So…ahem…the blackberries are in full glory right now and we found a newish place to pick and this year’s berries are as big as I have ever seen (including those pretend ones you can get at the grocery store). We have picked several “messes” of berries and I have enjoyed 2 blackberry pies that my delightful wife has prepared. She made some good ones 2 years ago, but this year, the berries are purple and huge and AWESOME!
Of course, we live in West-by-God-Virginia where mountain goat commandos go to train. Our new location is significantly more hilly than previous years so picking in our new secret spot has been interesting and a little prickly. I have to wear soccer cleats so I don’t slide down the hill through the briers. I really wish I was more successful at that. Anyhow, because of the danger (yes, the hills are steep enough that it is dangerous), the kids are not picking this year. They mostly run around and look for new spots for me to scale. I think they have grown up a good bunch though. They still fight like mountain goat commandos and mountain lions, but not while we are working on berries…and that’s worth a big hee-haw from me!
so much for focus...
Aside from the hills being interesting, our new spot is farther into the woods and we have been assaulted by a few ticks this year. Ticks suck. I think I hate ticks and roaches more than about anything…not sure why because bugs in general don’t offend me, but I am personally offended when I see either of my nemeses. Alas, I shall push on in pursuit of the berry. The blackberry pie calls to me…I must heed its call!
I know the Chinese have long been in charge of managing the years and their animal counterparts. This year for instance, the Chinese calendar claims it is the year of the tiger. I see it slightly different here in West-by-God-Virginia though. This has been the year of the honeybee!
These bees are headed inside the house
On Tuesday evening of this week, I got a call from a couple in South Hills who had a swarm of bees on their window. I checked it out and it seemed that the swarm had decided to take up residence inside the soffit of their house. That swarm is still in progress. We’re waiting to see if they are truly headed in or if they were just running from me as I tried to catch them.
Last night I got home a little before 8. There was a message about another swarm in Dunbar (a nearby town). My father-in-law came with me as we loaded up the van and headed out. The homeowner and her daughter and grandson noticed the swarm in a tree that they had planted for Mother’s day this year. The usual way to get a swarm off of a branch is to cut the branch and lower it gently into a hive. Of course, this tree was small and important to them so we went with Plan B (cue the scary music and crazy eyes). I always carry a cardboard box so I had my father-in-law (who was fully suited up) hold the box while I gave the tree a good shake. Most of the bees were jolted into the box which we then dumped into the nearby hive.
Home-owner's Grandson L.
The swarm itself was really easy to catch so that part was done pretty quickly. My favorite part of swarm catching is not really getting the actual bees into the hive though. The home-owner’s grandson had a lot of questions and was very curious about bees and beeswax and whether they would hurt him, and how they made honey, etc. Answering questions and talking to people who are curious about bees is my favorite part of catching swarms…and Grandson L. really made my day. I chatted with him for 15 (?) minutes after the bees were captured.
All-in-all, it has been a great bee week and a good bee summer…this is definitely the year of the bee!
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!
We have had off-and-on storms/rain this weekend which isn’t so much of a surprise itself. What is odd though is that I got two calls to capture swarms of bees this weekend. A nice woman in Nitro called me first as she had found a swarm on a branch near her house. We first talked before the huge rain on Friday. I figured that the rain surely must have washed the bees away but she called back after the storm and said they were still there so Isaac and I loaded up the bee-mobile and headed to Nitro.
We met the “finder” and some family/friends and the kids were super friendly and excited to check out how the whole “catch-a-swarm” thing goes down. Isaac and I showed them the hive box and our equipment and talked with them about all sorts of questions they had. We finally decided we better get busy before rain or dark made it tougher. I held the branch and Isaac cut it and we had ourselves the first swarm of the weekend.
Sunday afternoon, I got a call from Charleston’s metro 911 service. They reported a swarm of bees near the United Bank building in downtown Charleston. Charleston is WV’s largest city so we have all sorts of business, medical and legal buildings here including several high-rise buildings. Anyhow, the United building is a pretty large white building in the center of the city. I drove around once looking for a swarm hanging from a tree in the courtyard or someplace more “typical” for a swarm of bees. Finally I found them on a barrier in front of the building. It really wasn’t much of a swarm by the time I got there. I figure the real swarm had probably moved on and the remaining bees were ones that had been out scouting for a new home. Anyhow, there were enough bees that I had to remove them so no one would come upon them and get hurt (or act stupid).
I parked around the side of the bank adjacent to the swarm. As I was hauling my equipment out, it occurred to me that I may end up meeting the swat team. “A bald-headed guy wearing a camo shirt carrying a ladder and a mysterious white box has been spotted walking down Virginia street…all units respond!” went through my mind given the recent stuff happening in New York City. Anyhow, I donned my suit and moved the bees from the pole to my hive box and headed home as quickly as I could.
As swarm weekends go, I think this was a pretty good one and we had a good time catching them…nothing beats catching a swarm, especially when we have an audience!
I love our old house and our neighborhood. We have lots of old and large trees on our property and the properties around us. We also have gutters on our house. Leaves and debris…meet gutters…gutters – debris.
Mine was worse than this...and it was raining
You see, in the spring-time, the black locusts make thousands of little leaves and flowers that fall off, oh…um…about this time of year. They are small enough that they are not stopped by gutter guards so they accumulate in the gutters. I clean them every year but if my timing is not right, they build up and absorb just the right amount of water from light rains to form a great organic gutter-dam when the heavy rains come.
Anyhow, the dam did its dam thing last night and backed up the gutter right above one of the window wells to a basement window. We noticed water coming in the house and I looked up and saw water in the window. It was like my own little aquarium! I ran outside in the pouring rain (and I mean pouring) to clean out all of the gutters. I really hate climbing a ladder in the rain but I was able to break all of the dams on all of the gutters which washed all of the dam junk out into the yard.
I had to go back and dip the water from the window well as best I could. I guess I could have waited until it fully drained into the house but that didn’t seem like a good option. By the time I was all done, I was soaked through to the bone…and then it stopped raining.
I am going to buy a new blade for my chainsaw today…
Last week I caught a couple of swarms of bees. After I hived them, I sort of basically left them where they were so they could settle in (and because I was too lazy to do anything about it.) After a weekend of talking myself into it, I finally mustered up the will to move them to a permanent location yesterday evening.
Weather radar on Sunday - I live at the blue star...
I happened to take a look at the weather radar and figured I needed to do something and soon as their temporary location was not great, rain-wise. As always, I wait until just short of the last minute to do stuff, so I scrambled around the house and found some duct tape and a roll of baling twine (as well as a toilet plunger and a box of plastic spoons) and loaded up the man-van to move some bees before the coming storms hit (and I almost made it).
Before I go any farther, let me warn you…what I am about to tell you should not be attempted under any circumstances and is merely a figment of your imagination…I would never really do this ; -)
To move bees, I wad up some paper and stuff it into the entrance which I tape in place. I do the same with the top entrance (basically a “breather hole”). Then I wrap a ratcheting strap around the hive and beat feet with it to the back of the van. There are always bees that hang on the outside and underneath. Most times a couple of dozen bees seem to outsmart my tape job too. Still, I slam the door down and go for it. You see, if I ever really did this I would not be fearful because, as it turns out, the bees that do escape have absolutely no interest in messing with me. They see the light through the windows and buzz around as bugs do when caught behind glass.
If I ever really did do this a bunch of times, I would probably be able to tell you that I have never once been bothered by bees with this method and the bees have always been transported successfully and with no damage to me or them. But, of course, I have never done any of this, right?
Beekeeping is always an adventure. As always, there are risks when messing with thousands of stinging insects with no moral compulsion towards fair play…but the nature of bees is incredibly fascinating and mostly understandable…or so I have heard…I never do these sorts of things though…
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!
I keep 11-12 hives of bees. Over the winter-time, some of them usually die for one reason or another. This year I lost 4. Compared to a lot of folks, that is a pretty great survival rate, but I sort of like having a full compliment of hives. Most years I make splits where I take some bees from a “booming” hive and put them in a new hive box (i.e. from the hive that died). Depending on the year, I add a queen I get from a breeder or else I add a queen cell that I find in the original hive.
This year we ordered packages from a supplier in NC. My in-laws drove down and back this weekend and picked up 4 packages and 3 new queens in addition. On Sunday we installed the bees, made splits, requeened and generally had a good time messing around with the bees. Installing a package of bees is about the simplest thing a beekeeper can do, but new beekeepers often panic at the thought of dumping bees from a box into the new hive. I figured I would video tape my hiving a package of bees so anyone who might want to have a look can see how I do it!
I walked Ginny at 6 am today and we did our normal route round our place – down the sidewalk to the front yard, around the back, then into the house. The kids were about to get up and we started our mad-morning routine getting ready for another day of school. Kids were fed, teeth were brushed and lunches were packed…and out the door we lit at 7:10 am. As we headed down the same sidewalk Ginny and I had walked, we came upon a wet, slimy looking pile of…fur. Or at least I thought it was fur. Anyhow, I figured a rat had given birth or something. I decided I’d just pick it up and bury it. I bent down to have a closer look and discovered it was a kitten…and it was alive…sort of. I picked it up and ran in to get a box. We put it in the box and jumped into the car hoping the heater would warm the poor little wet thing.
Sure enough, as Isaac held it on his lap, is started to move a little more. It really didn’t move by normal definitions but it did meow like crazy. I didn’t think for a second that it would survive another 30 minutes but we headed to the vet to see what they said. I had planned to leave it with them and let them “take care of things”…and the kids would know that the vet had done everything they could. Right in front of the kids and the cat and everyone, they basically told us it would not end well and that they wouldn’t try. Gee whiz, now the kids knew what would happen and they were having no part in that. “Please Dad, can we try to save it?” I asked the vet for some milk replacer figuring it would be a nice (read cheap) gesture. I promised the kids I would do everything I could to save the poor little kitten.
I dropped the kids at school and proceeded to work with my tiny box of kitten. It meowed and cried and gave it all it could. I got to work and one of my co-workers helped me clean it up, cut the umbilical cord (yes, it was still attached!), and start feeding. I still didn’t think it had much of chance, but as the day went on, this little thing has perked up and squalls and crawls and bawls constantly! I am amazed at this little critter and think it may have a chance. We’ll feed it every 2 hours and watch as this little thing shows us what it is made of…
I mentioned last week that we got a new dog from the shelter. She is a super sweet dog now that we got her all fixed up. You see, she came to us from the shelter with parvovirus, fleas, ear mites, and maybe kennel cough (she has that now but it may have come from the vet). So, first thing, I am pretty disgusted that the Kanawha/Charleston shelter doesn’t deal with it’s ickiness better. A few months ago, they had to put down masses of animals because of disease. I have talked to several people who got dogs from there that had parvo and died. Apparently it is a common problem for that shelter, but I think it is unacceptable. I get that it’s a big and busy shelter, but gee whiz, it is what they are all about. Parvo kills a lot of dogs, especially puppies, so not treating/testing/quarantining animals effectively makes them a high-rate kill-shelter depending on how you look at it.
Ok, sorry, I have strayed a bit. So, Ginny came to us and within 2 days she was obviously very sick. Many hundred dollars later and we are fortunate to have a mostly healthy dog. But I wonder…you see, she has taken to eating poop from the yard. We have some less-than-prize neighbors who let their dogs run and poop all over the neighborhood, but that only provides Ginny access, not inclination. We walk Ginny on a leash every day and she has started searching out and eating other dogs’ poop! Did something happen to her brain when she was sick? I am not positive about this, but I suspect that poop doesn’t taste all that good (especially compared to the food she seems to like) so I cannot come up with an explanation why my sweet Ginny would eat every pile of deuce she comes upon. “It’s number 2 Ginny…run away!” Nope, not my dog.
She's sitting on Emily's back as she tries to sleep
It’s been a long time since I had a dog so maybe this is the new trendy thing that all of the young and hip dogs are doing nowadays…surely not. No, I can definitely say that eating poop is a bad thing. Come to think of it, I may have a new alternative saying for my kids. No longer will I have to say, “Would you jump off a bridge if all of your friends were doing it?” I can now say, “Would you eat poop just because all of your friends are doing it?”
Maybe I am being over-reactive. She’s a puppy and I know puppies are crazy. I hate to say it, but I would prefer she would chew on my shoes rather than the biohazards in the yard. I guess we will have to work on her manners some. The first trick I am going to teach her is “shake”. You see, I can shake her paw without hesitation, but she is definitely not getting kisses from me!
