OK Solberg: 00:00

I want again. Welcome you into the 4:05 Coffee Break, guys. It's hot again. Get your cup of coffee or a glass iced tea. Let's see what's happening.

OK Solberg: 00:08

Spring wheat $5.32 a bushel. 550lb steer calf just like the shotgun, $4.10. $4.10 a pound. Can you believe it? Take $4.10 times 550, and that's a lot of money.

OK Solberg: 00:24

A butcher hog in Iowa, 53¢ a pound, and a 100lb fat lamb in billings at a $1.84 a pound. But, guys, there's more, much more. Okay, class. Yesterday, I really went overtime. Today, I'll try to do better.

OK Solberg: 00:40

But sit up straight and all eyes on the blackboard. The word for today and the password is A P I A R I S T, apiarist. Some of you know the definition. I had heard it, but I needed a refresher course. Anyone that knows the definition, shout it out right now to the people around you.

OK Solberg: 01:10

Say it. Go for it. For the ones like me that don't know the definition, I'm gonna give you a hint. I'll agree it's a vague hint, but it's a hint nonetheless. And I'm gonna go back to the year I was born 1957, and a musician by the name of Jimmy Rogers sang a song.

OK Solberg: 01:30

It started out, well, it's a darn good life, and it's kinda funny how the lord made the bee and the bee made the honey and the honey bee looking for a home, and they called it honeycomb, you know. Did that clear it up? And the password is apiarist. Why, it's a beekeeper. An apiarist is a beekeeper, a person who manages bees for honey production.

OK Solberg: 01:55

Now that that mystery is solved, here's the next question you'll have. How and why in the world are you talking about this and taking us in this direction today? And that's a good question, and I have the answer. You know how I enjoy researching old Phillips County newspapers.

OK Solberg: 02:14

So let me share what I found from Thursday, 07/31/1958. The front page article heading reads, between building walls, Kamla gets honey bonus when bee swarm removed. Many of us old timers remember Kamla Jewelry store on Front Street here in Malta. The article reads, there wasn't much going on in Malta last Saturday afternoon. It was one of those typical summer days when business drones on as usual.

OK Solberg: 02:52

The shoppers were shopping for Sunday dinner. Farmers and ranchers were talking about farming and ranching, and tourists were looking the town over. There just wasn't anything exciting. That is until Paul Dahlenbeck, apiarist, bee man to most of us, arrived on 5th Ave in Coveralls wearing gloves and a hat with a veil. He stopped at Kamla's Jewelry store, and it wasn't long before there was a lot of excitement and a crowd of spectators lined up on the sidewalk.

OK Solberg: 03:30

Dahlenbeck was removing a swarm of bees from beneath the north exterior and interior walls of the building. He captured the queen bee, and after spraying the angry bees with something which made them dizzy and harmless, killed some with gas. When the exterior wall was removed, it was discovered that about a 150lbs of honey was stored between the stud wall. End of quote for now. Just an interesting story.

OK Solberg: 04:02

From our front street some sixty seven years past, I learned a new word. We got to hear the a little bit of the hubbub that excited the little community of Mayberry, aka Malta, Montana. The article also stated that evening, some of the bees that had escaped being gassed returned to the building and finding their entrance blocked by siding, attacked everyone in sight. This writer, Orvin Solberg, is happy to say I missed out on the action as I was out in Harb 27 miles to the east, Southeast, and while town folk fled the swarming bees, I was getting my diaper changed. Realized I was only one year old.

OK Solberg: 04:50

Here's a bible verse that fits the subject. If you remember Samson the strong man in the bible, here's a verse about Samson. Sometime later when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. Judges 14-8 So even in the Bible, we had bees and we had honey.

OK Solberg: 05:15

Some things never change. Oh, wait. I have another Bible verse just to caution you. If you have a sweet tooth after hearing all about this delicious honey, Listen to Proverbs 25-16 Have you found honey? Eat only as much as you need, least you be filled with it and vomit. We don't wanna overdo it.

OK Solberg: 05:40

So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.