Category Archives: Adventure

The buzz around Charleston

Adventure, Bees, Fun, WV, ,

Charleston is such a nice city.  For the most part, it is pretty laid back and a decent place to live.  But just yesterday, there was a something going on down by Women’s and Children’s Hospital at the Martin Marietta gravel yard.  Folks who were in the area said they heard a buzz, and then the sky was darkened by flying creatures that (they later found out) were scouting for a new home.  Eventually, the creatures found their mark…a swarm of bees landed on the stop light for the truck scales at the gravel yard…and that my friends, is why bees will never rule the world.

I am thankful that the yard guys (and gal) called WV DNR who called me.  I was able to run over at lunch yesterday and catch this excellent swarm.  They were pretty gentle and appeared to be healthy and vigorous.  After work (and hours after their capture so they had time to calm down), I was able to find a good looking queen so they should be a good colony.

Anyhow, I showed up to get these bees in my work clothes…you know, dress shoes, nice pants, etc.  I think I mentioned that the swarm was in a gravel yard, right?  It had rained the night before so it was a muddy mess (as was I).  Anyhow, the foreman brought me a ladder and stopped traffic on the scales and I was able to scoop the swarm into a cardboard box using a dust pan (yes, I have learned these tricks the hard way).  When on a ladder, it is best to have something light into which the bees can be placed for the trip down the ladder.  Old paper boxes work perfectly!  Anyhow, I scooped the majority of the bees into the box and carried it down the ladder where I dumped them into the hive I had waiting.  I waited about 10 minutes and the ones I missed smelled the queen in the hive and followed after her.  It’s just how swarm catching is supposed to go!

I love catching swarms.  I think my favorite part is the crowd that invariably gathers to “watch the crazy bee man on a ladder”.  The really cool part is when I (didn’t) load the hive into my van to drive them home.  The guys thought (not really, because I didn’t really do it) I was doubly crazy!  Anyhow, the folks at the gravel yard were really helpful and had lots of questions so this was, in all ways, a great swarm to catch!

More swarms…

Bullseye!

Adventure, Family, Nature, WV,

The kids first started archery about a year ago.  Since then, Isaac has participated in “Archery in the Schools” and the state tournament.  Abigail’s school doesn’t have that program yet but she loves to shoot when she can.  Back when we started this deal, I thought it would be a good family-together thing to do.  We didn’t really have the equipment or a range to make all that happen (I figure the city frowns on shooting a compound bow in the back yard).

Fast forward a bit…Isaac and Abigail both received bows as presents from their grandparents.  Last weekend Emily and the kids surprised me with an early father’s day present…my own bow!  And it’s camo!  The day they gave it to me, I decided we needed to make the “family shooting thing” happen (I wonder what sort of weird google searches will bring people to this page now!)

On Sunday we headed to Kanawha State Forest with Emily’s parents to be devoured by the mosquitoes try our luck at target shooting.  We started off a bit rough (and that was before we even started shooting), but once we got into the groove, we had a great time!  Isaac was able to do some “shooting while moving” exercises during which he shot a good bullseye from 15-20 yards.  Abigail did great also.  She is finally strong enough to draw the bow such that every single arrow she shot stuck!

Granddad and I had fun…that’s all I’ll say about that.  We didn’t have to comb the hillside which was covered in poison ivy and some sort of ridiculous scratchy plant which would make a nun cuss, too many times searching for arrows.  We did donate one arrow to the archery gods but we gained someone else’s previous sacrifice so it was a wash, arrow-wise!

Anyhow, it was a great time and we have a date to go back out this weekend to shoot some more!  I think we may have hit the nail on the head for a good family hobby!

The climb

Adventure, Thoughts, WV, ,

Abigail, Emily and I walked around South Charleston the other day and she wanted to climb “the Mound”.  The Mound is an ancient native burial ground that sits as sort of a focal point of downtown S. Chas.  I had never climbed it before so it seemed like a pretty cool thing to do.  Abigail and I walked to the top by climbing stone steps that wrap around the Mound.  It’s not a huge walk but it has a great view of the area.  I sort of wonder what the people who built the mound must have seen and thought when they were hauling dirt and rock up the mound.

I suppose it looked a lot different (duh) but uncertainty was no doubt a part of their lives as well…especially after losing whomever was buried under that mound.  I guess it’s a part of life and all but I am not sure I am exactly delighted with the craziness that seems to be going on now with Jamaica and North Korea and and BP oil and Greece and the economy in general.  I’ll tell you one thing, I am certain that the time we spent climbing the Mound was time well spent.  I guess the uncertainty that the original builders must have felt and which caused them to build such a monument gave me a sense of certainty in the love I have for my family and the simple times we share together.

The story behind the Mound

Fun with tilt shift from atop the Mound!

The first swarm of bees in 2010

Adventure, Awesome, Bees, Fun, Nature, , ,

There are all sorts of jobs related to keeping bees.  I need to check for a robust queen, I need to check to make sure they have enough open comb, I need to treat them for mites and the honey flow needs managed.  Some of these jobs are pretty fun but many of them are extremely hot and tiring…and sticky.

Every spring, though, I seem to get a chance to do my absolute favorite beekeeping job of all…I get to catch swarms of bees.  Most years I do splits and other manipulations so my bees don’t swarm.  Usually the 911 center calls me to report a swarm of bees in someone’s tree or by their house.  I love going to get swarms of bees, especially when the swarm is from someone else’s hive.

Swarming, you see, is the bees’ way of growing.  When a colony gets too packed into its existing digs, it forces another queen to be created and, when the new queen is nearly ready, the old queen and half (or so) of the overcrowded bees head for the hills…or the nearest tree branch.  Once they make it to the branch, the queen hides in the middle of the swarm and scout bees go out looking for a new place to live.  Back before the days of varroa mites, these bees usually ended up in a tree out in the woods.  That still happens today, but they don’t live for more than a year or two.  So, back to why I like to catch other people’s swarms – when the bees came from my hives, I end up with two half-strength colonies instead of one really strong one.  In one way, it is cool because I get two hives that will grow into good colonies and may make some honey this year.  The bad thing is, if I had one strong colony, it would make honey this year.  Oh well, it can’t be helped!

Anyhow, when the bees are in waiting for scouts to find a new home, they are pretty vulnerable.  Each bee filled up on honey before it left, but that’s all the food they have to go on until they get to a new location.  They are completely exposed to animals and humans and weather and cold.  Being in a swarm is a dangerous proposition for a bee.

So, next door to one of the locations where I keep bees, the homeowners saw the swarm take off out of the hive and end up in one of their trees.  They knew it was mine so they called and I rushed to see if I could catch them.  There is no real trick to catching a swarm of bees (but please don’t try unless you know what you are doing).  All one has to do is get the swarm into a container along with the queen.  If the queen makes it into the container, the swarm will stay and claim the new location as their home.

Click for video

(try this link if the one above doesn’t work on your computer)

So, I got to the swarm location and saw the largest swarm I had ever caught hanging about shoulder-high in a tree…in the middle of a bunch of poison ivy…which I now have on my leg.  I carried my empty hive box to the location and cut the branch with the bees.  I shook them into the box…mostly.  A bunch of bees (since it was such a huge group) fell onto the ground in front of the colony.  Typically the bees will “sense” that a good hive is near and they will march into it.  I have no idea whether the queen walked in herself or if I got her into the box on the initial shake.  Either way, she ended up in the colony and all of the remaining bees followed her inside!

Click for video

(try this link if the one above doesn’t work on your computer)

Bees in a swarm are pretty docile (but don’t mess with them unless you know what you are doing…they still have stingers) and fun to be around.  It’s like pure energy…it’s just amazing to me.  The buzz that they  generate is incredible and it’s just a sight to behold.  I cannot begin to really explain how cool and exciting it is to see and catch a swarm of bees.  It is my absolute favorite part of beekeeping though!  I love this time of year!

More swarms…

A bridge

Adventure, Family, Fun, , ,

A few weeks ago, we went to Pittsburgh so Emily could participate in some training.  The kids and I basically tromped around the city on foot and saw some interesting things.  Of particular interest to me (and not at all for the kids) were the bridges.  Of course, Pittsburgh is famous for its bridges…the number of them if not the beauty.

So we walked from our hotel in the downtown area across several of the bridges and saw some pretty neat things.  I pretty much don’t think about bridges at all as I drive over them.  Rarely do I get the chance to walk on them so it was pretty cool to sort of explore the bridges in Pittsburgh with my kids.

The “art of steel” that holds those bridges up is really interesting and somehow appealing to look at for me.  Maybe it’s the guy in me who still likes to play with matchbox cars and tonka toys and the like, but I really liked standing on the bridge admiring its strength (I feel so inferior).  I guess I am pretty fascinated by the parts that make up the bridge…imagining the folks hammering and twisting and cursing the pieces into place.  Pittsburgh sort of means all that to me anyhow.

We also saw some more human things there including tons of gum and the graffiti that seemed too philosophical to be left as a scrawling on a wall…though more people probably saw that than if it had been written somewhere more “appropriate”.  We saw panhandlers on the bridge and the kids had some serious questions for me about their plight.

Once again, I am reminded to take time to smell the…uh…bridge?  Well, I guess I’ll stick to smelling the roses but if you get a chance, spend time exploring a bridge.  You won’t be disappointed!  Most of these pictures were of the Roberto Clemente bridge by the way….

Confirmed: They are crazy

Adventure, Awesome, Thoughts, WV, , ,

Yesterday was a good day for Charleston.  You see, the folks from Westboro “baptist” were in town (and will be until Sunday) protesting everything in WV (apparently).  There are Catholic folks and Jewish folks and LGBT folks and Irish folks (and all sorts of other folks) that live here.  That makes WV a target.  Yes, you heard it right…if you are breathing, Westboro “baptist” hates you.  Actually, they hate things that are no longer breathing as well.

By itself, their presence wasn’t great for Charleston or WV, but Charleston’s response showed the greatness of the city and its people.  I suppose 200-300 people came out to tell the haters to go home.  Most folks didn’t hate back, they just asked them to go home.  I think a lot of people in the city sort of bonded together and that is always good for community.

I wonder if they paid the licensing fees to the WVU for using their symbol

I know this is hateful, but it was my favorite sign

I initially participated in a flashmob (that was announced to the media so was less flash-like) to say something like, “you can hate, but we aren’t about that…we’re gonna dance”.  Charleston’s Covenant House, a community action group that helps disadvantaged folks, started the flash mob idea.  At every protest (and there are many) the flashmobbers are going to do the dance (video below).  Some say that we played into their plan of more attention, but I think they are drawing attention to themselves and the media is going to cover that anyhow.  As long as they cover it, these people won’t go away.  So, we decided to try to steal some of their media coverage and we did…and we strengthened community a bit more.

Unbelievable, bringing their kids...

Anyhow, after the flashmob, a ton of people headed to the front side of the capitol and basically tried to surround and hide the Westboro people.  People from here brought signs and posters and flags to hold in front of the hate signs.  People came out in numbers to surround the protesters and their message and, in a non-violent (and mostly non-hateful) way, told them they aren’t wanted here.

Pretty cool video capturing the flashmob as well as the other protesting – some good and a little rougher:

I was proud of Charleston and WV.  While Westboro people spewed hate and exploited their kids, we came together in unity and had a great time showing that diversity is great and fun and to be celebrated!

Thank you Mr Carnegie

Adventure, Family, Fun, , ,

I grew up in NW PA.  We lived about 2 hours north of Pittsburgh, somewhat near the NY and OH borders in a little town called Tionesta.  It was pretty much a sleepy town…except during hunting and fishing seasons.  You see, Tionesta is an outdoor destination among sportsmen.  The number of hunting camps out number the permanent residences 10-to-1.  A large portion of the folks who descended upon the town were from Pittsburgh and many were not respectful of our peace and quiet.  They didn’t really ever understand that we could not have cared less how things were done in Pittsburgh.  I always sort of laughed that Pittsburgh was down hill and down stream from Tionesta so we always sent them “our best”.  Needless to say, I always considered Pittsburgh a smoldering pile as a kid.

My wife is a school counselor, but also licensed as a community counselor.  Being licensed and official and all that, she is required to get a certain number of continuing education units to maintain her certification.  The National Counseling Association held its annual meeting in Pittsburgh this year so we had an opportunity to travel uphill and upstream from Charleston to Pittsburgh so she could participate.  Emily was in meetings all day last weekend, but she brought me to be her arm candy in the evenings.  During the days, the kids and I had to find things to do in Pittsburgh.

One of the icons in Pittsburgh is Point State Park.  PSP is located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers where they join to form the Ohio River.  Basically, it is a scenic overlook between the rivers and it has a really cool fountain.  So, our hotel was in the down-town area (or, as they say in Pittsburgh-pronounced Picksburgh – we stayed in the dahn tahn area).  It seemed like a short walk from our hotel to PSP when I looked at the map.  The kids and I grabbed some donuts from the convenience store and started our trek.

Isaac wanted to launch Abigail out of the torpedo tube...

It turned out that our walk was a good bit farther than I expected.  The kids were troopers though and we started toward PSP only to find it closed and nasty from the recent high water.  Just across the river though, we spied the new baseball and football venues so we decided to walk over and see what we could see.  On the way, the kids encountered their first homeless person and had all sorts of questions.  We talked as we walked and, before we knew it, we arrived at the Carnegie Science Museum.  We have a membership at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV which gives us access to many museums through out the country, including the Carnegie Science Museum.  It seemed like an offer I couldn’t refuse!

We crawled all over exhibits and saw a robot shooting hoops (with a pretty good average).  We explored the USS Requin, a WWII-era submarine (can you believe it, Pittsburgh has a submarine in one of the rivers?!), and learned about cells oceans and volcanoes and flight.  In one afternoon, the Carnegie Science Museum showed me a different Pittsburgh than I had known.  The kids and I had a delightful time and can’t wait to go back to Pittsburgh to see what else the city has for us to explore!

Coffee will do…I guess

Adventure, Family, Food, Fun,

Well, Lent is upon us.  I still have my shirt after yesterday so I figure it will be a pretty easy going Lenten season.  I don’t typically give up stuff for it but my family does.  You may remember last year that Isaac gave up farting on the cat and Abigail gave up wearing Mom’s sparkly eye shadow.  This year Abigail is giving up chocolate…typical girl.  Isaac wanted to give up school but I told him that was not an option.  After much debate, he finally decided to give up graham crackers…way to go trooper!

Anyhow, I have had an ongoing struggle against caffeine which I won’t attempt to beat this spring.  I think a big part of it is a correlated addiction to pop.  So, this year for Lent, I am going to buck my typical lack of Lenten cheer and actually give up pop.  So, without pop, I still need a caffeine delivery system (I’ll work on that addiction another time).  The only other alternative to pop is coffee so I have been practicing drinking coffee and actually pretty well like it now.  It’s strange that I had to convince myself that I like something but I suppose lots of things in life are that way.

So, for special occasions like delays from school, we stop by the local convenience store and grab a couple of cappuccinos (Isaac likes them a lot) so we can be fully caffeinated as we greet the day!  Convenience store cappuccinos aren’t as flashy as “real” cappuccinos but at $1.29, I don’t really care…plus, they are just plain tasty…forget the purism!

At work I don’t (yet) have a cappuccino machine so I stick with the regular style coffee…strong, bitter and black…like my heart.  Most regular men would be satisfied with a regular-sized coffee cup, but, because of my caffeine disability, I prefer to drink from a barrel.  My barrel of coffee drains about half of the pot at a time.  I believe coffee will do…

Not only is WV wild and wonderful, but Isaac and I are as well when we are fully caffeinated!

Proud of the fight

Adventure, Awesome, Family, ,

Isaac is taking tae kwon do lessons and is doing really well. We take him 3 nights per week and he has made a bunch of great progress. We had mainly hoped that the exercise and discipline would be a big benefit for him. I had a lot of mixed feelings in his taking lessons though. I am certainly not a pacificist, but encouraging your kid to fight seems like a whole different level of crazy. I know tae kwon do and most martial arts are intended to be used for defense, but I have to tell you, if you have ever seen tae kwon do practitioners in action, you’ll quickly see that it is not a passive defensive art. If you tangle with someone who is well versed in tae kwon do, and if you don’t know when to stop, you may not wake up from a fight.

Ok, that sounds dramatic but its methods are comprised of violent and aggressive actions that could easily be misused. Tae kwon do uses a tremendous amount of kicking and specialized punches meant to deliver ultimate force so misuse could easily result in serious injury. So, a big part of class is discipline and respect and knowing when to use the art. Another part of class, however, is practical. Each night, the students spar. The older people (i.e. not 6 year olds) and the black belts really go at it and hit hard. Isaac is not a black belt or an older kid but he is getting bigger and his age is starting to “play” hard. Imagine my nerves when Isaac volunteered to fight last night.

I was a bundle of nerves hoping he didn’t get hurt and that he didn’t hurt someone else. Isaac and the other student walked to the ring, bowed all around and took their fighting stances. The instructor called, “fight” and the boy went to town. He fought and fought well. He is nimble and fast and was -now get this – a lot of fun to watch in a fight. Isn’t it weird how I went from fear to pride instantly? Anyhow, he delivered a bunch of punches and kicks and took a lot too.

The best part of the fight was that we made eye contact as he walked out of the ring after the fight. We both smiled and nodded our heads in understanding. He’ll be just fine.

I swore…

Adventure, Thoughts,

When we were first married, we declared, as self-righteous, young, newlywed folks often do, that we would live our lives differently than folks who are so busy they don’t have time to sit down and enjoy the good stuff of life.  We swore we would not do what other people do.  When the kids were younger, we had little trouble in keeping their time free for things they wanted to do.  Most of what we did was about what they wanted to do for fun, which happened to line up with the whole “live simply” thing I had in mind.  They played outside on the swings and rode bikes.  It was so simple and perfect.

Of course, they are getting older and are influenced by all sorts of things around them.  They still like to play outside and ride bikes, but now they also want to take lessons…taekwondo and aikido and ice skating and violin and archery and soccer.  We are becoming scheduled.  At first, I was sort of irritated about it and thought that we surely must be ruining our kids by running them all over creation to do this and that.  But now that we’ve been at it for a little while, I look at it differently.  Just as it was about what the kids wanted to do for fun, so it is now.  Fun is just different.

To be sure, I definitely think that kids and parents can become over-scheduled and over-stressed, but I think if the cards are played right (as I hope we are doing), being involved is an opportunity for kids to explore.  It’s not exploring like they did in the back yard, but it is exploring the world in a way.  Taekwondo is taught by a Korean master.  Soccer is coached by a former professional player from the African continent.  They are finding what they like and don’t like but they are also seeing a larger world while they are at it.

When I think about it, I enjoy seeing the kids explore and learn and grow.  We still play together, albeit differently.  We can laugh and talk and enjoy things…just different things than just the back yard.  So, in a way, I sort of long for “just the back yard” but it is thrilling to also be a part of all of us going “out there” too.

So what about it…do you enjoy kids’ activities or is it too much?  What sorts of things do your people do?