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  • Bee Log: Stardate 64

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Partial Inspection: Day 64

    Time: 10:30am

    Weather: 82

    Blooming: Crepe Myrtle

    Combs:
    Long story short, on day 49 I inspected a comb (bar 3) and it fell over and broke off the bar. It sucked. I wired it back up using wire, which didn’t go well. In the meantime, I ordered a smoker since mine had never shown up, and it’s pretty great. It’s making everything a lot easier.

    Been feeding them up to three times a day – I just opened the hive today, removed all the wire. Busting up that comb slowed them down a lot. I’ve got 17 bars in there and they’re only building on 16 right now. Before/during the process of breaking the comb, I ended up adding another four bars. So we’re at 16 bars, smoker is goo.


    Bee Log

  • “All we hear is, Radio-Ga-Ga” ~ Freddie Mercury

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Great weekend, there was a Rockabilly Revue benefit show last weekend at Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas.

    rr_sons

    Matt the Cat Trio, From Parts Unknown, and Crash on the Barrelhead.  Truly a great time, I wish we had more pictures.

    As a slight aside, my house now has four baby (baby) kittens, five regular kittens, three regular cats, and one stray.  I found out the delineation of a feral and a stray is as such:

    Feral: Not friendly (wild)

    Stray: Friendly (former pet)
    The stray is actually pretty cool. He’s super friendly, I’m getting him fixed and checked for cat herpes on Saturday. The others…..*sigh*.

    After I rescued one baby (weeks old) kitten* I discovered why. Here’s my neighbor’s alcove on the side of her house (taken over the fence) Serious cat-lady syndrome. And no concept of breeding and overrunning the neighborhood with cats.

    cat_platter

    Lastly, I ran into someone recently who did their damndest to be an asshole. I approach most people with an open mind, but I’ve decided it’s okay to not like some people.

    Actively not like.

     

     

    * I’ve now rescued all four baby kittens twice – aside from the one that was randomly left outside the front of my house.


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  • Bee Log: Stardate 44

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    It seems like all I do right now is update my bee log – but I’m really busy with work right now with pretty much zero down time.

    Partial Inspection: Day 44

    Time: 11:30 am

    Weather: 80

    Blooming: Roses, Dewberry, miscellaneous bushes in backyard

    Combs: Wow! Oops! All 10 bars are full of comb! Added two bars, you can see where the original was built, and then they added on because they were running out of room. ……ended up adding another bar on Sunday (Day 45) because by Sunday morning they were building on the two bars I added on day 44. Bad beekeeper!

    daywhatever2

    Swarming: N/A

    Queen Issues: None, she’s out and laying.

    Celebratory Beer: N/A – do that later.

    daywhatever1

     


    Bee Log

  • bee log: stardate 30

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    day30hive

    Inspection: Day 30

    Time: 1:30 PM

    Weather: 81

    Blooming: Yellow Clover, some pink bush in my front yard has blossoms.

    yellowclover

    Combs: Comb on Bars 1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6 small comb on 7 and all straight. After being stung last week, didn’t feel up to a full inspection, just tilted bars. Bees were not exceptionally angry. Need the smoker first (in the mail) before really pulling out comb.

    Swarming: N/A

    Queen Issues: None, she’s out and laying.

    Celebratory Beer: None. I’ve got a cold and don’t feel great.

     

    Notes: After being stung last week, I made sure that my suit was tucked into my shoes. I was wearing black socks last time, which also may have contributed to being a target (white suit with black socks = contrast). I also marked each bar with a number so that it’s easy to count/keep track of the comb. Comb on #1 and #2 is now getting super wide. Since I haven’t been feeling well, I haven’t been refilling the sugar syrup every day. Some days they go through 14oz, some days they don’t even go through half of it, so I leave it there. I had kind of expected that they would continue on this fantastic pace of building comb but they’re still chugging away, and haven’t really filled any more bars. But judging that they’re on track, I’ll continue to feed.

    The bee stings on my foot (actually three of them) I had rubbed while I was sleeping and the absentmindedly scratched while I was waking up and my foot puffed up *yesterday*. It’s back to normal today – note to self, don’t do that.

    Planted some white clover in my front yard as ground cover. Just planted and watered so it will be a while.


    Bee Log

  • Bee Log: Stardate Day 23

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Ow. Okay, so it wasn’t the best plan.  I may have exaggerated when mentioning the term “appropriately cautious”.

    stingers

     

    It’s with some authority that I can now state the following:

    1) Bee stings hurt less than getting a tattoo. Of course, getting a tattoo implies that you’re expecting it to hurt on one part of your body, whereas bee sting locations will be entirely artist driven (aka the bees)

    2) Wearing the appropriate footwear will now be required when attempting to correct some hive behavior. While I knew that wearing vans slip ons wasn’t a great idea, it didn’t turn into a really bad idea until I dislodged some propolis that was holding one of the combs to the bottom of the hive – which REALLY seems to make bees angry. My initial plan was to put some sugar water out and then went into, “Well, while I’m here…” To wit, a suit of armor and a pair of flip flops does not good protection make.

    3) Proving the hard way that you are not allergic to bee stings is not recommended. As I clutched my ankle, crushing the bees that had stung me, I wondered if my profuse sweating, impending dizziness and increased heart rate were a sign that this was not only a bad idea, but a TREMENDOUSLY bad idea. As it turns out, bee venom makes you feel “funny”. Too much funny might kill you.

    4) Saturday afternoon bee stings are worthy of a beer. Cheers!


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  • How to drive traffic to your website via a numbered list AKA Go Viral! AKA the 6 steps to a fulfilling life

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Is it really viral? Or is it the newest version of a chain letter?

     

    1. Come up with a concept that can be numbered ( 86 fluffiest kittens, 24 situations that make you reconsider public hangings, 3 most shameful secrets,etc, etc). Particularly resourceful writers/bloggers will note that the more narrow the topic, the more it leaves opportunity to create other numbered lists. Also, narrow lists create an opportunity for subject matter experts to scoff at any (or all) of your topics.

    2. Brainstorm with as many items as you can muster that are worthy (or not) of including to the list. Odd numbers are encouraged! Don’t feel limited to top 10 or top 100, this is ‘Merica, man, you can do what you want to do!

    3. Add them all to the list, include hot links to other articles and pictures that are relevant (or barely relevant, or not at all relevant). Including pictures that were taken by someone else without giving credit is highly encouraged!*

    DSC01148-001

     

    4. Make at least two to five of the items completely bogus, to drive commentary. “Surely you’re not including THAT kitten are you? He’s not CUTE!”

    5. Leave comments section open and prominently include links to share on social media.

    6. Post on your blog or news aggregator, and bask in all the page hits.

    Congratulations! You’ve gone viral with next to ZERO effort!

    * Sarcasm


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  • Anti-tour Diary – Day 1

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Whooo!! My girlfriend just left on  TOUR! I’m going to CAUSE SOME TROUBLE WHILE SHE’S GONE!!

    hcb_leop

    Dropped her off at the airport, heading to the house, making some plans for tonight….

    0906466
    Yesiree, flying solo. Mmmm-hmmmm!
    Warmed up some shrimp jambalaya, well, I’ll just just check facebook for a minute…..grab a beer….. uh..hey, it’s been almost an hour now.

    revolver

    No time for that, time to PAR-TAY!

    Whoops, cats are hungry. Out of cat food. Driving in the rain, whistling at the opportunities that are heading my way. Whoa! Old lady running the checkout is flirting with me! I know I’ve GOT IT. Whooo!!

    a4s_CHECKOUTCHARITY0902123_11419549_8col

    Make it home and feed the cats – well uh-oh. Dishwasher needs to be emptied, suppose I can handle that before the big night out. Ahh, shoot, better hand wash all these delicate items and bamboo cutting boards. You know what would make this better? Another beer! I’m just warmin’ up!

    Harpoon UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen
    Sayyy, didn’t I DVR Mad Men last night? Need to check that out while I’m….uh….folding laundry? Darn it, didn’t I do that already? I need my work clothes to be clean. Well, beer makes it better (again). What do you think, Don?

     

     

    don-draper-shrug

     

    Check facebook really quick…..darn it, there goes another hour. Wait! A Bee question, I’d better answer this e-mail now –

    IMG_20140501_173211094_HDR

    You know what? It’s getting kind of, erm, late.

    Maybe I should get some rest and try this again tomorrow.

     


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  • Bee Log: Stardate Day 18

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Partial Inspection: Day 18

    Time: 12:30 pm

    Weather: 80

    Blooming: Roses, Dewberry

    Combs: Comb on Bars 1 through 6 and starting on 7. Really was just checking for straightness and cross comb. no issues. Worker brood capped two or three inches at top on bars 3 and 4 and mid bars 5 and 6.

    Plan on different timing, opening up the hive this time got them really irritated.

    Swarming: N/A

    Queen Issues: None, she’s out and laying.

    Celebratory Beer: N/A – do that later.

    bee_day18


    Main

  • “Nobody can describe a fool to the life, without much patient self-inspection” Frank Moore Colby

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Partial Inspection: Day 11

    Time: 9:00 am

    Weather: 76

    Blooming: Roses, Dewberry

    Combs: Comb on Bars 1, 2, 3, 4 and all straight. Worker brood capped two or three inches at top on bars 3 and 4 so queen is laying.
    Plan on different timing, opening up the hive this time got them really irritated. Didn’t pull first bar because they were already really really angry.

    Swarming: N/A although they are bearding outside when it is warmer. When it’s cold they are stuffing themselves into the hive.

    Queen Issues: None, she’s out and laying.

    Celebratory Beer: N/A – do that later.


    Bee Log