Beekeeping?

We considered quitting beekeeping.

“Maybe we should just quit keeping bees,” my husband said late last fall.  “I’m not having fun anymore.”  (more…)

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Ten of My Favorite Books

Ten of My Favorite Books

Disclaimer:  My blog is usually about bees, flowers, and gardening.  This winter I decided to write a series of posts for my Left Field collection.  I’ve covered everything from Cocaine Hippos to Mermaids.  If you only want to read about gardens and beekeeping, please check back in the spring or browse through some of my older posts. Today’s post is being written by request of my social media…

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