Five Lamborghinis

One of Five Lamborghinis heading south

   I saw something very remarkable as I was driving south on Interstate 405 to the second day of the Beekeepers Convention. Not one, but five brand new Lamorghini sports cars drove by in a line. I had the presence of mind to take a quick photo with my iPhone. I've never had the desire to own or drive a Lamborghini. I'd have to be seriously stinking rich before I could ever look at that as anything but a frivolous waste of money. I hope I wouldn't buy one even if I could afford one, but I suspect my judgement might be colored if I were extremely rich. Yet they are very remarkable machines and part of me is glad there are people out there who are willing to fritter away their money on something like that. I guess its fun to see one on the road every once in a great while.

   I had a good time at the last day of the Beekeepers Convention. I enjoyed an interesting presentation by an OSU professor on various aspects of honeybee health and nutrition.  Dr. Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman, a research scientist from the USDA Bee Lab in Tucson, also spoke about the latest Hopguard trials. Hopguard is a new mite medication that is a byproduct from the processing of hops that are used in making beer. I think its wonderful stuff because its a food grade pesticide. Its a great blessing for beekeepers who want to be as organic as is practicable. It effectively kills the mites, but doesn't bother the bees and leaves no nasty chemical residues in the hive.

    The last speaker I heard was Bob Redmond, a customer of the bee store who spoke about urban beekeeping.  He has bee yards scattered throughout Seattle and delivers local honey to customers on his bicycle. He made some interesting comparisons by translating the everyday tasks of a honeybee to human scale.  One 1/2 mile foraging trip by a honey bee is the equivalent of a man on a bicycle riding 300 miles in order to pick up a 50 pound load and bring it home. Since a honeybee can make many such trips in just one day, we are really living life in the slow lane compared to honeybees.

   I couldn't leave the convention without buying something to commemorate the event.  I finally settled on one of the Ruhl Bee Supply T-shirts.  I loved the one with a cartoon depicting a bear walking away carrying a honey super. I bought a second T-shirt for Quentin with a bee smoker on the front and the caption "I smoke burlap". I suppose we shouldn't be wearing T-shirts with a competitor's logo, but Portland is far enough away that they really aren't in competition with the Beez Neez. I am thinking we really need to come up with our own cool T-shirts.

   I left the convention early so I could get home in time for the Priesthood session of General Conference. I met my son James at the Monroe building just as it was starting.  It was a wonderful contrast to the materialism represented by the five Lamgorhini sports cars I had seen earlier in the day. I love listening to the brethren. They offered great counsel on how to avoid the snares of the world. Much of their counsel seemed to be directed towards the young men. I particularly enjoyed President Monson's talk. I can't understand how anyone can listen to him and not know that he is indeed the Lord's prophet.

   After the Conference session I stopped by James' home and enjoyed ice cream and Beth's home made cookies with the Tunnell family. It makes me happy that the grand children are always glad to see me and I am always very glad to see them. Britton was very concerned that Grandma was home sick in bed so she sent me home with some artwork to cheer her up.