Monthly Archives: June 2013

Honeybees Are Really Back!

I’m taking you with me to feed the bees. Shhh…it’s early in the morning. The world seems new and clean. Does it seem that way everywhere or only here?

I added Honey B Healthy to the 1:1 sugar water I’m feeding my two bee hives. Beekeeping is not cheap. This little bottle of Honey B Healthy is $24.95, and I am lucky enough to live near Poor Valley Bees so I don’t have to pay shipping.

Just takes a teaspoon per quart jar of sugar water…they love it. Lemon oil, spearmint oil…all things bees like and need.

At the hive, which is blissfully near the house, I look in and see an empty jar. They are drinking one quart every 24-36 hours. This means they are alive so this is a good thing for me.

So I swapped them out. It was so easy since the bees were in the hive due to the early hour. This afternoon I visited the hive again…it was reassuring as I could see the bees coming in and taking off. The ones that were coming in had their little hind leg baskets filled with pollen. Not much of the sugar water is gone — maybe they are all foraging and just using it as a “bar” where they go for a drink at night???

They are working hard. I’m going to work hard, too — I’m going to go outside and work on my garage organization and plant some tomatoes!! But before I go, I was a little concerned that my super duper potatoes might be all potato vine and no potato…so while walking back from my little apiary, I reached down in the raised bed and felt around and pulled out this! Taterhead rules!!

Playing With the Cricut

I’ve been off for a few days because both of our laptops have been just dying. We got his fixed and mine is currently being fixed. Someone downloads a lot of stuff and picks up Malware Yikes. I love free software but I guess it really isn’t free. We’ve also been really busy around here as Mike’s knee replacement which went so well at first seems to have went south in terms of the flexibility of his leg. This has resulted in a minor procedure last Wednesday at Holston Valley Medical Center, and now we’re involved in intensive physical therapy. I say “we” because there are parts of this that occur at home, and I help.

Today, however, I just had to get away to myself. I started messing with the Cricut.

We had a young man get married who lives just up the road from us, and I bought he and his wife a gift card from Lowe’s. I then lost the gift card. They’ve been married a month, so I decided the only way to find the gift card is to buy another gift card. You know how that works. I finally bought the new gift card last week. I still haven’t found the original one, but I’m feeling more confident.

Then, since I’d also lost the card that I got to go with the gift card, I decided to go in a different direction than buying another card to put the gift card in. (Whew..did you get that? I’m not sure I did.) I found a painted wooden block and then added the letter “K” (for Kiser). (I guess I ought to clarify here that I’m talking about a gift card I lost followed by a wedding card congratulating the couple that I also lost. My hope is that they are somewhere together, probably a couple by now, and I’ll find them and be so excited because I’ll then have a Lowe’s gift card that is All.Mine.) Meanwhile, here’s that “K” I was talking about.

This is no masterpiece, but I know they are using yellow in their house, so I took some yellow scrapbook paper and placed it on the wooden block Mike made ages ago — made a letter K on the Cricut and added some Mod Podge to hold this all together. I attached the gift card to the back and tied a white ribbon around the whole affair.

Here ya go! Isn’t this better than wrapping paper or a gift bag? I’m loving this. Should I put a tracker on it in case I lose this, too?

So, while I had the the Cricut out…I made the letters for “Swinging Bridge” for a board I found in Mike’s shop. I laid the letters out and thought, “where the heck is the “E”…I have an extra “G” but no “E” (which I knew I’d made). Look closely. at the last “G” in Swinging. Duh. It’s my “E” I could not find.

Admit it…they do look a bit alike…

I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to use this “Swinging Bridge”…I may put numbers with it and do it as a wall piece in our home office. I’m still working on that project.

Write more later…now that I’ve got one healthy computer!!

Seed Swap and the Infection in Poor Valley

I ran into an old friend a few days ago, and she told me that she enjoyed reading RiverCliff Cottage. I was swooning with happiness — I love it when someone tells me they actually read this stuff! However, she added…”it makes me want to just move out to Mendota.” At that point, I realized it wasn’t my blog at all…it was the “infection” that runs rampant in Poor Valley. “Once you get that Poor Valley mud on your feet, you can’t wipe it off.” The infection begins with thoughts like…”those country people…they are making farming seem kinda neat. They’ve got something going on.”

“And it smells good out there with all that honeysuckle and hay.”

“What the heck? They’re getting together and trading around seeds and plants….starting traditions of sharing and community! Don’t they know it’s 2013?”

“And they are interested in each other’s endeavors….like sharing lemon balm with that nutty blogger who keeps trying to keep bees.”

Oh yeah…you know you’re wanting to “find a little land, put a little cabin on it…do a little gardening…do a little fishing and hunting.” I recognize all the symptoms.

A Beesy Day

Patsy from the Mendota Post Office called this morning and said “they are here!” The bees are here!! I went down to get them but my sister beat me to it. Here are the bees waiting in her den.

We “installed” them this afternoon, but two of the queens were dead. Didn’t survive the trip. Thank goodness, Poor Valley Bee Farm in Hiltons had some queens. Tonight, it looked like this at my little apiary…

Bees are setting up housekeeping and learning their way around. Mike was washing the car when they started familiarizing themselves with our property. Unfortunately, they were thirsty and he and a bee had a “run in” and he got stung in the foot.

It was a very busy day. Tonight is a two Advil night as my feet are really hurting. I’ve been standing on concrete working on my garage cleaning/reorganizion project. Here’s me working on removing the bottom vent of the freezer that’s in the garage. Looks like I had a wipe out. Thank you to my husband for taking such a flattering picture of me.

I’m making progress…here’s where I was yesterday…

And here’s where I am today. Lots still left to do but progress is being made!

Have a great weekend. I’m going to go see about those Advil now.