Blackberry Winter

Beautiful Memorial Day Weekend we're having here, but cool.  I was freezing when I woke up this morning, but it was wonderfully perfect for yard work.  Blackberries are blooming all over, making for some happy bee girls.
I lived through the end of the school year, thank the Lord, but it was touch and go for awhile there.  I don't have a stop button. I do too much, planning to simply faint when it's over, but when the musical was over, I had to go to camp and it was ninety degrees and 2 miles between every activity, then home at midnight and back to work the next day.  So very much around here goes a begging under such circumstances, so back to that overwhelming feeling.
Well, it's done.
Oh My JOY
No pictures, as my battery is dead and the charger has gone awol.  Anyhoo, a look into Harmony Hive this afternoon did not disappoint- 15 combs, two of capped honey.  Lots of drone comb.  Girls, do you realize how many men that is to feed? Just saying.

Playing in the tree fort with Bean and Bugg, just "tetching."  Which is what Bean used to call sketching.  We spied, with our little eye (actually, Pappy did), a pileated woodpecker, which we observed chipping wood with some interest.  Later, Bugg said, "I think I'll draw that laminated woodpecker."

A special gift from a special class, but that will have to wait until the charger is found and the battery up to snuff.  Is there a charger for me I wonder?

Happy Memorial Day Weekend.
Happy Birthday to the Handy Man.

Well, It was Bound to Happen

 There she is. My first bee sting.  I knew it was bound to happen.  That Langstroth hive is grouchy.  I came home for a bit Saturday between dress rehearsal and the big opening night of our fifth and six grade musical.  It was supposed to rain all day, but the bees were out in droves.  I needed to put an empty frame in the middle of the brood chamber, just as I'd done with the Top Bar Hive earlier in the week.  The hope is the bees would be busy drawing out that frame, and the queen mum laying eggs left and right, so the next deep full of empty frames that I put on the top would get filled with honey, not brood.   I did the Top Bar Hive one evening without gloves or hat and veil and without incident.  These bees were after me as soon as the cover came off.  Thankfully, I did have the smoker going well.  I also had my alcohol pad so after being stung once, I could remove the "danger, danger, Will Robinson" scent that little mean sister would be issuing, keeping a multitude of hit bees from coming after me.  I did manage to get the frame in, but those stinky bees are just no fun.  Now, I feel worried about their location and all my gramerlings.  I told Handy Man, we may be moving that hive way up the hill. It's sad to have to requeen when she's laying so well, but a mean queen has mean offspring, so she might just have to go.

This has simply been an exhausting week.  Of course, the kids were adorable, and did a great job on stage, but the back stage job, with  a couple of middle school guys,  required all the good graces I could muster and very seriously taxed my joy.  The chicklets on the other hand were  a dream.  It's sad, because most my boys were also wonderful. It is interesting how a couple of bad attitudes can affect the whole lot isn't it?

Oh My JOY!

 Most of the week was all work, I fear, but Bugg and I turned work into play as she most joyfully helped me make the mints for the Opening Night VIP table .

You know, we're still on Coyote vigil here, so the boys were looking at weapons.  Whilst we were working she asked, "Where are the boys?"  I replied, "Oh, out looking at guns."  She heaved, "Aren't you glad we're girls, so we don't have to out hunting?"  Then, " I bet we're going to make more of these next week, pink ones, because you know I love pink."  Hating to bust her bubble, I tried to explain, 

"Well, after I've made these for two hours, I'm not usually too excited about making them again real soon." Her response, "Well, I'm always excited about eating them."

I make these mints in my classroom every year for the Mother's Day Tea. I have kids who just cannot grasp the idea of the size and how to gently pat them in the mold.  She was rolling them out like pro. She's a wonderful chef assistant.

Now it's off to camp for me, yipee!

LIsten Up Wee Bee Girls

So, still fending off coyotes, but thankfully no more possums.  Another gander through the hives reveals a top bar busting out all over with twelve combs in comparison to the Langstroth hive which only has five. So all is well, full, and busy until I get to this third to the end and find what is known as a cross comb.  A comb built near another one, not in a nice line like we like them.  So, I carefully cut it out, lift it up, brush off the bees and........

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh a queen cell, which predicts an upcoming swarm which makes me want to cuss a little.

So, I took the divider out and tomorrow I'll get back in there and open up the area in the brood combs with an empty top bar,  hoping to convince them that there is still lots of expansion room and to

 STAY PUT!!

Miss SuZQ has to have radiation after all, Handy Man has a new manager who is managing to cause him a lot of grief, which hurts my heart and my car is making a very unpleasant noise.  Oh, life.


Joy, joy, joy, where are you?

Oh My JOY

Ah, yes! The humble beginnings of a tree fort, so whether we be pirates,or fairies, there's a hideout.

Trouble in the Mind

My kiddos are knee deep in practice for The Little Mermaid. I'm reminded this evening of Sebastian's line, "Child, you got trouble in the mind?"
All week the eggs have gotten less and less.  I asked Handy Man what he thought the trouble might be. He said when he switched the light to red for the new babies, he thought that wasn't enough light to keep the girls going.
Today, as I was swinging Buttercup, it occurred to me that I was not hearing the cockle doodle dooing I usually here from a very vocal Mr. Sunshine.  So I started looking around. Hmm, Mr. Sunshine was gone.  So I started looking closer, Henny Penny, gone, Owlie, gone.  Seven chickens gone and by 5:30 a coyote standing in the drive ready for supper.  Ugghh, makes me sick.

Then Handy Man goes out to feed the dog where the food is kept in a completely enclosed back porch and look what he pulls out. EWWWWWWW.  Maybe I am not such a farm girl after all.

A Grape Roast

Oh My JOY

My Bean loves to light candles. This evening he decided he'd like to try to roast a grape.

Of course, Bugg wanted to join in on the experiment. 

She was loving it and all giggly fun, when....

 oops, a lost grape. That expression is hysterical.  Later, she said roasting then waxing her grape was her "technique."

I put a new bar between two combs in the top bar hive last week and this week, look at this thing- amazing, again.

My little Giddy-up came to visit Sunday.  He too is fascinated by the bees and can't figure out why he can't hold them. Pappy had to get in there and get a dead one for him to hold.

He has a pet name for me, he looks at me slyly and says, "Rotten Butt."  Don't ask, I don't know, but coming from a barely two year old it's plenty funny to me.

As all the end of the year hoopla builds day by day, I so love me some joyful things.

I'm about to have a big joy. Stay tuned for my Mother's Day present- woo, hoo!

Oh, I nearly forgot to include another joy. My sister and my cousin Debbie dropped by for a visit.  Debbie hadn't been here before. It was so lovely to have her and Auntie G-Lou for a wee bit.

My poor Mama took a tumble and had to get some stitches in her head yesterday.  She's feeling a bit beat up today.  Hope she finds some joy.

A Rainy Derby Day

I've no doubt the bees are grouchy on this coolish, very wet Derby Day. Likely a sentiment shared by all the infielders and the beautifully dressed getting those shoes muddy, but for me, it is a delightful kind of day.  Last week was so crazy, leaving me feeling more like a puppet, being yanked hither and yon by state testing.  I did haul my students to our school creek, which actually feeds into my own for some exploration, sunshine and just fun.  It took no prompting on my part.

 This picture cracks me up.  This little guy loves, loves, loves to dress up.  Before uniforms were required in K-6th grade, he wore a suit most days of his wee preschool and pre-K life.  For our creek outing, they were supposed to bring scrappy play clothes to change into, as you can imagine what they look like after they've "accidentally" fallen a few times.
Well, this is his play clothes.  And they looked when he walked out like they looked when he went in.
Yes, crack up.

 After an hour of play an collecting critters, we tried to identify every thing we found.  Such interesting life under those rocks.

Oh My JOY

My ownest little bit of paradise- our creek.

Great Uncle Tim provided the entertainment for the wee folk.  Between Bugg's self applied eye make-up and chocolate face, she looks a bit ghoulish, but took her paddling quite seriously.

 Since our favorite Gramerly music this season is "Can You Canoe" by the Okie Dokie Brothers, this was a most exciting adventure.

 The water wasn't quite deep enough to accomplish much, but a fabulous experience all the same.

Whilst Gwanfader commandeered the boat traffic, the Pappy-O had to manage photography.

I was too busy you see. Swee-tee's mama came to play and brought along our newest little mister and I had to smooch him whilst the others were canoeing and creekin'.

The end of my Playdate evening was spent with Bugg in the garden, showing a little budding botanist all the sprouting plants, and checking bluebird houses.  She never tires of gardening.  Then I knew that just around the bend are some long and restful summer days as she slipped in the swing and flew in the breeze while I serenaded her with our favorite swinging songs.
Today, I planted shrubs for the bees just before a soft rain arrived to settle them in.  I took my Handy Man repaired car to pick up our farm fresh Greek yogurt and milk, enjoyed an overdue pedicure with my sister, travelled to an a bit out of the way nursery for bedding plants and heirloom tomatoes and pulled the big 40% off Derby Day sale ticket, had  lunch out with my sweetheart, a nap and now coffee.  I am a Derby winner on all counts!

Bee Business is Booming

It appears that all is going well in Bee-ville. Yesterday when I got home the sun was shining, and the bees were foraging up a storm, so it seemed a good time to take a peek.  Sure enough previous capped brood was empty, meaning baby bees were out.
Remember I told you that cells for the male drones are quite a bit larger than for the girl workers.  You can see it in this picture. Look down to the middle of the bottom half of the picture.  See those cells that look like they have a cap on top.  That is a boy bee cell.  I believe if you want to see the pictures larger, you can click on them.  Are you laughing because this is way more information already then you ever felt the need to know?

Now here, if you look about half way across you can see a row of bees with their heads in cells.  They could be packing pollen, storing honey, or cleaning a cell that emerged.  Look down further and to the right. No, it isn't corn on the cob, but capped brood cells of girly bees.  Bees have about ten different jobs they do in their brief lives and they are hard at it.

Here you see that eight top bars have comb. They are bigger every day when I get home and this hive has way more done than the Langstroth hive.

 As they age, dragging that load of pollen becomes more of challenge.  Foraging is the last job Missy Bee does and she does it till she dies.  I'm watching her in the grass just below the hive encouraging her to make it.  She did.

 Look at this little Missy. What a load.

I guess you can't tell I'm completely smitten with this whole process.

Today, as I was leaving a opossum had the audacity to crawl up out of the creek and die right smack in the middle of the drive way. I've come along way in managing animals.  I will bury  my chickie girls when they pass on, but I really had no relationship with this dead critter and the chickens were already out and I was feeling mildly hysterical that it was some fearsome rabid beast that one my girls would peck and get some awful disease.

Oh My JOY

Drummer Boys who come and rid the drive of  fearsome rabid beasts, so the only drama I'm faced with is online state testing that DOES NOT WORK and in fact is completely shut down before day's end. 

Have mercy.  Tomorrow, regardless of what the state does, I'm getting in the creek and having some real education with my kidlets- so there!