Oh Honey, beezzzzzzzzzzzzz

HONEY liquid gold, that is !!!!!

(mason bee abode "code" article... below" for you backyard beekeeper, wanna bees )
since I'm a bit late with a new post , I thought you might want to read a story from last spring...

sadly our Queen Ester ,Mary Queen of honey pots and Princess Butter cup did not make it last winter..... We do see a flurry of little baby bees in King David&Queen Abigail., already this spring..and will re queen the existing hives and refurbish and get new "tenants" for the empty "castles.....in about a month or so from now........ now is a good time to look for mason bees, we plan to purchase at least 20 straws and build a few more apartment "complexes"....this is an inexpensive way for anyone with an interest in bees (apiaries) wherever you live.

( Mason bee abode "code"........getting started with mason bees)

All you need to do is call a bird/nature shop and ask if they will be getting in straws of mason bees...perhaps at your local feed stores (yes ,most cities have these too) someone there could find out how to order them.... 1 straw of mason bees is only about $2.50 and it contains about 6-10 baby mason bees...these are beneficial for pollination.
Not only would you be helping our world, they are rather interesting....of course you can even purchase little mason bee apartments (or learn how to make these little abodes, very simple).

Watch for my next couple of posts , I will write simple instructions on how to build one of these cute little bungalows. Last year I painted mine in various themes. One looked like a barn with cows and horses one looked like a house in the suburbs....have fun , let your kids, or borrow your neighbors kids, if yours are grown, or you haven't any ,,,and help them paint a home for the bees,, volunteer for an art project for home school, or your local school, I'll bet the local high school shop class ,would make the simple houses , for the kids to paint (you cannot paint the end where the bees will enter)....

Now mind you ,these bees do not make honey, but you will be doing a good thing , for our habitat,whether you live in an apartment, in the suburbs or in the country. All of us really need bees...., even if you just build or set up one "apartment" and purchase only one bee straw, you will be blessed......
These cute little bees ,will each put up their own little straw full of babies.to hopefully ,bring more mason bees into the world next spring....this is a good thing.. they are not aggressive and they are so cute....enjoy..............
You can even purchase a hinged observation "nest" that allows you to see the whole process, it's not much bigger than the size of you hand.....wouldn't this be a great school project, home.private or public ???

SPRING 2007 (new 2008 post ,about last spring)

Boy things have been BUZZZZZ-Z-Z-ing here on our lil 'place :-) …….a week ago ,while I was doing chores ,I started to walk under a tree and there above my head was a huge swarm of honey bees hanging on a branch right …..I dropped my “apple picker” (animal cleanup tool)…..and took off to grab an empty bee box (we have been keeping bees for many years, so generally have a "spare" somewhere) and a tree “lopper” to cut the branch...yikes … a whole new story ,as I nearly created a buzzing tornado, when I inadvertently, made my first cut to free the swam , which I had planned for the cluster to land into the box. (So goes the plans of men and mice, and bee keeping mama's !!!!) I had set the empty box, on a barrel , I’d lugged into the paddock , you know , this is what you do so the swam won't fall very far and get mad , right ????? I was standing on a step ladder…in reg clothes I may add, tyring to catch the swarm before it decided not to hang around for my bee keeping antics. …hummm....fyi... bees in a swarm “generally” are pretty mild… that is....unless you cut their little tree branch , not realizing, in your hurry, that it actually consisted of two branches and thus the main half of the cluster falls and “missed” the intended castle :-0 !!!! Oops and Betty is off and running….

Betty returned with Hals bee suit on.,…..(Having both lost a lot of weight recently, not only is hubbies suit way to big for him ,Betty is now swimming in it, and thus it is not properly "installed" and little bees are very adept at finding an entrance into small spaces....no fun when NOT invited....need I say more ?????

Anyone want to learn a new version of the mamba,cha-cha-cha,twist with a bit of Indian rain dance thrown in??? Betty just invented one...I must say I don't think my dance interpretation is a good as hubby Hal's, when in a similar situation , he has it down to a science, chemist that he is!!!
He has these great break dancing, ground rolling,slides and complete with sound effects !!!! He does a great war hoop interpretation !!!
(in a post of a blog friend. (in the life of a child) is a post the blogger wrote about her husband and a"bee"...try yellow jacket... episode, complete with pics..very funny)

Is it any wonder our neighbors dogs enjoy coming to the top of our dividing hill, to observe "us"
we are the best dog-a-vision on the planet, I bet...much more fun than looking for lost bones..

LOVE AT FIRST BUZZ

How did we get started in the bee chapter, of our life you may bee wondering .

Several years ago , I caught our first hive in an empty small wooden kitchen cabinet about the size of two apple boxes stuck together…(you know one of those “things” you keep on “hand” as you may “need” it. For once, my salvaging, did come in “handy” . Perhaps there’s future hope for some of the other “stuff” out “there”.

I was sure this would be a good hobby for my hubby...... poor guy, he would be in heaven if I would leave him alone on a tropical Island, with a stack of good books, a radio and a TV..... but he did fall in love with me and ask me to marry him, since I had such spontaneity, and was so creative,inventive and full of life....TADA enter DA bees !!!!! they are so-o-o- cute !!!!

We borrowed a “real” hive body and frames from nearby bee keeping uncle and viola' we were in the bee “biz” (well ,perhaps not very well, due to our location. We did get honey from that first hive and I may add the best honey we’ve ever tasted bar none… since then ,it has been a rather hit and miss honey “venture”. Perhaps living on the river ,it is a bit to chilly?? Or the fact we had a neighboring "farmer", who sprayed nearly everyday, even I was covered in “stuff” on several occasions, while I was working out side!!!! …that first year , at the end of the summer our bees ended up dead, I wasn’t able to actually prove from what, I highly suspected poisoning.

Having been smitten with the endearing little creatures, we kept replacing our bees, and so it has gone for several years, sometimes we got honey some times not…. The last two years we’ve managed to keep a hive going (hmmm our farmer no longer lives around here, not with bee flight distance, at least…coincidence ? I think not, oh as a side note, for some of you out there who believe, if one is nice and explains a situation to someone and talk nice, yada yada yada, the person will be sympathetic,understanding, and thus work with you ???? ( I maintain belief, in the old school of life, some folks plain enjoy being rotten, and bullies, and if politely approached, will often escalate their behaviour, I didn't make this up, study history a bit, there is proof in the "pudding", something to consider when choosing our next president , by the way...there really are good guys and bad guys in our world...oh my another impending post, perhaps ......

Our new Queen Azalea had built up a sizable “kingdom” , so well that she “flew the castle” taking her little sweet gathering “army” with her. I saw her go…and followed her to a large oak, I tried to capture them but to no avail…poor things, that particular oak fell last winter and of course the whole kingdom drowned during the high “tide”…..I had told the queen that I had a better castle for them but she was rather proud of her little fort, resisting every tempting offer I tried to persuade her with to come "on" down.... I was sad, but then life goes on……

Queen Azaleas successor….queen Ester has done very well and built up an amazing kingdom ,with the help of our sugar syrup during the early spring , sadly she left her kingdom too(the swarm I caught a week ago Fri, yay!!! We are assuming Queen Ester had done such an amazing job in building up her kingdom , that she left it under the guidance of princess buttercup. Princess Buttercup unfortunately also decided to strike out on her own….rather young and inexperienced, her little jaunt didn’t even get off the ground (literally) she had her small army all gathered for “marching” orders about 10 ft in front of the castle…but in the horse paddock . Hal who was filling in for me with “clean up” duty came upon the would be army “mission”. And before they had decided where to go. he promptly put another empty box on top of them.

Last summer Hal and Betty had to do a “flying” trip to the “bee” store and get additional frames for Princess Butter cups new castle.,,,while at the “bee” store , Hal bought Betty a very chic bee “outfit” for her up coming birthday …um Hal’s didn’t fit her well and oh my goodness Betty found it is quite exciting to have “someone” find their way into your “outfit” .

Betty must add, it is quite the experience to “bee” in the middle of a kingdom of bees, even while inside a very chic bee outfit…who needs any of the common “thrilling daredevil adventures?” I say put some of those teenagers inside a bee suit, stick ‘em in the middle of a swarm of bees and most likely they would have had enough excitement to last and calm their hormones down for at least a month ( whew this grandma did!!!)..

Our bee “kingdoms” now include Queen Ester, Queen Abigail, Mary Queen of Scotts, and Princess Buttercup, may their little kingdoms prosper and may sweetness “rule” ,Mary Queen of Honey Pots, is "out there" in the woods somewhere , I prefer thinking she is abiding in the bee tree at the point.....(a bend in the river,where a tree stands on guard, and who hovered over many a story or book reading to our children after an afternoon walkabout to reach it) a great way to spend a summer afternoon..........that's another story..............( Tiffany, the infamous min-pin, who digging in a burrow , thus halfway inside, comes nose to nose with a gopher )