This was recently shared with me, and when I watched/listened to it, it struck something in me that has been feeling like it's shriveling up and dying... In the current climate where everything feels like fightin' words and everyone is seemingly only out for themselves, this was so reviving, so warming. I thought if anyone else was feeling beaten down right now, this might lift you up a bit, too.
One day this all will change
Treat people the same
Stop with the violence
Down with the hate
One day we'll all be free
And proud to be
Under the same sun
Learn more about this 'social-music initiative' and read about the cool story behind One Day here: https://www.koolulam.com/
Everyone that has heard this story so far has said, "You're crazy." Maybe it's true... but then again, maybe all beekeepers are crazy... after all, we voluntarily suit up in layered long sleeves, pants, socks, boots, hats & gloves and go stand out under the sun for hours in the peak of the afternoon in July in Texas, so I guess I can see the argument.
However this little tale is a different kind of crazy.
Yesterday I received two queen bees for a friend who couldn't be home to receive them himself; they're always shipped overnight and arrive hungry and thirsty and in need of immediate attention. Since I'm working from home, being available to be the bee-sitter until we could install the royals in his hives was no trouble at all, so yesterday morning there I was, taking videos of "pipping" and biding my time until they could go meet their new subjects.
That's when I noticed something on one of the attendants.
Side note: queen bees are always shipped with 3-4 attendant bees to groom and feed and tend to them, as they don't take care of themselves once their roles officially shift into egg-layer.
So anyho, while watching them eat the honey I'd smeared onto their screens, I noticed one of the attendants had a varroa mite tucked under one of the plates on her belly.
High-five to me for seeing/spotting it with just my glasses on, ha!
After forwarding the two photos above to some beek friends, however, their advice made our situation seem pretty bleak. I couldn't open the cage to try to get the carrier out because that might allow the queen bee to escape or cause her to be damaged in some way in the process. I couldn't achieve anything by killing the carrier because the varroa would just move to one of the other bees- maybe even the queen- because they're all going to be contained in that cage for the next 3-5 days. So what to do?
The general consensus was that I should try to stab the bee through the varroa with a pin to try to neutralize the threat. That got me thinking... what if I could actually knock the varroa off the bee with a pin instead of getting stabby? Then maybe the bee wouldn't have to die.
So I tried it.
And I did it.
And I didn't hurt the bee.
And when I sent this photo and story to my fellow beeks, they all said I was crazy.
I'm sure everyone has seen the memes... the cynical statements about how much 2020 has sucked so far... the politics, the environmental decline, all the terrible human tragedies, COVID-19 and the 'murder hornets,' and we're only halfway through it all.
It's enough to really get ya down, isn't it?
Well, I'm happy to report that despite all that, we found a little golden lining this week... we found a little something sweet in 2020...
Our strong last-man-standing original hive from last year has been finding nectar from somewhere (despite the drought-then-flood and early heat) and has managed to fill out their own stores in their bottom boxes and a honey super just for us (or at least that's how we'd like to see it)!
Six medium frames (we could have taken nine), about an hour invested in the process (pre-cleanup), and a gallon and a half later, and everyone was in agreement- this is and forever will be a highlight of this unruly and considerably dismal year.
I'm also happy to report that it's really, really good. Even Audrey agrees.
We were gifted a treasure this week: Nanny's piano (or as Audrey used to call it, Nanny's puh-NAH-noh). It's as if Fate has had us prepping for it for months... we have been discontent with our furniture arrangement and have been playing with our couches and side tables and rugs since before Christmas. As luck would have it, the perfect spot for a baby grand was currently wide open and vacated when we got word that Nanny wanted us to have her piano.
After some research we decided to reach out to Metroplex Piano Moving, and within 24 hours we had everything arranged. This morning, it arrived.
They made it look so easy, and in no time it was all set up and attracting the attention of the locals...
Aside from this piano being a beautiful gift in and of itself, it has so much more added value because of it's sentimentality. After all, this Puh-NAH-noh has been a part of some of Audrey's (and later Henry's) earliest memories of their Nanny, which makes it pretty much priceless.
Much like probably everyone else in our area right now, we are spending a lot more time at home because of the Coronavirus scare. Our school district has already extended the school closure from spring break all the way through April 6th, and there are some fairly educated opinions that we'll go even longer before setting foot in a classroom again.
For us, that means Mama working from home and a little kid re-learning of how to occupy your time without parking in front of a screen for 8 hours a day.
We've recently started watching Lego Masters, and from that show came the inspiration to have daily Lego challenges as part of that un-device-ing process. Two things have come from these challenges- first, Henry has overcome the reluctance he's always had to reusing Legos from previous creations, and many a build has been deconstructed to become something else in the past few days (which I love). Second, both kiddos have become so inspired that they're now building things outside of the little challenges I come up with (which I also love).
I'll do a 'qualifying' challenge after lunch, something they can work on together, and if it goes well and there's no fighting, they qualify to skip "nap" time and move on to the second, more complicated challenge. That one I'll usually think up so each person works on a piece of it independently, but it's a cohesive idea that is presented together when they're done. If they pull it off without fighting again, they win an hour on their devices (to be used when I start making dinner).
We're on day 3 of this rhythm and they're still enthusiastic about it, so I'm feeling a lot of winning over here right now. Here's what we've done so far:
Qualifying round: a St. Paddy's Day scene. They chose a rainbow coming out of a cloud and going into a pot of gold.
Round 2: a Dreamer and a Dream. Henry did the dreamer in a bedroom, Audrey did the dream.
The dreamer
The dream- Audrey walking on clouds with a neighborhood below
Yesterday's qualifying round: Animals Around Our House. Audrey's bee (Hen opted out)
Animals Around Our House: Rory
This morning's mini-challenge: Amazing Vehicle. Audrey's flying......... thing
Henry's re-worked flying thing on a pre-built trailer
Today, after lunch, I had them work on a video game scene where one person made the computer (Hen) and the other person made a snapshot of a video game (Audrey):
Clearly they qualified, and they are now diligently working on a good guy vs. bad guy scene. It's been kinda fun thinking these challenges up, if I'm being honest. I'm super glad they're still in to it all.
Stay tuned for other challenges we've been doing to fill these home-bound days!
Introducing Edgar, a blue-black raven of a tiny little rooster gifted to us by a friend with too many roosters and not enough space. He was the lowest guy on the totem pole, and he comes to us a bit picked at with no tail feathers, but he's as sweet as can be (he rode home on my lap). My girls don't know what to do with him yet, and are testing his resolve for sure, but even though he's only half their size he's holding his own! And I'm super excited to add a more watchful member to the flock, as I'm considering expanding their yard into an area much more open with way less cover. An extra pair of eyeballs will be excellent!
Last night I was sitting out with my girls, watching them get to know their new beau, and little ol' Edgar decided to sing them a love song:
The "coldest air of the season (so far)" blew on through Friday, and I woke up that morning in our stuffy room excited to hear that gale blowing... I threw open a few strategic windows to get that fresh northern air chasing away the staleness of days upon days of air conditioning... but after the kids went to school, I found myself slowly closing them all back down! What a chill we've had! By mid-morning I was cold! So I preheated the oven and made us our first autumn apple pie. Because that's what I do. I bake when I get cold (what a lucky family I have).
There was a moment when we actually had some frozen precipitation, and as it fell, through my last remaining open window I heard another flock of geese fly by. The cold air, the graupel, the smell of pie... it was a zen moment.
While the oven was hot I also got in a batch of kraut broca, and with some hot potato soup we were all feelin' fine by the end of that first cold day! It's a good thing, too, because at sunset I realized we were under a freeze watch and had to rush out with old sheets and clothespins to try and cover my tomatoes (the ones I was bragging on the other day). I used two twin sheets, a queen sheet, and a king fitted sheet and was only able to cover one plant.
Here's hoping it worked, because I'm leavin' it be for today since we're going to have another potential below-freezing night again tonight (though we'll be back up to almost 90 by Thursday, ugh)!
Our Little Campers meeting this week was all about silly, creative fun- movie making! We talked about scripts, costumes, props, the role of the actor and the role of the director, and then the kids paired up and brainstormed their plots and characters. Finally they each made their own little movie using tablet devices, and that ended up being good practice for sharing and patience, too!
Once each pair had completed their movie, we gathered and watched them together, then talked about different film genres and how some people prefer one type of movie over another, but that doesn't mean one type of movie is right or better (because our group gets a little wrapped up in comparing work sometimes). Art is in the eye of the beholder!
Henry and Spencer's Movie:
Audrey and Piper's Movie:
Their badges for this activity were handmade by Keri:
The boys got a little lost looking for a plot, and some of the girls' dialogue was hard to catch, but everyone was proud of their end product, and we had a lot of fun watching them pull it all together!
We've had quite a rainy spell these last few days, and this morning looks like it'll be keeping with that trend. It's always been hard to get up and get going when one wakes up to a rainy morning (or is that just us?), but this morning we'll have to muster it because we have stuff to do- first on the agenda, the kickoff to summer swimming lessons! And by the looks of things, we may need to swim just to get to the car!
With all this rain, I bet my bees aren't finding much to forage on, but wowie wow wow are the blackberries going crazy! We'll be making jam and jelly and wine in the near future for sure! In the meantime, though, no cat you can't go outside, wow I'm missing our gutters right now, and hmmmm I wonder what the hubs would think about adding rain collection barrels to one of our future to-do lists?
We're nearing that time of the summer when school is looming and I start noticing more and more the things that will change with that inevitable sendoff.
For some reason, this particular summer my kiddos have been playing together so well. Like, better than usual. Every morning they come together for a bit and drum up something to build, or a mystery that needs to be solved, or they come down for breakfast dressed in some elaborate getup with a background story already fleshed out.
I am not saying they haven't been clashing this summer- heaven knows that wouldn't be true- but the imaginative play has been far superior to previous summers this go-around, and I can't help but take note.
Sometimes my camera is handy and I can capture a piece of the moment- like when they were building thrones with pillows and an old box and donning their royal attitudes and gear, or when they convinced Daddy to get out the Legos they gave him for Father's Day... or when they were a perfectly coordinated caterpillar and crawled all the way from my office to the dining room in sync- and sometimes I just have to stand back sans-technology and absorb.
I'm just glad I've been allowed a glimpse into their sibling world... and I'm glad it seems to be a (mostly) happy place!
From Chicken Joe and the Red Ladies: may your weekend find you with dappled shade, a nice breeze, and a good dust bath to share with your friends (or whatever you might be in to).
It's chilly but sunny (and dry!), we have our slabs all sorted out, and we have a little extra help... time for another project weekend!
Today we got our shed off it's footer and up the driveway... then encountered a bit of trouble in the deep sand between the driveway and it's final destination. Although we ended the day with the surprisingly heavy little building no longer blocking our drive, it'll be another full workin' day tomorrow.
I can't wait to start using this shed as a proper gardening shed... but for now I'll just be content with the open view out the front of the house!
