Hiving some bees.

This weekend I got to help my friend Becky to start off a new bee hive. This is one of the most satisfying jobs in beekeeping. You have a queen all packaged up in a little container about the size of your thumb and a few pounds of bees ready to join her in the hive. You place the queen in her container in the hive (she can’t get out until the worker bees eat the sugar plug at the end of the container to free her from confinement) and then you get to pour the bees into the hive on top of her. At this point since they haven’t really bonded with the queen or the hive the bees are not at all threatened and are quite benign. The act of pouring in all these bees is just very satisfying.


The idea is that by the time that the other bees eat away the sugar plug to the queen container they will have bonded with the queen and they will join together and build up the hive. If things don’t go to plan – perhaps the queen gets out too early before she is bonded with the others – then the other bees kill her. Nature is cruel sometimes.

A Trip to the Santa Cruz Mountains...

Last Sunday I went down to the mountains just north of Santa Cruz to attend the jukai ceremony of my friend Brian. A jukai ceremony, to the best of my knowledge, is the lay ordination of a member of the Zen Buddhist community. I had never been to one before and did not quite know what to expect, particularly since those Zen Buddhists and, in this case, those Soto Zen Buddhists are quite formal – lots of bowing and prostrating and bell ringing in just the right order and at just the right time.

The ceremony was very nice indeed and Brian seemed to make all the right responses at the right time, though he later admitted he only had a brief rehearsal 5 minutes before the ceremony. Anyway, it was a privilege to be a part of the ceremony – Brian has been diligently studying and practicing for the last 5 years and it is part of a life long commitment for him – very admirable.

The location was at a the Vajrapani Buddhist retreat center was an idyllic spot back in the hills behind Boulder Creek, just north of Santa Cruz – very close to the Big Basin Redwoods State Park. What a beautiful part of the State that is.

The American River 50 Miler

Yesterday I ran the American River 50 from Sacramento up the trails to Auburn. Not quite sure how I got to that state where I would think that running for 50 miles was a good thing to do, but at 6:00 am yesterday on a rainy morning I found myself at the start line down by Sacramento State University.

As the distance increases in these running events and particularly on the trail runs, the body shapes and the age distributions changes. At yesterday’s start there was a motley looking crew with a much higher proportion of older people (like me) and all sorts of body shapes and sizes. Looking at some folks you just would not think they would be capable of running that far – they looked so un-athletic. I suppose it is more of a mental game at that distance and all you need is the will to keep going rather than the speed.

I had decided to try and run the race in three parts, a 30 mile run up to Folsom (Beall’s Point) followed by two 10 milers to Rattlesnake Bar and then on to the finish at the Dam Overlook in Auburn. I figured that if I could get the first 30 out of the way with something left then I could hang on for the next two sections.

I got to the first 20 miles done but then I started to feel way too tired for not being even half way. From 20 to 30 miles it was a tough section for me and I had doubts about not being able to get through it. However, at mile 30 I changed shoes and picked up my pacer Michelle and things got a lot better. That is where the real trail section of the course starts and we slopped along through mud and muck and I was enjoying it again. I picked up my next pacer (Brian) at Rattlesnake and he got me through the final 10 miles.

The finish of the race is a 3 mile uphill out from the bottom of the canyon to Auburn – a cruel but fitting end. At that point I just wanted to be done with it so I was able to muster some energy to run at least parts of the hill. At the finish it was a wonderful feeling, there were a bunch of friends there and it really felt that I had done something. My time was 12 hrs 5 mins, so not fast by any means but that was not the goal.

It was a good experience, I am glad I did it, I am very grateful to all the friends who gave me encouragement on the way and at the finish, but I am not sure it is something I want to repeat. And as far as going further is concerned – 100 K or 100 Miles – of which there are plenty of races – I just don’t think I need to go there.