A real man!

I was raised all over the place by a single father who worked his tail off to provide. We spent quite a few years in Texas where I got to watch my grandparents marriage. My grandfather was a veteran and tough as nails but also a newspaper man and very soft spoken. One thing that always stuck with me was the way he treated my grandmother. She was a treasure. You could tell he let her be the boss most of the time unless he thought there was something to worry over. He always opened the door for her, held her hand, kissed her good night. He was so very sweet with her and they were married well over 50 years before he died. After his death it was as if a part of her had gone missing. She was never the same and she passed a few years later missing him every day.


I knew that was the kind of man I wanted to marry and I was blessed to find him. Hubby is very good to me and very tolerant. I feel like a broken mess some days between the lack of sleep with tending our little one and my FMS aches and pains yet still he never leaves without telling me he loves me, he calls to let me know he is thinking of me and he kisses me as soon as he comes home. He actually gets annoyed when I open my own door. He pushes me to be the best me and gets angry when I pick on myself. He is just that kind of man. A real man!!!


Then you see the other side of the coin. As I have delved more into my gun, my carry options, my research about women in the gun community I have discovered some great bloggers. Men and women. They are quick with a kind and helpful word and very welcoming which is nice for a homebody like me who really doesn't go out much. One of these women writes a blog called The Breda Fallacy. I really enjoy her posts. She is smart, which is refreshing when you spend your day talking to a toddler and makes her posts are divine. She is well written which suits the writer in me. She is a self-professed geek which helps me feel not so alone among the very intimidating Big Boys Club. Recently she posted a picture taken by her husband of her wearing her gun openly. (Open Carry) A man who very much falls onto the flip side of the gentleman coin then took that picture, posted it on his own blog, and titled it in such a way as to be completely degrading. She details his response to her cease and desist request here. This guy finally took the picture down but left up the horrible post as a very low way to bring in traffic to his blog. Now most of us blog with the hope that we reach at least someone and maybe help them or entertain them or there are even some who don't care. I love our 24 followers! Not a complaint. I am writing with the hope that all the different things we are doing to make our plans and live our lives helps just one person through their day. This guy is in it for the notoriety. He used a decent woman like an object and then went all high and mighty over it like he was the victim. In the words of a dear friend "Bitch, Please!". No woman deserves that and no person should stand for the treatment of another. I have refused to even visit the blog in question as that just makes this jerk happy. I hope every one else does the same. Drop his numbers to nill. Maybe then he will get the clue that women deserve better. I doubt it but we will see!

Bikes and Bullets!

This past weekend marked the end of Hubby's time off so we gathered up our girls, our nephew, the quads and decided to go for a ride. We really haven't done any riding locally. Usually we take them with us when we head north for family things as 2 of my husbands sisters live in some wide open country with great places to trail ride. We went to a close area that is mostly a dry lake with a few side trails to keep it gentle for the little one. We had a blast! I got a tiny bit sunburned but my fair skin does that even though the sunscreen. Monkey fell asleep like she usually does. I taught Bug a bit about the driving of one of the 250's which tickled her pink. We saw a few dessert squirrels and lizards.


On the way home we stopped to shoot. Hubby got a new .45ACP that he is in love with! He is an amazing shot so of course hit all his targets. I am doing better and got both of mine as well. Nephew is the proud new owner of a Taurus Judge. He shot as well and did pretty good. He was the main reason we had stopped because he hadn't shot it yet. He is an amazing kid. He is almost 13 and very mature. I think a lot of that comes from his diabetes. He had to grow up and be more aware because his life depended on it. I think his dad taking him hunting pretty much his entire life has also been a big help. He is very weapon aware.


All in all a pretty great Saturday in our desert oasis.

Progress report for Twitchy

Twitchy learned how to eat and drink today!! I dipped her beak in water a few times and it was like a light bulb went off. She crawled right into the water dish and drank until she looked like she was going to pop. She even fell asleep standing in the water dish. I put some food in my hand and she took a little. She was much more interested in the water though. I think she just might make it.

Opened my hive yesterday

So I decided to open my hive for the first time yesterday. Here goes nothing.

Taking off the inner cover.

The bees are all hanging out in the middle two frames.

Checking for brood and looking for the queen.

The bees had build comb on top of comb. (After a panicked phone call to my brother I found out this is called bridging and is common and normal.) When I was looking at the frame, this extra chunk of comb crashed to the ground at my feet covered with thousands of bees. I was a bit freaked out.

I picked up the chunks of comb and placed them on top of the hive to allow the bees to wander back into the frames. Of course they didn't and I had to brush them all off the comb before I removed it.

I never did see the queen and couldn't see any brood either. I put everything back together and brought the excess comb into the house. A few hours later, I DID notice some eggs in a few cells of comb. So I DO have a queen and she IS laying. All is well in the hive!
Kind of cool, isn't it?

Twitchy

Twitchy was attacked by my rooster on Tuesday. He put his beak through her brain. I was there when it happened and saw her die. An hour later she was rolled up onto her chest with her head rolling around. I put her in a box and waited for her to die. The next morning she was on her feet. The day after that she started to walk. Yesterday she was acting and looking normal except for the fact that she has forgotten how to eat or drink. I have to force feed her several times a day. This morning I went out and she was all but dead. She was gasping for breath and couldn't hold her head up. I gave her some electrolites and put her under the heat lamp so she would be as comfortable as possible. I just went out to check and see if she was gone and she's starting to perk up. She's cheeping and looking like she just might make it. What a tough little bird!

Wow what a last couple weeks!

Boy has my life seen some ups and downs over the last couple weeks. The hubs and I live life of the philosophy "live and let live". As long as you aren't putting my family in danger I have no trouble with you. We were lucky enough to find a neighborhood that fit that when we moved to the desert for this tunnel. No one really knows anyone else well though we do know those who attend our church. It isn't a block party type place. It is a place where our kids all play outside together. We stay out of each others business. Honestly the only time I have interacted with some beyond a hello has been over the kids. It is a pretty quiet place which we love. We keep our eyes out for danger for each other but we don't meddle. It is our kind of place. With the market crash here a lot of the homes have turned over to new owners since we have been here but the vibe has stayed the same. Well we got a new next door neighbor in a house that was empty for over a year. This neighbor was not of that philosophy and not of the type to knock on the door and talk if there was a concern like the rest of us are. We had (still ticked, grrrr) a black lab that the rescue Gracie works with found as a newborn pup. He was a bit dopey and very big. Too big for me but Hubby wanted a breed big enough to help with protection as his job requires long hours with me home alone with the girls. The part we failed to take into consideration was my FMS. It means I don't have the muscle strength to wrestle his weight and strength without paying a price so during the day while our daughter was at school Jasper was on a line in the back yard. He was on a line to keep him from eating everything as his 17 month old puppy brain still loved to devour trampolines and wood furniture. If he saw me pass a window he barked until he realized I was not bringing him in. He also barked if it was stormy. He also barked if he stayed on the line to late into the evening and it started to get dark. He was kind of a sensitive gent. Love him but he has quirks. Anywhoodle Mrs. New Neighbor decided he was a nuisance though no other neighbor had ever complained and we had had him for 14 months. So we got a visit from Animal Control. First visit was about him being on the line. We let the officer see the line and were reassured as were they that he was well taken care of. He was not left on the line all day. He had access to shade, food, and water. Then 2 weeks ago on Monday husband is on swings and i am putting my little one to bed. Bug had not brought him in and so he of course panicked as dark approached. Nice lady came over and yelled at my nephew to bring him in. Didn't ask for an adult. Yelled at the 12 year old. The next day Animal Control is back with a report he barks for 14 hours a day every day. I am told if they come again I will be ticketed in increasing fine increments until he is silenced. The situation can't be changed. Jasper is sensitive, I am not going to be cured tomorrow, a shock collar just tortures him. So we had to surrender him. The kids were destroyed. Monkey is 2 so she has no idea what is going on just that her dog is gone and she bawls constantly for days. It was horrible. I had a flare of monumental proportions. Sheer agony. Poor diabetic nephew had keytones for 4 days due to stress. I may be a horrid mother but I let the kids pick out a smaller rescue dog to try to help them feel better so we have a new addition.


Then came that Thursday. For a year Hubby had been in prep for a hunt to Canada with his dad and BIL for Bear and Wolf. He drives up and discovers his mom is in the hospital with a clot in her lung. She has had numerous health issues stemming from her own struggle with FMS. Pretty serious so he is stressed but she sends him on. His plane is broken making him miss the next 2 flights. He lands in Canda where somehow they have his unsealed juvenile record and they deny him entry despite the fact he was able to hunt there last year and obviously committed no crimes and has not committed crimes in a very long time since his time as a foster kid. Soooooooo he has to fly right back home. 8 flights in 2 days and 8 hours of drive time and he meets me with family. Poor guy is beat physically and emotionally. He has paid his dues has worked his tail off and got bit for it. Sucky ducks!!!


So he decided to take the week off and hang out with me anyway. He was scheduled for the time and we had the money to cover it so figured why not. It was nice. We went shooting, we took the quads out with the kids, we watched our favorite shows. I loved having time with him that is so rare though I hated the price that came with it.


That has been my last 2 weeks! Pretty interesting huh? What it hammered home to me was that you aren't always lucky in who you have for a neighbor. AND government really needs to take more in to account than just what it wants to use to manipulate things. People are made up of many things and no single moment defines anyone. Some moments are bigger than others and absolutely can and do ruin lives but an entire life should be used when you judge someone.

Drones

Before embarking on this adventure to becoming a beekeeper, I knew there were queen bees and worker bees. I didn't know how to tell the difference and I am not sure I knew there were drones. Drones are the only male bees in the hive. They are bigger by far then the workers and can easily be misidentified as a queen. They are obviously gentle or I would NEVER pick one up without gloves. In fact, drones don't even have a stinger so they are harmless. Drones don't protect the hive, they don't make honeycomb, they don't forage for pollen, they don't make honey. So what are the good for? Breeding. They breed with a virgin queen on her nuptial flight (I can't use these phrases without giggling a little) and that is the extent of their usefulness. In the fall when the hive is preparing for winter, the drones are physically thrown from the hive to die. The workers and queen don't want to have to feed him throughout the winter when they can just make more next spring. I kind of feel bad for them because they are so gentle, but I guess that's what you get for being lazy!

They're working!

Today was the first day it was warm enough for my bees to come out of the hive. I saw them coming and going but the thing that impressed me most was the level of sugar water in my feeder. That bottle to the left of the pic is full of sugar water. It has remained full for three days. This evening it was all but empty. The bees drank a pint of sugar water in one afternoon. I did some research today and found out that when it is cold, the bees stay clustered together and won't use hive entrance feeders like the one I am using. That might explain why I was having to clear the entrance of dead bees each day. Argh. This evening when the activity calmed down a little bit, I went out to look at the hive and noticed all of the pollen around both upper and lower entrances. My bees are working! I am seriously stoked for this adventure! I picked up a drone bee and a worker bee that were on the ground and not doing well. After a few pics, I started wondering if they just needed some sugar to keep going. I sprayed them with a mist and left them on the lid of the BBQ to recover. When I went back to check, the worker was gone and the drone was dead. At least I was able to save the productive one! I have a bunch of pics I will share tomorrow.

Boys will be boys

I was reading an blog today about how hard it is for a boy to be a true boy. http://smallhold-pioneerpreppy.blogspot.com/2011/05/casualties-in-war-on-boys.html

Hubby and I have already been talking about our plans for teaching the boys survive if something were to happen. This blog just reinforced my decision to let my boys be boys.....within reason. I DO want to know where they are going. And I don't let them cross a particular road because they don't look for traffic.

Anyway, on to my summer plans. We are going to be doing A LOT of hiking. Each trip we are going to go a little further and push the envelope a little more. We are going to teach them to build a fire without matches. We are going to teach them how to build a shelter with what is at hand. I am going to teach them what native plants are edible and on one trip we will not take any food.

My boys are all boy and I kind of like it that way.

Chickens

Remember the chicks I got last year? They are now big and laying eggs every day. I also bought 5 more chicks this year. That should give me 10 eggs a day next year, right? That was the plan.....until one of my hens decided we needed 11 more chicks.

She looks happy to see me, right?

I will post pics if and when they hatch.