gif certificate

Jumping...one more time

Yes, I redid it again.

(see also: here, here, and here)

what we had for dessert

We had this for dessert last night, minus the cocoa powder and ice cream, and used homemade coffee liqueur instead of Kahlua. Yum!

bees

I think I should mention that although we have yet to see the queen in action, we have seen eggs, larvae, and empty brood comb, suggesting that she's alive and well.

While the bees bring in nectar and pollen that they find on their own, we're also feeding them a bit of sugar water as supplement.

Pickling

Tonight:

L to R: sauerkraut, kohlrabi/turnip, kimchi

another bee update

We checked on the bees today, and while there was more comb failure (falling off the top bar), the new comb they were building and tied-on comb they were reattaching seemed much straighter and more parallel to the bars! We left the fallen comb in the hive for now, but will retrieve it on Friday when we plan to inspect again.

As for why they're building crooked, it was suggested to me that we needed taller guides on our top bars, as much as 1/2 inch high. Paul and his dad made the bars with a small channel cut into the middle of each one, for us to fill with a small strip of wax. The wax is basically flush to the wood, but I guess it needs to stick out more to give the bees an idea. We have some extra bars, so I'm going to either add more wax or somehow remove the wax from the channel and glue in a thin strip of wood, maybe popsicle sticks, and then coat that with wax.

Still not positive we have a living queen, but we're going to wait another week or so before taking action in that department...

bees at home

We've had the bees for a week and a half now. Paul and I did an inspection on Monday, a little over a week from when when first installed them. Unfortunately, they were building comb crooked, about about a 30 degree angle to the top bars, instead of parallel with the bars. This means that there is no real way we can inspect the hive, harvest honey, etc. So we had to break off most of the comb that was attached sideways on the bars. We tried to salvage some of the comb by tying it to the frame, but the majority of the comb was so soft that it just fell off. We put the failed comb in a pie plate and left it inside the hive for the bees to clean (they will take the nectar stored in the failed comb and put it in new comb, which is hopefully attached to the top bars in the direction that we want). We're doing another inspection today, to see if the bees are repairing the damage we did.  We'll also be looking for the queen, or signs of the queen. I'm a little concerned that she's dead because when we looked at the hive on Monday, there didn't seem to be any brood comb (where she lays her eggs).

we got our hairs cut

goins ons in our backyard

bzzzzz

the neighborhood

Our neighborhood newsletter includes crime reports for the area. Here's one:

Victim: W/M, 66 YOA, Victim said he was walking to his vehicle when suspect approached and pulled out a knife. Victim stated suspect pointed the knife at him and said, "give me your shit." Victim told suspect, "hey you better get the fuck out of here before I take that knife and shove it up your ass." Victim raised his fist at suspect and fled. Taken: Nothing.