A couple of days ago, staff looked out the window of one of our buildings on the Salem campus and saw a very strange thing. There was a huge brownish blob on the sidwalk near our Chapel. Strange. Even stranger, this blob seemed to vibrate and shift. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered this undulating, earth-toned mass was a swarm of honeybees. Most people probably don't realize it, but there have been at least three very active hives of bees living in the walls of the Carpenter Cottage for roughly 20 years. Its quite entertaining to watch the bees come and go through cracks in the mortar between the bricks comprising the old buildings walls. From time to time when the building still hosted our on-campus school, bees would find their way through cracks in the plaster and come out in the classroom. Students and staff often said they could smell honey. Each Spring the bees would swarm and a fair number of them would take off into the surrounding community to find a place to establish their own hive. This week, for whatever reason, the bees only made it about 30 feet before halting their journey.
Fortunately, one of our DDM area coordinators, Wayne Craig, happens to be a beekeeper. Quickly donning his gear, he gathered the bees into an extra hive box to protect both the bees and any residents or staff passing by.
Perhaps there is a good lesson here for us. When the time has come for our residents (or our own children) to set off into the wide world on their own, there will probably be occasion when they'll need a little help to make sure they find safety and security.
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