Dining room or Work shop

April 14 2020
Well since talking last time, the weather hasnt really improved much. We have had a couple nicer days, but then today it rained. However the snow is finally starting to go.
I had given up the idea of painting the new hive boxes in the workshop, so we brought them to the house. What better place to paint than in the kitchen...right. So i stacked 9 deeps in the middle of my tiny kitchen and got them painted. Somehow i managed to make meals and do dishes with 9 boxes in the middle of it all.

The next day, I went back over to the work shop and grabbed some lids.  I was concerned they weren't going to fit the new boxes because most of our older boxes were homemade and slightly different sizes. But they were all good. So i slapped some paint on them too.
Then I decided while i had time i should get some swarm boxes ready for "just in case". Once i can get in the hives to see how they wintered over and how big the colony's are, I will need to decide if I have to do some splits. So I wanted to be prepared in case one of them swarm before i get to them. So I rummaged through our stash of Nuc boxes and found 2 really nice ones with actual bottom boards and openings at the front, the only thing we need to make is lids. We brought those 2 to the house as well and gave them a paint job.

Its a good thing we hardly sit at our table, especially now with no company coming for coffee or dinner. Because there is no room. We can get to the coffee makers and into the pantry cupboard and thats about it. hahahaha
So now the dining room is stacked with 9 deep boxes, 2 nuc boxes, entrance reducers and 5 outside covers. Oh and lets not forget my Kitchen Aid mixer that is sitting on the table waiting for the parts to come so we can put it back together. Its probably a really good thing we are self isolating right now or i would be really embarrassed at the condition of our house.

Anyways I hope everyone is hanging in there and staying safe. We will. get through this somehow and come out the other side a little stronger. 

Take care everyone. Talk to you soon.

Is anyone out there.......

March 24, 2020

     I have lost track of how long its been since we started self isolating....but it’s been weeks now.
You know, living in a small town a lot of us are use to isolation. We are prepared to some point and are use to not seeing anyone for days. Although....i do really miss having coffee with some of our neighbors.

     Since the last time i wrote...the world has gotten even more crazy. Anyways i am trying not to think or talk about it, i like living in my happy little bubble. However i don't like the idea of not being able to get things like flour or sugar. That is a little unsettling.

     To keep us busy, James and I have been ticking off lots of projects. With the winter that just won't end and Covid 19, we have time, so why not.

     On one of our last sunny day with a high of +6C we went over to the bee yard and removed all the winter entrances, cleaned out the dead bees and put the entrances back on. I popped off the lid of the attic box and moved the insulation aside and peaked down thru the screened hole. I could see bees eating on the candy board. I then decided to remove the screen and squeeze pieces of fondant down the hole and press onto the candy.  I wouldn't risk going any deeper as its just too cold still. So I was content to know all 3 hives were still alive.

     So what else have we been up too. We have pretty well finished the bedroom. For many years we laid in bed gazing at the pink insulation and vapor barrier. So i was so very thankful to finally have walls and ceilings. Our loft is under the eaves so that and the fact when the Church was built i don't think they had levels or squares. So we needed to find a creative way to deal with imperfect walls and ceilings. We settled on 1x6's. I got to say it turned out great. I don't need a fancy house, with perfect drywall, i just don't want to watch a mouse run thru the insulation and vapor barrier while lying in bed. That project took the longest, as we could only bring home a small amount of boards at a time as we didn't have the room to store them all. So we would do 50 inches then wait until we went to town again. But its done yaaaay. We also completed finished the upper Bell Tower. It turned out awesome....we think. Its only about 8x8 but such a nice place to sit and have a cuppa and gaze over the "estate".

Upper Bell Tower Face lift

April 3

     Wandered over to the bee yard and popped off the outer lid of the hives, pulled back the insulation pillow and tucked a frame of capped honey and a little bowl of bee pro in each hive. We were in and out in less than a minute. I saw and heard all of the hives inside munching on their candy board still. So i feel good being able to give them honey and some protein.

April 8

    We decided since it was the warmest day we have had since Oct, the bees might be out flying. So we went over and sure enough there they were. One of the hives which hadn't come out much on the other nicer days, were out in full glory. The snow was brown from them doing their cleansing flights. The looked like they came through winter really well. So hopefully all the queens have made it. But its still a little cool yet to go inside.

    Ok i am going to end it there....or this will become a long boring book. Hopefully the next blog will have more bee news and pictures of the fence repairs we have to make before the bears come out. 

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. Take care.......Lyn

One very active hive!

Look....grass!!!

The snow is starting to disappear!