How can something bring such joy and ecstacy to someone(namely me) and such fear and misery to another( namely Rocky)? It is the substance that will endure the ages(they have found it in the Egyptian tombs) it will make anything it is poured on taste good( aka my sometimes doughy pancakes) it prevents sneezes, watery eyes, and stuffy noses in the Spring ( a teaspoon a day) not to mention it's use as a salve for boo boos and burns. I have seen this fearless man, who goes into burning buildings without a moments hesitation, put his gloveless hand down a spider and snake filled well to check the water level, ride an unbroke horse, bulldog a calf, be brought to his knees by sticky honey fingers! He cannot stand anything sticky on his hands, and for a beekeeper that is quite a predicament. We have been in the process of adopting a hive from a barn that is going to be demolished. It is a several days process, following steps to secure the queen, the bees, and retrieve any salvagable honey and honeycomb. After setting the queen, and her court in a new home, all of the honey and wax comb that was left was put into a cooler. Now during this process, Rocky had on his protective bee garb, so honey and skin were layers of leather and cloth apart. All of which can be thrown in the wash machine. He brought the cooler home plopped it on the back porch and called Randy the Bee Man to find out how to get the honey out of the comb, as it was random chunks and could not be put in the extractor. A most horrified look crossed his face, as Randy explained that the honey would need to be squeezed out by hand, chunk by chunk. I just giggled!" Oh, Rocky, we can have a date night and squeeze honey all night long!" I couldn't wait to plow my hands into the cooler and start squeezing the liquid gold from the wax comb. With an ashen pallor and glazed eyes he shook his head and said " Carol, please, please, please will you do it? I will do anything else, just don't make me touch that honey with my bare fingers, I will use a fork, some tongs, wear gloves, anything, just no sticky fingers." LEVERIDGE was shamefully my first thought, but as good sense took over, I agreed to knead what honey I could from the wax chunks, and let him breath a sigh of relief. Now let me tell you, he will be the first one at the table with a hot roll in one hand and the honey dipper in the other, scooping up glob after glob and drizzling it over the top, but heaven forbid any should accidently plop on his thumb, it is straight to the sink to wash it off! I am trying to think back on all the chores that I did in between the honey squeezing, and what I touched with barely rinsed, still a little bit sticky honey hands. Let's see, I drove the E-Z go, checked the animals at night with his flashlight, went through the dairy barn front door, answered the phone, drove his pick-up to the dollar store, opened the refrigerator, flushed the commode......... and I won't even mention caramel apples! From our farmstead to your table thank you for all of your support!