# Mark's (sqkcrk) Blueberry Pollination in Maine



## hpm08161947

That is so different than the kind of blueberries i am used to. As Mark has said "Have Smoker- will travel".


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## Barry

"Coastal Maine."









"What you do when you aren't moving bees or sleeping."









"Migrant labor camp."









"Cook house and shower house."


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## Barry

I agree Herb. The bushes I've seen in Washington were 6 feet tall and harvested with this.
Mark said the bushes are about 4 to 6 inches tall, but very thick. Some of the states represented by beekeepers there are CA, NY, PA, KS, FL and ME.


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## Barry

"One of the two big blueberry growers is Cherryfield Foods. The other one is Wymans. There are some 38,000 hives on the barrens."









"Moving equipment."









"Usually fences are adequate to protect hives from bears."


















"An example of the fencing. Some drops are surrounded by Flexnet electric fencing often used in fencing sheep. It keeps bears out too."









"Future fruit."


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## jim lyon

First I'm looking at all the truck unloading pictures and I'm thinking hmmmm this might work, then I see pictures of bears and fences. Good luck to everyone in the blueberries.


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## Barry

Those hives with the bear must be someone else's or I think Mark would have made a stink about it!


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## hpm08161947

Must not be Chuck Kutic's either... else he would be tackling that bear....


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## Mbeck

Is that a real bear? A few things look off with that photo.

Thanks for sharing.


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## Rader Sidetrack

Mbeck said:


> Is that a real bear?


Since its not wearing a shirt, I don't think its Winnie the Pooh ...


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## tben

Mbeck said:


> Is that a real bear? A few things look off with that photo.
> 
> Thanks for sharing.


Funny, I had the same thought. The bears I'm used to aren't so broad in the shoulders. Those East Coast bears must work out.


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## HarryVanderpool

http://www.beesource.com/imgs/markb/photo3.jpg

OOOOOOOH, MANNN!
That trailer and contraption loaded on it looks HEAVY!!!
That has GOT to be WAY heavy to tow around.
How much do you suppose it weighs?
Heavy for sure.


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## naturaledge

Does,'t look like a real live bear .


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## jim lyon

Good one Mark. Where did you get the Bear suit?


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## Barry

I think it's just the angle that makes the head look too big for what little of the body we see. Does look like someone wearing a suit.


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## Barry

OK, the official word from Mark regarding the bear photo, "LOL, it's a statue."
So Jim, coast is clear for you to take bees to Maine!


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## coopermaple

The bear photo looks real enough. Just coming out of winter with a heavy winter coat before shedding out. Those bears up there have to be in shape for blueberry pollination, sometimes they have to unload the trucks themselves just to get to the best hives!


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## jim lyon

Barry said:


> OK, the official word from Mark regarding the bear photo, "LOL, it's a statue."
> So Jim, coast is clear for you to take bees to Maine!


Maine hmmmm, is that in the United States?


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## Keith Jarrett

> =HarryVanderpool;808073OOOOOOOH, MANNN!
> That trailer and contraption loaded on it looks HEAVY!!!


Aww, Harry, got one of those BW tilt trailers just like the one in the pic, also a 1k too.


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## Hawkster

there is nothing sweeter than low-bush blueberries, they put those high-bush pretenders to shame


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## Barry

So how do they harvest these when it's a solid carpet of bushes?


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## hpm08161947

Barry said:


> So how do they harvest these when it's a solid carpet of bushes?


Mark asked me the same question when he first saw the Barrens... I had no idea. Surely they are not hand picked. He must know the answer by now. believe he is loading his 5th semi today..


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## Hawkster

they use rakes or did when I was a kid up there


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## Barry

I wondered if it was hand picked seeing they have the migrant housing.


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## Barry

"Half the load on. And then off for more. We were able to work during the day due to cool rain. Sure we got wet, but getting to work more hours in a day is something to take advantage of."









"From one truck to another."









"Gathering"


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## naturaledge

Yes they use migrant labor with hand rakes and mechanical harvesters on tractors and some small harvesters that rake about a 3 foot swath. . My girlfriend raked 9000 lbs last year off 3 acres in about 2 weeks and she has raked with the migrants and she said they are twice as fast as her.


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## naturaledge

Google blue berry harvester


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## Hawkster

http://www.hubbardrakes.com/photo_album_one.gif a picture of some folks raking the old fashioned way !


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## Barry

"4th load being loaded. Cold wind makes use of smoke unnecessary and ineffective."









"Trucks like this one haul bees from ME to KS, ND and farther."









"A net to cover the back half of the load sits on the end pallet ready for use. The back net is put on first so the front net can overlap it. The net is topped with spreader boards."









"Spreader boards like these along with ratchet straps hold the load securely to the deck of the truck."









"Loaded and netted in about 2 hours."


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## Mbeck

Thanks for posting the photos for him, very interesting.

Maybe when Mark gets back he can give us a step by step tutorial titled ...How to go to Blueberries.


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## HONEYDEW

Yeah, and who are all your contacts...


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## Barry

"Dave Hackenberg's rig."









"Hackenberg moving hives from one truck to another to send them on their way."









"Bear defence."









"For some, the next crop they work on is cranberries right near the blueberries. A couple of miles down the road."









"These bees are getting a protein patty before going to cranberries."


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## Mbeck

HONEYDEW said:


> Yeah, and who are all your contacts...


I'll only need the contact information for the growers that need 6 possibly 12 hives. I'll have to see if I can ride with Hackenburg, he lives close to me. I'll need to learn how to load, who wants to loan me thier loader to practice with. I'd like to try that one with the fifth wheel or one with a decent radio. I bet I can load really fast, how hard can it be???


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## odfrank

Mbeck said:


> bet I can load really fast, how hard can it be???


I have been a Bobcater since 1982, and loading a double stack with a no mast forklift on a Bobcat looks hard to me. I wonder how often they spill a pile. A wheeled bobcat on bumpy ground with your forks elevated up high can be a wobbly ride. They must have them strapped well together.


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## Mbeck

I'm will to give it a try with someone else's machine and hives!


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## Barry

"Toolbox under trailer for straps, ratchets, and bungee cords."









"Load 6 ready for the road. Ten hours from now it will be unloaded in NY."









"Wymans is second biggest blueberry grower and may be second oldest company."









"Helping Tony Smith feed syrup to some of his bees before they go to cranberries because they don't gain much of anything when on the barrens or in the crans."









"Covers opened for feeding."


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## Barry

"7th and final semi load ready to go."









"Load on and netted. Spreader boards on and straps being placed."









"Nothing left to do but the clean up. Get the trailer tire fixed, grab up a load on Chucks truck and head for home, NY, where the adventure continues. Plenty of hives to go through and setting up for honey production."









"Land being prepared for blueberries to grow. Clearcut, remove rocks and stumps and a couple of years later you have blueberries growing."


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## Barry

It's June, where is the sunshine?!


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## sqkcrk

odfrank said:


> I have been a Bobcater since 1982, and loading a double stack with a no mast forklift on a Bobcat looks hard to me. I wonder how often they spill a pile. A wheeled bobcat on bumpy ground with your forks elevated up high can be a wobbly ride. They must have them strapped well together.


Chuck loaded some stacked three high. Hives are glued together by the bees, propolis, and strapped to the pallets. The fifthwheeled Bobcat is smoother, especially when one uses rubber treads like Hack does.

I don't know anyone who is going to let a novice move their bees when they are able to load/unload them themselves. I have loaded plenty of my own truck loads and I didn't even think to ask Chuck if I could load. He is responsible for his own hives and those of two other beekeeper buddys whose were there too.


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## sqkcrk

I am home now where time and internet access is available. Questions anyone?


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## Barry

Yeah, post #38! 

btw, thanks for the pocket tour of your week in Maine! How's George?


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## Mbeck

I was joking about borrowing a loader and practicing with someone else's hives!

How do you prepare your hives to go to blueberries?
What configuration?
What management is needed while your there?

What is the agreement details regarding dates, placement and hive strength ?


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## sqkcrk

Barry said:


> Yeah, post #38!
> 
> btw, thanks for the pocket tour of your week in Maine! How's George?


Tried to meet up w/ George. May have even driven by his house. I didn't have his address. If you sent it to me, I misplaced it. It turns out there was a death of a neighbor, so my calls went unanswered until George got home to find his answering machine w/ 2 or 3 messages from me. The detour wasn't a total lose. I saw some nice countryside and had lunch at the Alma Store. Which was a joy.


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## Mbeck

What do you strap hives to pallets with?

Thanks for having the photos posted !


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## sqkcrk

Barry said:


> It's June, where is the sunshine?!


I saw my shining Son last week when he was East for work reasons. He is doing well after his latest operation.


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## brac

I do a small out of the way (not in the barrens) blueberry job each year. Very different from yours. Plants are the same but we move hives 12 at a time in a pickup truck.


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## sqkcrk

Mbeck said:


> I was joking about borrowing a loader and practicing with someone else's hives!
> 
> How do you prepare your hives to go to blueberries?
> What configuration?
> What management is needed while your there?
> 
> What is the agreement details regarding dates, placement and hive strength ?


I figgereed u were.  When I first got around loaders I asked a friend if I could try it out and he said, "Sure, on your own hives."

Well, they have to be strong, w/ a minimum of 6 frames of brood. Which may not be worth the pay considering all of the expenses. Most shoot for ten frames of brood. Even though brood doesn't pollinate, bees do. So why isn't the count so many frames covered by bees?

Configuration? Most of the hives I saw were a deep and two mediums. Doble deeps were commonly seen. One guy uses three mediums. A few story and a halfs were seen, but the exception. Fourway pallets are the most common pallet size. But one of the biggest provider uses 6ways. One 6way provider runs 8 frame equipment.

On sight management veries. Mostly, once they are on the ground they are left alone. A colony worked by the beekeeper won't pollinate that day. Every day counts, so hive manipulation cuts into the colonies effectiveness. I did see a beekeeper working colonies, but those were the ones by the communication station preping for going to another crop.

I heard some of the agreement details, mostly having to do w/ what is paid for, but can't now reitterate details. Suffice it to say, like any other pollination opportunity, hives have to be ready when called for and then delivered in a timely manner. That being said, there is a window, not a specific date. When you need 38,000 colonies, they can't all arrive the same day. There wouldn't be enough smaller trucks and truckers available to spread them out.

Considering that semis average 384 hives per, that would be 1,000 semi loads. Can you imagine all of those trucks invading Maine and then trying to find loads of something else out of the area? One guy dead headed from CapeCod, 300 miles, when he returned for another load. Imagine what they had to do when the bees were put in. Lots of deadhead hauling to get to loads for opendecked trailers.


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## Mbeck

Interesting 
Are you responsible for providing the shuttle truck that moves the hives from the Semi to actual yards. What do you band the hives to the pallets with?

Thanks for answering all my questions


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## sqkcrk

Mbeck,
I was the grunt on this job. I went over to ME in my Van.

The person I worked with had his own hives and the hives of two friends to gather, load and get on their way back to NY. One of the other beekeeper friends was on sight when they arrived a few weeks ago. Chuck's truck can bee seen in some of the photos w/ a trailer for the Bobcat. He can get 28 pallets on his truck at a time if needed. A number of the out yards, off of the main barrens fields, we had a Cherryfield Foods truck or two to help. One held 16 pallets and ythe other 28 like Chuck's.

The hives are strapped to the pallet using a plastic band, similar to what people often band cardboard bundles. I don't think anyone uses the steel banding. Some peoiple use 1" rathchet straps. The straps go around two hives side by side, under the pallet and over top the hives. The cliups usually do an okay job keeping boxes from coming off of the pallet, but upper boxes might come loose w/ the oft times rough handling by loader and operator. And you don't want a box falling off of the pallet. A mess and a waste of time which is avoided by the strapping.

Bears.
They do get thru fences. No fence, other than the cages and the trailer cages are impeneratable. Some drops get double fenced, once a bear has visited. We even saw a trailer caged hive that a bear had gotten a small hold on. Some fences are baited to get a bear to touch it. The fences aren't so hot that they will knock you down. I touched a couple. Shock for sure, but I have been zapped worse.


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## honeyshack

really cool pics sqkcrk! thanks to you and Barry for sharing


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## sqkcrk

Yer welcome. Glad you enjoyed the pix.


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## Mbeck

Thanks for sharing your knowledge, without the photos I wouldn't even know what questions to ask. The plastic bands are a good idea, I use ratchet straps for the hives I move and they are a pain in the rear.
Of course I have standard bottom boards and no equipment so I strong arm them.

Do the guys running double deeps or a deep and two singles have an excluder on. Would you say the majority of hive configuration is a deep of bees,brood etc and the rest empty supers in case they produce. It sounds like most set up their hive for the road and don't fool with them much, pulling honey,adding space or splitting til they get home is this generally correct.

Thanks for answering all my questions so patiently !!!


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## BeeGhost

Very cool sqkcreek!! The life of a pollinator...........so easy a caveman can do it..........NOT!! It looks like a ton of work and a ton of miles as well. I like seeing the pictures of tons of hives and can only imagine the roaring of the hives when things are in full swing!!

Take care and thanks for the pictures!.............Jason


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## sqkcrk

Mbeck said:


> Do the guys running double deeps or a deep and two singles have an excluder on. Would you say the majority of hive configuration is a deep of bees,brood etc and the rest empty supers in case they produce. It sounds like most set up their hive for the road and don't fool with them much, pulling honey,adding space or splitting til they get home is this generally correct.


No, no excluder. Can't say exactly what most do, but Kutiks run the colony in a deep and a medium and add a medium for potential honey crop. Hives are managed to have some room in them for honey which may come from the blueberries and also containing enough honey so the colony won't starve.

Once on the barrens colonies usually aren't manipulated. Though sometimnes some folks do work their hives while they are on the barrens. Consider that any day a colony on sight for pollination purposes is manipulated it doesn't really do its job that day. In some cases that may be the only day when they could have.

Hives are worked as soon as they can be gotten to after getting to Summer yds.


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## sqkcrk

BeeGhost said:


> Very cool sqkcreek!! The life of a pollinator...........so easy a caveman can do it..........NOT!! It looks like a ton of work and a ton of miles as well. I like seeing the pictures of tons of hives and can only imagine the roaring of the hives when things are in full swing!!
> 
> Take care and thanks for the pictures!.............Jason


When a loading yard is full of 384 hives and the day turns warm and sunny there can be a lot of bees in the air. It can be quite exciting.

I don't work near as hard as the beekeepers who have bees on the barrens, but I get to tag along from time to time. How cool is that? I did get paid. In case anyone wondered.


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## Barry

Here are the remaining images from Mark, not in any certain order.









"Starting another load."









"Load 6 ready for the road. Ten hours from now it will be unloaded in NY."









"Looking down between the two rows."









"Grabbing the last set of pallets."









"Trucker on top of load. Last pallets with front net being set in place."


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## Barry

"Some of Tony's bees."









"Throwing the strap."









"Posted at the entrance of the barrens to warn those driving through. Roads are open. Maintained by the companies but they may be county or town roads."









"There are bees in those boxes. They come out to see what's going on even on cold days."


















"MOOSE!!!"









"Thanks to Chuck and Karen for the opportunity to experience beekeeping on the Blueberry Barrens."


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## Barry

"Bobcat setup with a mast, rubber tracks, and 5th wheel."









"This trailer is a drop deck."









"Spreading the back net while front is being loaded."









"Bungee cords hold the back of the net closed."









"Spreading the load boards."









"Sets of nets."


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## D Semple

Seems like there would be a lot of homeless bees left behind at each truck transfer?

I guess I just thought entrances would be screened off like I do when I move hives short distances.

Thanks for all the photos Mark, educational.

Don


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## hpm08161947

Mark - did you get a chance to operate the bobcat with the mast and fifth wheel? If so, how does it compare to your and my bobcat? I am assuming it would be easier and quicker at least on what appears to be a good flat loading yard.


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## sqkcrk

No Herb. I was there to work for and help Chuck. Besides, David Hackenberg was almost too busy to talk. So, neither did I consider asking, he was moving to fast to engauge in conversation.

It looked to me like it ran around faster and smoother. I would expect it to also do so in the sandy soil of NC.

Don, there weren't many bees lost in the moving of them. Mostly they were moved and loaded on days, and at the time of day, when bees weren't flying. The nights were pretty cool. Sometimes I wished I had Long Johns on. But not for long.

Barry, thanks for Posting the rest of the pictures so folks could see them and I could save them in my Picture File. Now if I could just figure out how to Post Pics on beesource I'd be in heaven. The Instructions are closed down last I looked.


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## sfisher

Here are some pictures I took with Mark in South and North Carolinas doing Blueberry pollination.


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## sqkcrk

Thanks Steve. I forgot you took some pictures. I also didn't recall netting the load. Huh.


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## jim lyon

I've done a few "net jobs" like that myself. Hey it keeps the lids on right? Other than that I think of them as mostly symbolic.


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## sqkcrk

I've never been ticketed for not having a net, and I run w/out one often, but I have heard of those who have been who didn't have enough nets. I bet there is a regulation out there somewhere.


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## jim lyon

sqkcrk said:


> I've never been ticketed for not having a net, and I run w/out one often, but I have heard of those who have been who didn't have enough nets. I bet there is a regulation out there somewhere.


No doubt. I was hauling an unnetted load one night when I had what must have been a bored town cop stop me (as near as I could tell) just for sport. He walked up to the truck with flashlight in hand leaned one hand against a box and asked me what I was hauling. I said "bees and I would suggest not leaning against them or shining your light on them unless you want to get stung". I was back on the road in no time.


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## sqkcrk

The faster I go, the behinder I get.


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## hpm08161947

jim lyon said:


> No doubt. I was hauling an unnetted load one night when I had what must have been a bored town cop stop me (as near as I could tell) just for sport. He walked up to the truck with flashlight in hand leaned one hand against a box and asked me what I was hauling. I said "bees and I would suggest not leaning against them or shining your light on them unless you want to get stung". I was back on the road in no time.


Guess I am not the only one with a story like that. Our town cop actually got nailed pretty good.


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## Adrian Quiney WI

Mark, I am not a techie, and I find Photobucket easy. My photos from my cell phone automatically upload to my photobucket account and then it is pretty easy to cut and paste a link to Beesource.

For Example: Yellow sweet clover as far as the eye can see. Taken from the minivan on the way back from Mount Rushmore near Vivian, SD.
http://s1110.photobucket.com/albums/h456/AdrianQuineyWI/?action=view&current=2012-06-15113649.jpg


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## sqkcrk

What kind of Phone do you have? Or is it the Plan which allows that upload?

Did you like the series of photos? I wish I could have organized them better, but most were sent the day they were taken.


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## Adrian Quiney WI

Mark. I did enjoy the photos. I also imagined high-bush blueberries, and was surprised to see the low bushes. I like seeing photos of different parts of the country and how the bees are managed there.
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy, an "android", it is the photobucket "app" on the phone and the data plan that allows me to have photos automatically uploaded. The only thing I don't like on the phone is the battery life; I pretty much have to keep it plugged in to the cigarette lighter/charger port as I'm driving because the battery lasts less than a day if I search internet etc. It lasts longer, a few days, if I just use it as a phone and a camera.


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## sqkcrk

I'll have to look into one of those. Or simply take my camera next time. Though it is more bulky and it would be cumbersome taking it up on top of a load of bees when I am supposed to be working. Someone might loose patience w/ me were I to do that.


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## Rader Sidetrack

If your phone is able to send emails, you can email your photos from your phone to your Photobucket account:
http://photobucket.com/mobile/upload

If you want more details on this option, see this newsletter page:
http://pic.photobucket.com/newsletter/Oct-2005/mobileuploads.html


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