The End of an Era

Last Friday morning, our family's warehouse burnt down.  It was near the corner of Ophir and Lincoln in Oroville.  My grandparents own a bunch of property back in there and it was my grandpa's headquarters for his beekeeping business.  I think he bought the property 60 years ago and put the warehouse up on it.  This place has so many memories for the Meyer Family.  It looks like an eye sore to everyone else though.  It was pretty much like a monument for our family.  My grandpa's grave site at the cemetery is even in a spot where we could see the warehouse.  We knew that someday Grandma would pass away and we would sell her house, but we would always have the warehouse in the family. There are so many memories out there.  It was my grandpa's 2nd home.  If we wanted to see him during the week, that's where we went.  He was always tinkering around, building things, inventing things. He taught us grandchildren how to work hard!  He wasn't able to pay us a lot, but we didn't care.  We just loved being there with him and I value that hard work ethic that he taught me there.  One memory that I remember is when we were putting sugar water into 2 liters containers, Derek was wearing a red or yellow shirt and was covered in sugar water.  He went out to storage containers away from the warehouse and we just saw him running as fast as he could with his arms flailing all over the place.  I can't remember super well, but I think he went near some hives and the bees could smell the sugar water on him and decided to try to get friendly with him.  I'm glad nothing bad happened to him.... but we all learned a valuable lesson that day! Never go near the hives while covered in sugar water.  The warehouse was always dirty.  The smell of oil, dirt, honey, and grime was always prominent there. It's actually the smell that my grandpa always carried! I unfortunately have not been there for a year.  But it was always comforting to me, driving into town and looking over at the warehouse.  Just made life feel more safe and made me feel all giddy inside.  Well, we don't know exactly how it burnt down. There was a trailer that was parked behind it.  And we think some transient was living in it. Because the fire started in the trailer.  My brother's had a bunch of stuff stored in the warehouse and there was some bee equipment in there as well.  The whole back half is destroyed. It just makes me sad to think that it's gone.... it's the end of an era that I wish my kids could experience as well.