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.

Garden

We actually got a garden in the ground this year. I didn't bother with starting seeds indoors as our weather is too unpredictable and crazy. Hubby and I built raised beds and a PVC framework that we could cover with plastic to make our own mini greenhouses. He figured out a way to incorporate a sprinkler system so it self waters too! We got two boxes built and planted along with a few rows of corn and some squash we simply planted in the yard. We got three rows of corn in the ground and four potato plants.

^Potatoes^

^Tomatoes^

^Green house^

Whew

Ok so hiving the bees was a LOT easier than I thought it was going to be. They finally showed up this afternoon and I went into a panic. 30,000 bees being talked about in emails and phone calls, is a lot different than 30,000 bees in a box on the kitchen counter. I called my brother who has been a beekeeper for a few years now and he had a few recommendations for me. I got all of my equipment together, called the neighbors who wanted to watch and handed the camcorder to my oldest son. (That video will not be posted, lol) I sprayed my bees with the syrup I made the day before, jarred them down to the bottom of the cage, struggled with the can of syrup that had been shipped with them, finally pulled it out and retrieved the queen cage. The queen was not impressed with me AT ALL. She tried to escape the whole time I was trying to pry the cork out of the top of her little box. I ended up pushing it all the way through and into her cage. Luckily that occupied her while I plugged the hole with half a mini marshmallow. I got the queen cage hung and then jarred the package of bees again to force them all to the bottom of the box. I removed the lid and placed the package in the empty hive body that I had placed on the top of the full hive body. This is not the traditional method but it is the way I was told to do it due to the storm rolling in. I wanted to keep as many bees in the hive as possible, they weren't going to have much time to find their way back in before the storm hit. I put the outer cover on top of it all and viola! I was done. It took less than 10 minutes and no one got stung.

Am I ready for this?

Beehive, painted and assembled....................check

Bee book(s) read and studied.........................check

Equipment purchased and ready to don.......check

Syrup made and ready for use.......................check

Neighbors on standby to watch......................check

Bees....................................................................so far a no show.

So we wait.

Scaries!

We are big on teaching gun safety to the girls. If weapons are in the house they need to know the rules. They have seen all three of us adults carry when we are desert combing and Bug has her rifle. We answer questions when asked. So..........


Today while walking through the house to the bathroom for the 5869203486945 time (potty training is awesome) Monkey smacked the front door. *Our front door has a large window with this bubble stuff so it is not see through but does show shadows and the outlines of things on the other side.* She then dashed in to do her business with me right behind her. While on the toilet she looks at me with huge brown eyes and says, "Mommy you shoot dem scaries!"


For a while now the trees in the yard moving around have given my sweet very sensitive 2-year-old the creeps and apparently she has reached the point where knowing that Mommy is the protector from bad things I am now to shoot the scary trees so they no longer are scary. Sweet angel. I wanted to just scoop her up! I told her that as long as the scaries stay out of the house they can't hurt her but if anything scary comes in to hurt her she has my promise to protect her every way I can.

Friday Funny

Taking the concept of open carry to a whole new level!!! In Walmart, where you never know when someone is going to get you! Hehehe. Do have to cheer for the open carry though. Nice job Walmart guy!

Gardening, bees and other stuff by Gracie

I went outside to check on my garden today. I have potatoes, radishes and swiss chard above the ground. Now if the weather cooperates, I will get the rest of it planted this week. This is the first sucessful (knocking on wood and crossing every finger) garden I have ever planted on my own. Sure, I have a few flowers here and there but nothing that I can eat and feed my family with. I am pretty stoked.

My bees arrive in a few weeks and I am almost ready for them. I have the deep super and the base and top all assembled. I just need to paint it all, get it leveled out in the garden, install a water source and re-read my instructions a few more times. I am beyond excited for my new hobby.

The food storage is coming along nicely. I am wanting to jump aboard this couponing train and learn to do my shopping for a lot less than I do now. Maybe I can use my savings to put fuel in my car. That is a gripe for another day I guess. In the meantime I will just stay home as much as possible and only go to town when I have to.

Now the circus will begin again!!

Those that have been with us for a very long time know me as the children. One of the reasons the Caylee Anthony case made me so upset was because of the complete lack of caring her mother seemed to show. I know every one displays emotion differently and everyone reacts differently but not reporting her child missing for a month and then not participating in searches or even acting like she cared just boggled my mind. For months the country watched riveted as information about this woman came out. Stolen checks, lies, partying days after her baby disappeared. The media went wild because the country was outraged.


The time has come for the trial because during that firestorm little Caylee's body was found and evidence seemed to point right back to her mother. Once again the circus has started up and this time I have to say it kind of ticks me off. CNN has had coverage daily of jury selection. Potential jurors are being dismissed because of reason ranging from the believable to the crazy. One even joked about a potential book coming from a jury duty experience on facebook. I mean really? You haven't even heard anything yet.


I am all about justice. I think that certain crimes deserve the maximum punishment. I wavered on this for a very long time and then I had my children and I knew that if someone had murdered my child or someone I loved there would be no better punishment in my mind then death. This is a capital case so the death penalty is on the table as I think it should be.


I also though feel compassion for the rest of the Anthony family. They lost a sweet baby girl that year and have had to deal with the media and the fact that one of their own is on trial for it. They deserve some privacy. It is them that I think deserve some respect. Sure some of the supposed news may be true of an abusive father and demanding mother but that alone did not create the woman Casey Anthony turned out to be. My husband comes from a family of 7. All raised in the same family and every single one as different as can be. Parents play a part but the choices a child makes also plays a part. Yes they will have to take some personal responsibility and I am sure over the past couple years since this happened they have battled some demons. They are going to sit through a trial of their daughter for the murder of their granddaughter. They should be able to do that is relative peace. It is for them that I wish the circus would back off a bit. I know it is a fruitless hope but a girl can always hope right?