• Tag Archives water feature
  • Bee Diary Supplemental

    Summer                                     Full Grandchildren Moon

    Kate’s made the woodenware for Artemis Hives.  Dave Schroeder suggested we mark each piece with the year made.  As we start eliminating frames and hive boxes on a five year cycle, we’ve got the record right on the box.  This year, with no marks, will be 2010.  Next year she’ll start marking them year by year.

    Kate and I have been investigating honey extracting equipment.  It’s not cheap, but it’s not break the bank expensive either.  We have to have a certain level of equipment to lw-pwr-extractorget from honey supers to bottled honey, most of which will go in canning jars, but some will go in fancy jars as gifts or to sell at a farmer’s market.  This is the next to last phase of beekeeping and one still new to me.  The last phase of beekeeping comes after the honey extraction.  The colonies will need inspection for varroa mites and nosema before late fall.  Doing this stuff is also new to me, but I have to learn at some point.

    (this is one unit we’re considering right now.)

    We had a designer come out to discuss a water feature for our patio area.  He showed us some brochures, talked with us a bit and recommended a pondless solution.  Sounds great to me.  Once you’ve had a swimming pool, you know the hassle pond maintenance brings in its trail.  This one has a pump and running water filtered through sand and rock.  It’s not cheap, however, so we’ll have to decide.

    Roasting a chicken.  Brenda Langton suggested some meat, chicken or lamb or turkey, made at the beginning of the week, serving as a meal entre, then as sandwich or salad fixings, finally boiled in a soup.  It’s a nice, straightforward way to plan a week, easy, too.


  • Getting the Week Underway

    Summer                                               Full Grandchildren Moon

    Vega the wonder dog update.  Now the focus shifts to Vega.  Who has learned to open the patio door, both ways, with a quick twist of her super strong neck.  Last night Kate and I sat outside reading and talking, a pleasant evening.  Vega looked inside, saw her sister Rigel and Kona waiting to come outside.  She did what any nice big sister would do.  She went over and opened up the door, letting the two out.  Of course, like most three year olds she does not close the door.

    Hilo goes into the vet today to get her kidney values.  We have a little bit of hope that her condition will have improved since her physical.  Not likely, but she does seem to feel better now than she has.

    Working at memorizing verb conjugations while I’m off the weekly chapter preparations.  Took a yellow tablet to the nightstand last night, reading the perfect tense endings just before I went off to sleep.  Sure enough, I dreamed of Julius Caesar and the Appian Way.  No.  But, I do think I remembered the perfect tense endings. We’ll see later in the week.

    At 2pm today a designer from Mickman’s comes by to give us an estimate on a water feature for the two patio areas where we’ve had trouble keeping plants alive.  I want something simple, two-levels, with enough noise to shut out the minimal traffic noise from Round Lake Boulevard.  Hard to say what the cost will be until he looks at the site.

    (you know.  something like the pic. just kidding.)

    Now outside for a bit more weeding in the cool of the morning, then preparations for my tour tomorrow morning.  China, my favorite.