Painting the Hives

A Home for the Bees

My husband will be bringing the bees home from Des Moines, IA

 sometime around mid April so we are getting into high gear,

prepping the hives and clearing the new area by the garden.

These hives used to belong to our friends who are now

concentrating on meat goats and after a very cold

winter where the bees didn't make it through,

they gave the hives to us.  We've had them stored for

the past couple of years and now refurbishing them.

My husband added some depth to their entrance.

I scraped and cleaned the inside and outsides.

He tightened up the seams.

and torched the insides to remove anything that might

still be lingering.

I was the designated painter, which is fun but I'm not

the neatest painter in the world.  I got fired from 

painting my granddaughter's room at our house,

kicked out because my cutting in was not straight.

I don't think the bees will mind!  LOL

It was a very well thought out color scheme,

we based it on the theory of FREE.

Our recycling center accepts old paint for a slight charge

and if less than a gallon will give it away free.

This was apparently Kendall's room so I thought I might

hang a sign saying Kendall's Motel up in the garden.

My husband proceeded to burst my bubble by telling me

that the recycling company likely mixed paint into this.

Well, we will see.  I'll see if the label give me any more info.

If that is not the case, Kendall's room is very bright!

but it goes well with the deep periwinkle color that 

we got FREE for the bottom boxes.

Our garage was the workshop over the rainy, misty

weekend.  I'm so glad to get my parking space

back now too.  We will concentrate on the frames

now and replace what is too damaged to clean.

We have the gear selected- suits, veils, gloves and 

all the other equipment we need to get started.

We will also have a supply of EpiPens just in case.

I don't believe we are allergic but you never know

who might come over that doesn't realize they are.

The hives will be far from the house, behind the garden so no one 

should be inadvertently walking past them but we will make

sure the kids know to keep their distance and not to 

aggravate them by jumping and swatting at them.

Hopefully next year we will have honey!

This is block 8 of The Splendid Sampler hosted by 

Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson.  I will say that this one

went nicely, I liked the block and I tried to choose

colors that would go well with each other.

The purple, green and orange are all in the yellow

fabric with hints of green too.  

There are 100 blocks, 2 per week except for holidays.

I will admit I am not an expert at any of this so the

skill building is welcome.

I liked the embroidery although my poor bear must 

be related to the Coneheads!  I will probably trim this

out in the 30's material so it fits in with the other blocks.

I used needle turn applique here but I sure wish I 

would have used templates for the flowers!

I am going to order Perfect Circles and may as well

throw in Perfect Ovals because you just know 

those will be arriving on a pattern within the 

coming year!

Two blocks a week doesn't sound like much, 

unless you work with a one way transit time of an hour

plus trying to take care of things around the house.

I have about 4 hours between arriving home and 

bed so I try to catch up on the weekends.

I have also  had to split my time between this 

and the bees this weekend, getting the hives

ready for the bees which will be here in April.

The tops for the hive were painted yesterday so I'll 

have some photos coming up in the next day or two.

Replacing a Three Way Lamp Switch

It could have been in a mystery novel, 

the ones that start out with 

A Dark and Stormy Night; 

however, it was just plain DARK.

Not from a storm though, it was only the result

of two of the three "ways" being out

so our lamp was stuck on the 50 watt light bulb setting.

By the way, this is one of a pair, our first lamps

purchased over 30 years ago at Central Hardware

in Creve Coeur (St Louis) MO.

They are still going strong after a little repair 

and this time it was my turn to learn

how to replace a three-way light switch.

First you have to visit the hardware store and dig

around in a bin until you find a  three-way switch.

Next you get out your "girl tools" all in the handy dandy case

that was a Christmas present one year.

Most Importantly- UNPLUG THE LAMP

Then you sweep away the cob webs and take off

the thing that holds the shade on.  Remove the shade.

Make sure you keep the screw where it won't get lost or dropped.

Then you pull up the things that help the shade holder

stay in place.  Slide these up on both sides.

They will slide right off so keep it flat and 

away from any floor heat registers!

Then squeeze the two prongs so they release.

Pull off the top part that slides around the 

twisty thing that turns on the light.

(Am I getting too technical here?)

Remove the cardboard tube as well.

There will be two wires wrapped around screws.

Pull the unit up to expose some of the wire.

Unscrew the wires.

You have to remove the piece that everything was 

sitting in.  There may be a little screw to loosen

so you can twist the base until it comes off.

If there is no screw, just twist and remove.

You may want to cut off the ends of the two 

wires and start with fresh ends.  Just clip them off.

Then you will need to remove the wire coating

so if you have a tool that does this, use it.

You will have to find the right hole to use and then

twist the tool to cut into the wire.

Then pull up really hard.

It's really important to know which wire to connect

to which screw so the power does not go the wrong 

way and shock you if you touch the body of the switch.  

The plug has two sides, one will be bigger.

The bigger is a return, which means

it goes to ground so you don't get shocked.

(Volt Ohm Milliammeter)

You can use a digital VOM to see which wire

leads back to the return side of the plug.

If you touch the bigger side of the plug

with one VOM probe and the other probe to one of the two

wires and the readout is zero  (0.00)

you have confirmed it goes to ground.

If it said OL, then you have the wrong wire attached.

If you were to plug it in and touch the metal around

the lamp switch you would get shocked.

To tell which Screw to use, touch the 

VOM probe to the metal base.

The other probe should touch the screw.

If it shows 000 then you attach the wire

from the big plug end onto the screw--

in this case, it is the big end to the screw on the left.  

This means the other wire has to go on the other screw,

the one that is centered in the vertical metal strip 

pictured above.

Once you have the wires screwed in you can 

attach the new cardboard and metal jacket.

Put the new base on the lamp

Slide the top into the base

Pull the wire down so the new switch fits.

Reattach the lamp shade holder, 

screw and shade.

Plug in lamp and hope for the best!!

Disclaimer:  This was my experience, if unsure how to properly change out a lamp switch contact your local electrician.

Four Meals Total Cost $6.50

Our dinners this week will total $6.50 for a nice

crockpot dinner of pork loin, carrots, onions, green beans and potatoes.

We shop the sales, watching for those $0.50 cans of vegetables that 

we purchase in cases and stack in the basement.  Couple that

with fresh vegetable sales and drastically reduced meats that

we vacuum seal and freeze, and we can make a meal that

costs pennies per serving for the two of us.

You don't see much meat in the photo but it started out

about 1 1/2 pounds of meat that has become so tender

that it fell apart, which is  how I like it.

Every day we do added something to the basic meat and 

vegetable mixture, for instance adding flavored vinegar and herbs

or spices to give it a fresh taste.  

We just purchased about 6-7 lbs of hamburger for $12 the other

day at our local grocery (that raises and processes their own cattle).

We weighed it out in one pound increments, vacuum sealed them

and popped them into the freezer.  We now have hamburger for 

around $2.29 per pound as opposed to $4-5 per pound regularly.

My husband is hearing more and more people mention that they are 

starting to shop the sales and stocking it in the basement since prices

are going higher every day.  

So, grow your gardens plus watch for those great sales!

Remember, the expiration dates are Best By dates.  They don't

mean that anything is spoiled as long as the can is in good shape

(don't go past the expiration for infant products though).

I have discussed this with many reverse logistics managers for

very large companies and they all agree, it just tastes better

in year one or two than in year five or six.

We'll be finished with this crock pot dinner by tomorrow which 

is good because, being Catholic, we don't eat meat on Friday, 

in fact we will probably be at the church enjoying the fish fry!

They have catfish, cod, tilapia (one of them is baked) plus shrimp !

And homemade desserts, YUM.

Simple Simon Block 5 The Splendid Sampler

Whew! Finally a block that didn't have me ripping and

resewing.   This one is Simple Simon by Celine Perkins

which is part of The Splendid Sampler mystery quilt along.

My poor multi-heart block sits in pieces on my sewing table until

I am in a better frame of mind.  I just can't line those darned

hearts up  (six of them in a 6 inch block)!!

If you are interested, click on the link and you can join too.

It's a year long project with 100 six inch blocks in the end,

or however many you choose to make. 

There are so many wonderful quilters out there, I am amazed 

at how they take the pattern, use beautiful fabric 

combinations and change it up to their liking- 

all within the "rules."  

We Bee Cleaning Hives

Bee Warned, there will soon bee thousands of bees in these hives! 

As promised, here is a little bit about our latest adventure.

Neighbors used to raise bees but lost their colonies during 

one of our past bad winters.  Raising meat goats was taking

up the majority of their times so they asked if we would like

the old hives to which we replied,  Yes!

It's been a couple of years but we are now ready.

My job was to take everything apart and separate

the good from the bad.  

These are particularly good 

and these are not so good!  We will clean what we can

and toss the rest.

Additionally we see evidence of old wax moths which needs

to be cleaned and steralized along with removing the mouse nest.

These too have to go.  Not that they hurt the bees

but I really don't care for them.  They are wood roaches

and we find them under logs and rocks everywhere here.

A beekeeper friend came out to inspect the hives and thought 

most everything can be salvaged except the worst fame/foundations.

We need to order some equipment plus go get the bees in April.

They will ship the queen but not the full colony which means you have

to go get them-  from St Louis to Des Moines, IA.  That's about six 

hours with bees in your vehicle so I hope they are packaged well.

If everything goes well we will have honey next year!

Wings- Block 2

This is Block 2 from The Splendid Sampler

 These are six inch blocks made from very tiny squares that

are 1 1/2 inches!  It is challenging at best and complicated

by my new cutting mat that has wide grid line every

few inches between pencil thin ones.  I wish I would have

noticed it because it will make your squares just a little

off depending on how you line up the fabric.  Across several

blocks will make a difference, just like a 1/4 and a scant 1/4 inch seam.

I still have to embroider the antennae on the butterflies and then

start to work on Block 3 which is another heart theme but 

set differently.  Along with block 3, only 98 more to go!!

A Clearing in the Garden

It's work time in the garden!

We had unusually high temperatures, reaching mid 70's

Saturday with no rain or snow expected until 

that night, so we took advantage of the break.

We are clearing an area by the garden for our

bees which we will get in April.  I will post

more about that later.

My husband raked the area around the garden 

using his tractor and then we had to pick up all the rocks

that were turned over.  We piled them into the 

four wheeler trailer- this is just the beginning- more

and more came to the surface as he made additional passes.

We should name our place LottaRock since

that's what we have lots of.  It brings a song to mind:

Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top
Dirt's too rocky by far
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top
Get their corn from a jar

We have a lot on our plate with the bees, fencing the garden

against the deer plus creating new flower and herb beds

for the bees to enjoy.

Lyrics link

The Splendid Sampler 100 Blocks

I have started a new quilting project with a Facebook group,  The Splendid Sampler hosted by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson.  We will be making

100 blocks, each six inches and using various quilting methods, 

some way out of my comfort zone.

This is our first block, Hearts Aflutter, which is 

one of the "out of my comfort zone" blocks

since I have almost no experience with applique.

This is the back stitch method where you draw the

applique shape on the back of the base piece

Then you pin the material for the applique

to the front.  You then stitch around the 

applique outline on the back using an unknotted 

running stitch.  Trim the applique material about 1/8 away from the

stitched edge.  Let your block sit for at least a 

few hours so the stitches will "take" and the fabric

will turn easily when you fold the edges under.

Remove a few running stitches at a time and 

make tiny stitches to hold the applique piece to the base.

I have a notebook where I keep my pattern in a plastic sleeve

along with my six inch block, until I get a few of them,  Then I 

will likely transfer them to a separate container until time to 

assemble the quilt- about a year from now since we will have

two blocks per week except during holidays.

Our next block is by Jane Davidson entitled Wings. I'll am using 

1930's fabrics so I'll spend time selecting just the right ones to 

show off the little butterflies made from half square triangles and

embroidered with tiny antennae!  

We also have some bonus projects, one of which I am binding now.  

I will certainly keep busy!

Hopefully during the quilting I can use my new sewing foot 

for the Baby Lock Jane.  It is a special foot used with templates

and rulers to make wonderful shapes such as flowers, snowflakes, 

scallops and feathers!  I need to try then on some practice pieces

that I can make into mug rugs or place mats.

I hope you all are having fun out there!  We are looking at 

good weather this weekend so it will be spent outside 

cleaning up the hives so we can start out bees this

spring.  If all goes well we have a few thousand

bees flying around the garden this year!

Tubs of Trash

Tubs of trash:  cans, glass bottles, plastics, paper and more nestled in bins that are stacked in the back of the Jeep with no place to go!  Our recycling center  has announced that they will no long accept our tub of mixed product that is typical of single stream. Rather, they will concentrate on paper, buying aluminum and other metals that are more profitable.  You can still drop off paint, TVs and appliances for a charge.

So no matter how hard you try to keep the environment clean, it always boils down to money.  They were not making enough on single stream.  

This means we will try and take our tubs to the next town, if they will allow us to use their facility.  It also means we now have to sort everything which would not be bad if we had only a single tub but we are taking at least three large tubs.   If this center won't let us in, we'll have to think of another plan.

We stopped our trash pickup long ago since we recycled about 90% of our trash.  We burned paper (kleenex, paper towels, food packaging) in the incinerator which left us to deal with jar lids and light bulbs.  Why they make us purchase these special handing light bulbs without recycling areas, I have no clue.  They just end up in the trash.

I suppose we will have to talk to the trash man and see about getting service again. This means hauling our trash down to the main road and the empty cans back up the hill that night.  If you put plastic bags down there the strays and woodland animals tear it up, 

unless you keep any food product out.  That is a thought.

So, as well meaning as we have been, we may need to change our approach.

It's a shame.