We Have Bees!

Before I went to Williamsburg with the boys, The King and I had been watching Youtube videos on beekeeping.  We discovered what is called Top Bar Hives.  These hives are easier on the beekeeper's back and are most economical-something we look for.  By the time I got back, The King had a box ready for us.  Then about one month later, I got a call from a close friend that she had a swarm in one of her trees.  I asked her about the location and determined that I should be able to get it.  It was on a little branch low to the ground.  So I found a Youtube video on catching a swarm, got my cooler and kids, climbed in the van and took off!  I don't have photos of the process because we were all too hyped up (some were scared) to concentrate on that.  Here are some photos of the next couple of days after putting the swarm in my box.

Here was my bee outfit when I caught the swarm.  Swarms are very easy to handle and I didn't have any bee equipment anyway.  My husband got his hat and put one of my net laundry bags over it just so we wouldn't have to worry about the face area.  He wanted me to be all buttoned up in a jacket but I was too antsy to put all that stuff on.  I needed to feel free to move, plus I was brave at the time.  LOL  

Here is our top bar hive.  Do you see the blue cooler behind it?  That's how I transported the bees to our house.  I cut the whole branch off and put it in the cooler.  I had to wait a little while with the top open because some of the bees had started flying around.  I learned later that I could have sprayed them with sugar water to keep them more in a ball.  Anyway, The King took the top off the hive, put the branch in there, and then left the box open for the stragglers.  The side of the hive has a viewing window from plexiglass.  It is behind the wood panel on the side.

Just to be safe we fed the bees.  It was still late winter and we had moved them.  We wanted them to stay so we gave them a 50/50 solution of sugar water fed from hummingbird feeder.  Hey, it worked!

This view shows you the feeder in the front of the hive.  There are 5 entrance holes for the hive but we only had one open.  It was still chilly at night and we didn't want the new hive invaded by robber bees.  Having only one hole open, there is less entrance area for our bees to have to defend.  As the season goes on, we opened the other hole one by one until they were all opened.

There was a huddle of bees outside the entrance for a couple of days.  We still don't know why they do that but we were just glad they didn't leave.

Here is a view through the plexiglass.  We assume that the queen is in the middle of the huddle.  This is basically all we saw for about 2 weeks.  After that, we could see through the mass here and there bits of comb being built.

Here is Tigger wearing the hat and veil.  He felt comfortable around them especially in the beginning.  He's more wary again because both The King and I have bee stung since.  But it's ok, a few stings are good for ya!  Keeps the MS away.  LOL

   The next two photos were to capture the difference in the worker bees and the drones.  Drones are the males and they are bigger.

Transporting the bees in the van with 2 kids was interesting.  Even though I duct taped around the top of the cooler, there were still stragglers who could smell their queen and wanted in.  So there were a few stray bees flying around the back of my van--they stayed close to the cooler thankfully.  The boys seemed fine once I covered them with jackets and stuff for their heads.  It was an adventure!

We have not taken a class yet and we were too late to sign up for this year.  We have made and will continue to make mistakes I am sure.  We hope to sign up for the class starting in early 2013 where we will probably learn everything we did wrong.  :)

More of the story to come.....

Our Only Snow

Pooh loves being outside with the dogs.

Our littlest rascal.  She's my escape artist.  Adorable little pain in the butt-that's what I should have named her.

 Here's Chicken Little.  I call him that because he's afraid of brooms, cameras, etc.  Here he's afraid of the camera so he's hiding out in the doghouse.  Stupid dog.

Who is that cool dude? 

Family Worship Night-Bible Legos

Everyone made their own Lego version of Solomon's Temple.

The Latin King

Pooh

Tigger

MasterpieceMom  (I am soooo not a Lego artist.)

Gotta keep it interesting, right?  This was a hit for most.  Pooh is at the age where everything is 'lame' so I don't know if I should count his opinion.

Time Flies!

I spent the whole first part of January sick.  Bleh.  I'm finally feeling like a normal human being (even considering the fact that Tigger is sobbing due to having to do his morning routine-how that's different from any other day I don't know but there you have it).

This was the month that we started our drama class again.  We are doing a much shorter drama this year (thank heavens!) and so the pressure isn't as great for the instructors or the kids.  Our performance will be in May.

This past Friday we had one of our new science classes.  This year our co-op is doing 5 nature/science classes.  So far the response has been great.  I instructed this class and will try to do a post soon on how I put it together-links included.

It's citrus season around here so I am trying my hand at preserving it in different ways.  I've done some lemon curd (which prompted cooking macaroons too--gotta use those eggwhites ya know!), lemonade and marmalade.  Since I enjoyed the lemon curd so much, I will be making more.  I made 30 jars of marmalade so far but will do more as I would like to gift some of them.

In gardening news (yes, there is still gardening going on around here), I have all my patio plants in my little greenhouse.  I managed to snag two dwarf citrus trees off the clearance rack at Lowe's at the end of the season-$7 each.  Woo Hoo!  So far they are both staying alive.  The Kumquat is doing ok but the little clementine tree is loaded with flowers.  I'm using blossom set spray on them hoping that I'll get some nice fruit.  I have about 16 grape tomato plants in there too--baby ones.  Ummm, more seed sprouted than what I expected.  I managed to start about 4-5 cilantro plants and I just repotted those on Saturday.  I also put out my broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower seeds into their little containers for 'Winter Seed Sowing'.  Hopefully, that will work out.  I still have different greens growing in the garden--mustard, collards, kale.  They are under 1 light row cover--it's all I had at the time.  Thankfully our winter has been mild so far.  Today The King is putting together some trellises for me from free wood he's gathered.  I need to get more things vertical for space this coming season.  My seed stash has been replaced by an order from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.  I love them and their beautiful catalogs!

A reminder of good growing to come!

Oh!  About that photo above, it's supposed to be my 'cottage garden'.  It went wild this past year.  I had overgrown everything-the echinacea was popping up everywhere as were the shasta daisies.  The irises had formed huge dense rhizome systems.  I stripped everything out-and I do mean everything except for my roses and my clematis plant (I did cut that back).  I had so many extra plants that I gave some away and if the others survive I may trying selling them this spring.  We will see....  Also, I'm really hoping the garden recovers this year to look nice--it won't look as lush but maybe, just maybe it will still be pretty?  Here's crossing my fingers!  I guess if worst comes to worst I can stick in a bunch of annuals until the other stuff fills out again.

That picket fence we put up in the spring to try to prevent the dogs from getting in there.  They were still getting in but I think with an adjustment, we are keeping them mostly out.  We will be fencing them off into a dog pen/run this coming year as I am expanding my gardening range and want to keep them out of my beds.

Ok.  Enough for today.  Hope you all are doing well!

A Catch-Up To-Do List

I wish I had taken before and after pictures because it's amazing what we've done.  Just saying it doesn't compare.

Hub and I organized a bunch of stuff in the basement.  It isn't done but it's soooo much better.  Since we will be remodeling down there and had to rip out the carpet over a year ago, it has become a catch all/disaster area.  Our garbage bin is full and we don't get pick up until Thursday.  I have set aside boxes of stuff for a spring yardsale.  (One is full of vhs tapes as I am getting rid of most of those.  Yea Netflix!)

We had a family day over the weekend which was followed by my allergy attack.  I am still recovering from all of that.  However, I did manage yesterday to tear apart the master bedroom-dusting/vacuuming and organizing everything.  Plus vacuumed the boys' rooms, bathroom, hallway and livingroom.

Meanwhile, The King has been working on insulating some things in the attic.  Our free ac unit has the ability to be hooked up for gas heat.  We don't have that part hooked up so it had to be insulated to keep a draft from coming thru our vents.  He also insulated where we put in attic stairs this past year.  I don't think I've blogged about any of that yet.  I'll have to go back and check.  LOL

I've gotten dinner done for today and will be off soon to do my cleaning job.  At some point this week I have to grocery shop because we are running out of food.  I'm trying to use what I have in the pantries, but the boys are complaining.  (Pooh eats A LOT!)  Oh and I also cleaned out my fridge today because it's so empty.  That is the best and easiest time to do it.  :)  

And it goes on.....

Done 12/21/11

I'm just going to jump back in by posting what I've done today.   No explanations of why I haven't been around in a while.  I've discovered that I'm here when I'm here and I'm not when I'm not.  LOL  Hoping that this daily checklist will help keep me inspired to get things done.  It's rainy, cloudy and dark today.  Not a good day for people like me who only do well in the sun.  Bleh.  Anyway, here goes......

As of 10am:

• Breakfast: coffee, tofu scramble wrap, bacon.
• Posted my foods into Weight Watchers tracker.
• Bathroom:  scrubbed shower, wiped down mirrors/sink/toilet, picked towels up off the floor (I have boys.)
• Posted 'Mom's Daily Schedule' at computer, bathroom and message board area.  (see what I'm trying to work on?)
• Emailed owl pellet people to see if my order shipped.

As of 3:30pm:

• Got dressed
• Made bed
• Threw in load of laundry
• Cleaned up dishes: loading dw, putting away those in the drain, washing more for the drain, wiping counters
• Had lunch
• Had a mommy meltdown about the CHAOS (see Flylady on that one)
• Talked with family to try to help with meltdown
• Started organizing Tigger's recently refinished bookcase even though I couldn't find the pegs to hold up the shelf.  (reason for the meltdown beginning)
• Cleaned out and reorganized Tigger's closet
• Cleaned out and reorganized Pooh's closet
• Listened to narrations 
• Checked over math
• Made more coffee
• Ate some chocolate

Not necessarily all in that order.....

As of 7pm:

• Did more straightening in boys' rooms
• Made dinner (chicken and pasta and Wine!)
• Got another phone call
• Received and opened my amazon and owl pellet orders
• Went through the regular mail
• Hubby came home and we ate together and had a loooong conversation (a nice change from normal).  Discussed my meltdown and what we will be doing this weekend with his vacation days.

Now I'm spending 30 minutes on the computer before I leave to do my cleaning job (I clean a bank on business days).

Got home.  Ate a snack.  Watched a show and off to bed!

Blossom, Odie and Osita

This is Blossom.  She is a mix of Chihuahua, Pug and Dachshund.  She's about 11 lbs of pure spunk!  We had her and Odie (her brother--they are both 1 yr old) in the dog pen which is made from field fence.  We lined it with chicken wire because she was so tiny she could get out.  Then she started climbing the fence and hopping out.  In December when we had our first snow, she got out of our main fence and wandered near the road.  We think she got side swiped by a car because she was freaked out and bleeding when I found her.  She was also in shock.  So she stayed overnight at the doggy hospital with a busted ear drum.  She was on meds for two weeks.  Free dog that wasn't so free.  Yikes! 

After that I had to spend a week or two doing rehab with her.  She was absolutely terrified of being outside the house.  Wouldn't even go out to potty.  The way I treated it was to stay outside with her for periods of time.  Especially at meal time, I started 'bread trailing' her food.  I started very close to the house dropping pieces of food here and there and then gradually got her farther and farther away.  By the time she was done with her meds, she was back to normal with her behavior.  I was very thankful that she had no permanent or lasting damage either physically or psychologically.  So now we have the underground fencing going thru the regular fencing and she wears that collar.  She just never got big enough to not fit thru the field fencing we've had for years.  Oh well.  One exciting year after another, right?

 This is her brother, Odie (about 20lbs).  This is Tigger's dog.  Really he didn't turn out to a kid dog but he's ok.  Tigger loves him and that's what matters.  I've nick named him Chicken Little.  In these pics, he keeps licking the air because he's afraid of the camera.  He's also afraid of the water hose, the rake, the broom.....you get the idea.  He basically just goes off to find a 'safe' place when I have one of those in hand.  Strange thing though, he sat within a few feet of The King on this day while he was using a power saw.  Dogs are just weird.

 

 

 This is our old girl, Osita.  She's 8 years old and weighs in around 30-35 lbs.  We got her from a relative who found her as a stray off on her own.  She came to us a few months after Tigger.  LOL  But, she is Pooh's dog through and through.  She's a mutt but I've been told she looks like a Carolina Dingo and she definitely has the look from what I've seen online.  She also has a blue spot on her tongue so they wouldn't consider her pure bred Dingo even if she were.  I don't know what the deal with the spot is but that's what their website said.

So that's our pack.  They all do pretty well together.  Osita never gave us a problem when we got the puppies.  She's a good-natured girl.   Hopefully, life will settle down with all of them and be fairly boring for the next few years. 

Life in General

Our summer was HOT like most in the southeast. Hottest year on record. My garden was the pits because I just couldn't make myself go out there in that weather to weed. I didn't bother taking any pictures. It still looks like a bit of a jungle out there. In time, I'll get it back under control again.

We adopted two sibling puppies from a friend who saved them from a neighbor. (long story) They are a mix of chihuahua, pug and dachshund. Ours both have curly tails. Tigger's dog is named Odie and my little female is Blossom. I have to get some better photos of them so I can show them off. I forgot how expensive it is getting a dog. Sheesh!

Due to the immense amount of rain earlier in the year, our basement carpet started growing mold. We ripped it out and now are planning a major remodel down there. We are going to add a bathroom down there since we live with only one right now. I'm tired of waiting for my turn. Some people take all their library books in with them and it can be a long wait. We managed to get a bunch of free supplies but to save money we have to spend a lot of time in the next year working on this project. I foresee the King having to forfeit a fun vacation to work on the house this coming year. But it will all be worth it in the end. I hope. I'm living with almost 500 sq feet less space. It's cramping my style.

Currently we are preparing for a week long camping trip in Virginia. We will spend several days in D.C. doing the typical tourist thing. I'm sure I'll have photos when we get back. It's about the usual time where I start freaking out about all that needs to be done. I have to get my meal plan together and start gathering supplies. We are taking an extra friend with us so I just purchased a small tent that all 3 boys could sleep in. That means the big tent is for the King and I and the supplies. Yeah!

The school year, such as it is right now, is in full force. All co-op activities (drama, ASL, athletics, field trips, etc) are humming along. Both boys are now also taking art classes. Tigger is enthralled with it. Pooh informed me "I'll still do art if you want me to, Mom." So, he's still doing art. ;D

Oh! Pooh's voice has changed!!! I keep freaking out thinking "Who's voice is that?" Oh yeah. That would be my son. LOL He also discovered he is growing armpit hair. We are discovering he needs to be more vigilant with the deodorant. Yikes. I mentioned shaving to him one time (the mini mustache is on it's way) and can tell he's nervous about the prospect. He's already thinking he may cut himself. We'll be working through that one.

I can't think of anything else major right now. I'm sure I will as soon as this posts, but I'll leave that for another day. I'll catch up again soon!

What are YOU looking at?!?

This is our snowman with a bad attitude. Hee Hee The King helped Tigger get him together and then when Tigger wasn't looking he added some embellishments. I went out to look and started laughing hysterically and was taking photos. Tigger had an absolute COW because he hated the 'hair'. That just made me laugh harder. Sometimes it's just hard to be a parent. Eventually, Tigger did remove the offending parts. Two days later he went out and banged off the head with a stick.


Pooh helped The King do the other snowman and they added this guy's decorations together. There was no bloody ending to this guy.
The snowmen came from a February snow. This week we had another snowfall which was a surprise because we were expecting mostly rain. It was a nice wet snow which allowed some great snowball fighting.





I know Tigger has gotten over his problems with his snowman because he can laugh about it now. He even said it was like him! (bad attitude)

We've been very happy with our many snowfalls this year. It is highly unusual for us to get this many snow storms. We are loving it! Tigger just wants more and more for snowboarding purposes. I'm about ready for spring though. I have gardening to get to and these unusually low temps are messing with my schedule now. Can't have that!!!!

January Snow Storm

This was our best sledding experience yet! Lots of good snow and deep enough you didn't start to hit grass after a few tries.

Big brother giving a helping hand. He's holding the sled for Tigger so it doesn't go down without him.

This was just too cute! They both got down the hill and they are working together to get themselves and their sled and board back up. You see how they are both all wrapped up and covered in white stuff? It was sleeting while we were there and soooo cold!!!

Dad is giving the snowboard a go. Whoops!

Some friends met us at the school and showed us how it's really done! LOL He has a real snowboard complete with the necessary footwear.

We ended up at the school both Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday, our friends brought their kayak! Isn't that hysterical?!? I even went down in it. It was fun! Hey! Whatever works is what you use. We even saw some people bring a camp air mattress and some others had inflatable pool equipment--they all worked really well.

Pooh's turn in the kayak.

Tigger on his snowboard.

He ended up with a load of ice in his face and was crying. Somehow that prevented him from being able to move so the King went down to rescue him with a little towel. Kids are so funny! This would be the same child who flips around and gets hurt all the time but a little ice in his face and the world has come undone! LOL

And the look of pure joy as he whizzes by me in the kayak.

Don't forget that just rolling down a snowy hill can be just as much fun. No need for fancy equipment! (Looking at the photo again I'm thinking "Please don't eat that!")

If the weather keeps up like the forecasters are expecting, you can expect to see more winter weather fun on this blog!!!

Winter Ice

You know, I kinda like freezing rain. As long as it doesn't make us lose power. We haven't really had any yet this year, but I remember years past when we've had 'ice storms' and despite the devastation to trees and power, it is beautiful. Especially, the next day when the beginnings of sunshine starts to make the whole world glitter.

These photos are more of the beauty of snow melting. My greenhouse is warm enough that water is constantly dripping off the roof onto my hanging planters. Here are a few creations:

This one formed down the entire chain length from roof to pot.

The next two photos are of a machine behind the school where we went sledding. I really don't know what the machine is but it has water running through it and it formed the longest icicles I've seen in a long time.


No matter what form water takes, it is beautiful. It's nice to live in a place where we get so much variety to explore. Next up, wintry mix coming this weekend. I can't wait to see what form that all takes!

Family Dinner

We don't eat at the table together every night but we do eat together often. Probably about 4 times per week. We do make other times to hang out together. Sometimes it's breakfast together, sometimes it's tea or cocoa time. These times are important for families. Conversation is always on a different level when you are sitting around a table with other people than at any other time. Even riding in a vehicle talking doesn't produce the same type of conversation. I wonder if it's because the table is designed so that everyone is facing each other and you're sort of forced to "see" each other.

I want to improve our diet. For all of us. I'm even looking into making 'green smoothies'. These are smoothies that include some type of green veggie, many times spinach. I made of these on Thursday and even the boys said it was good and drank a full wineglass of it. (I put it in wineglasses to make it more appealing. The boys know that usually only mom and dad get to use those glasses.)

These are photos of our dinner together that night. We had salmon (a recipe that uses a layer of mayo and ketchup on top for flavoring), broccoli and baked potatoes.

Adding a little fresh pepper to the baked potato.

Mashed potatoes are Tigger's favorite. He tackled his potato first.

Despite the face, Pooh really enjoys his dinner. He LOVES broccoli and many times will ask for seconds. Plus, he's growing and eating more now.

Here's a close up of my plate. My men, both big and little, were not as adventurous as I. What is that purple stuff??? It is a purple sweet potato and I must say that I think it was tastier than a regular sweet potato. It's not sweeter but somehow it was much better.

One advantage of eating together is that I can convince the boys to try new foods. They did take a taste of that purple potato. I even told Tigger that there is a blue potato. It's a type of heirloom potato. We're going to be checking out the farmer's market for it and maybe they'll even like it!