jdmidwest

Fighting the crowds, sweating my sack off, bugs, fighting the crowds, dog days of summer. My time outdoors are best spent before Memorial Day and after Labor Day. Let the herd have their time for 3 months. I will take my 9. And my vacation time off will be during that time. Not that I don't take advantage of any opportunity. Gonna do some Night Fishing on Pickwick tomorrow. If the moon and thunderstorms co-op.

Anymore, Crackheads are more of a threat than bears. They are everywhere and not afraid. Bears will think twice unless something is bothering them. Good luck, I wish I was there. Been thinking about another trip since recovery.

Clover was good this year, light sweet honey. Usually the farm produces a thicker, darker honey from a mixture of wild flowers.

Too late. Just got done, 11 gallons. I still have the rest of the hives to do this week or next.

I plant a few every year for kids. Usually just Sunsugar, Grape, Cherry, and a couple of Better Boy. I will eat a Sunsugar from Time to time, but not a big tomato fan. Don't use them much around house.

A turtle could sit his front legs on the bottom rung and eat away. Possums eat alot of tomatoes, caught them in the act. I don't think it is a squirrel on a big mater. Too big of a bite. Feed them some corn if you think squirrel. Spray some fungicide, looks like you have an issue on the leaves.

Spoonbills like the beans. Maybe they will get them in the ground.

If they had lights on, They Could Have Been Seen. How about night vision, that stuff is getting cheaper now.

What makes you think squirrel on that one?? Have you seen them do it? Put out some ears of corn and they will leave the maters alone. I seldom have a problem with maters and squirrels, I have seen them work the smaller ones like the cherry and grape. But they pluck them and carry them off whole. Mainly when it gets dry in late summer. I would probably blame that on a turtle or possum. Game cameras and some kind of death tool to fix the problem would be my best suggestion.

I will know by the end of next week. I pulled about 8 gallons off the 3 hives at the farm Sat. I split 2 of them into 2 new hives. Honey extraction equipment just got set up in my kitchen and I will spin out that batch tomorrow after work. I will pull honey off of 5 hives at the other spot this week if the weather clears. Not sure how much they have on them. The others were started this year from my wintered hives. Taking bees to make splits early cuts into the honey production. So does a swarm, I know one hive did that. But I caught the swarm and it is growing well. A well managed hive in a good year should produce at least 5 gallons of honey. The farm has mostly pasture and trees for the bees to collect. The other spot has some crops nearby. Weather has been good this year, flowers are still blooming and stuff is green. Last year, June was a drought and bees used honey instead of storing it. July greened up and they stored up well for the winter and all but one of my hives over wintered well and came out strong.

Inflation.....

My kinda man. Got to have a little release.

How was that salty aftertaste???

Jupiter will be the bright one on the right of the moon, Saturn will be to the lower left of the Moon. 50 Years Ago, We sent a man to that big ole Moon. Lots of TV about that.

30 mph in a boat at night can still tear stuff up. Did anyone say why they did not have lights on??

The best ones are the ones you meet paddling back up stream.

A little JB Weld should seal that crack in the ducer.

White Claw?? Was heading to our Private Creek this afternoon to cool off after working bees and met a car on our 1/4 mile private road. They said they were meeting someone there to swim. Seems like the idiot new neighbor has been inviting all to trespass against us. Grandkid made short work of them with the whistling bottle rockets. He aimed for the cars. I work all week with the public, I don't need it on my privates.

White is the color of the year this year. Picked up a gallon of latex barn paint in white for a change, thinking it would cover better. Turns out to be a 3 coat paint, don't know how it will hold up. My hives are turning out to be a mix and match of colors from the mis tint stuff I pick up on clearance. Cedar and the clear coat stain seems to hold up the best. I wish I still could get the cedar, it was a bargain. I have 8 boards left and will probably use them to make some more. Pine does not hold up as well. Made some new hive covers this week. 5 new nuc hives to start new one. I have to make some bottom board and new deep hives when I get a chance in the coming weeks. I have another round of equipment on order.

Busy day today. Worked the bees at the farm in the 90 degree heat. Spent last Sunday doing Chores and wasted most of the day on the farm doing other stuff. Started working on the 3 hives and was trying to straighten one up that was leaning and it came back on me. I was able to catch it with my knee and forearm. Fully loaded with bees and 2 full honey supers, it out weighs me about 60 lbs. I was able to work it back on the rack and proceeded to work the hives. Jolting a hive like that unleashes a cloud of angry bees and I was fighting thru the mess. I looked at my arm and noticed my suit was turning red on my arm. The hive had tore a nice jagged 3 corner tear on my forearm. I was done, bailed out and patched myself up. The radiation and extreme weight loss resulted in my skin ageing prematurely. It is thin as paper and gets tore easy. And it oozes blood profusely. Today worked out fine. Bushogged off in front of hives. Made another rack for more hives. Pulled about 7 gallons of honey supers. Split 2 hives to make new ones bringing my hive count to 16. Sweated thru 2 layers of clothing and almost suffered a heat stroke. Sprayed roundup around the hives to keep grass down. Then jumped in the creek and cooled off. Good day, no stings thru the suit. Tomorrow is planned for the other hives. I should make 4 splits easy off the ones I split in May and round out the year with 20. And have more honey off the 6 producer hives here. I will have the rainy days predicted from the hurricane coming ashore to spin out the frames and extract. Busy week this week.

Mouse Holes or Moles. Maybe yellow jackets. My favorite thought when someone sees a hole in the ground, snake hole. Snakes will use holes made by others but not many dig. Rodents have diggers.

I like Stellarium. PC app. I have Skyeye on the phone. Works when I am out in boonies.

It would have to be really close to see it here tonight. Thunderheads at 10,000 ft. I met a pro last year that has an observatory built into the side of his house. I asked about light pollution, he lives in the middle of town. Seems like with new digital stuff, you can get around that problem. He has some great pics.

Hot humid day here. Lots of bees hanging outside. These hot, humid days move them out of the hive so they can regulate the temp better inside. Stormy out too, so the forage bees are back at hive too. I have been building new hives and boxes, putting together frames, and getting ready to harvest honey. I hope the weather holds up and the humidity goes down with this front. It will make that job easier.

Amazing. My last time up last fall, the local pro shops call it a Crappie Lake. They don't even bother to carry any bass lures, said I could find them at Walmart. I had a sneaky suspicion that the green fish I was catching may have been bass.