jdmidwest

You can refill the propane canisters from a bulk tank and save some money. Last ones I bought, a 2 pack was around 5 bucks. Don't know what the equivalent would be propane bottles vs gal of Coleman fuel. Less mess. I have a little alcohol burner when I want to pack light and just heat some water. I would not pack a propane cylinder in a backpack and trip off thru the woods.

Did a little float on the Castor today, it was in the upper part of the river. My buddy and his family were in a Mad River canoe and I had the yak. First run produced a large sycamore obstacle portage. The rest of the float was low and dragging, even in the yak. Spring rains have been nice, but the water table is still low. Fishing was slow to fair. Some dinks, longears, voracious green sunfish. Nothing large. Smallies were skittish, striking short. We did see 2 of the bounty fish as we floated over them. Sores on the back and a yellow algae coated piece of plastic dragging along side of them. Small fish about 10". We got to the nice hole that has all of the new signs to "Release a Fighter" on the trees to find a nice new huge house being built and alot of gravel work done. Enough gravel and some concrete to revert the course of the river back to an old channel on the west side of the river along an old bluff. It cuts about 20 minutes off the float and dewatered a swimming hole used by campers at a near by resort. Conversations with the locals verified the stream diggings as legit. It was approved and planned by the Corps of Engineers and Jefferson City. Lots of new gravel washing downstream, about a 1/4 mile of stream bed that is just bare gravel and dozer tracks now, one bank completely destroyed. Thanks city boys.... Did I mention how much I love how the management is taking care of a stream I have fished for about 40 years...

Dang ole coleman fuel is running about 10 bucks now. I will stick with propane unless I need to travel light.

Yea, who knows. I had the B&W tv with an antenna that picked up CBS and NBC, party line telephones that we had to interrupt if we needed to use phone, and no 4x4 on the farm at all. Those days were alot simpler and more relaxing.

I don't know if you ever build up an immunity. I think with experience, you learn what not to do with them. And you get used to the pain, And you learn the trick of how to get the stinger out without mashing the poison sac to get a good dose. You learn to move slower and give them a chance to get out of the way. But I had been swatting mosquitoes and gnats so my first instinct was to swat, that turned it madder. It was close to dark the other night and I did not have protective gear on. They get more defensive as light goes dim. But I thought it would not be a problem, most on the feeders are hive bees that have not converted to field flyer bees. They tend just to crawl around and I just brushed 3 off the feeder lid. This one knew how to use its wings, and stinger.

Gavin, that works on wasp stings pretty good, but I have not seen much effect on bees. I use the little pouches and I shoved one in my ear that I had in my mouth. Did not seem to help. Ice seemed to work.

I still have to buy my own honey.

Musta said something the NSA did not like to hear.

Yeah to me, fifty today! Started the morning with one ear swelled shut from a onry little bee last night. Gonna have to soak in barley and hops today to get rid of the pain. And of course, Happy Birthday to our Independence. Seems like we are losing more of it all of the time. Fly a flag, eat some bbq, and watch some big bangs tonight. And remember those guys that risked it all years ago when they signed the Constitution making our great country what it is today.

Found a new level of pain yesterday, got stung in the ear hole. Whole side of face and ear swelled up today.

Nope, just one little ole rambo bee with a grudge.

We have a local club that meets once a month. It is headed by the Beekeeper of the Year in MO, Grant Gillard. Great guy, pastor of the church we hold meetings in. It is a very informal club, but has a great bunch of people. Great place to bounce ideas around and keep up with what is going on. I have a mentor, an 88 year old fellow that has been keeping bees for about 50 years, he is alot of help. And I remembered the basics from my grandfather when he used to keep bees. I have just been going for about a year now this month. I just doubled my hive count this month and am actually ahead of what I planned to be at now. Weather keeps up I may make another split or two for a couple of more. I will start moving them out to the country later this summer and start scattering them around on some of the family farms. I have access to over a thousand acres on just the immediate family farms, so I have plenty of room to grow. Many of them are begging me to bring the hives over so they can watch them. It is just a hobby for now, still trying to decide to go sideline or full blown in the business. I have never met a rich beekeeper or one that did not have another source of income for support. But it is good, fun, honest work that gives you alot of reward.

I am suffering from the cost of doing this new little hobby of mine. I went thru the hives on Sat. and did alot of work on them without a sting. There were 2 bees that were really mad and chased me around the yard with my suit on, dive bombing my face mask. I did the usual, walked away from the hives a good distance to where they normally lose interest in me. Those 2 suckers kept at and one got the clapping hands and a good stomping. The other gave up. Sunday around noon, I walked down and checked in on the girls. All of a sudden, there was this buzzing in my ear. Then it bounced off my hair, which usually ends in entanglement and a sting, but I dodged it. I went running back up the hill with that buzzing noise still loud in my ears waving my cap at it. Around the pine trees and what should have been safety, then it hit me. Fire shot into my finger. I looked and pulled out the poison sac, then the barbed stinger. He still made a few more whacks on me but he was disarmed. The finger started swelling and I applied the sting relief. By the afternoon, the whole finger was swelled tight and throbbing past the knuckles into my hand. Here is what I have today, looks like a huge blood blister. It itches like the dickens and I still can't bend the finger.

I spoke with a couple of the employees and was wondering why they were not carrying certain items. Both stated that they did not receive as much stock as they had ordered because they were not expecting the store to perform like it did. They did a pretty soft start with only some TV and a mailer with a $10 off any apparel or shoe purchase. The parking lot was packed every time I was there. Grand opening is slated for the weekend of July 15. I had never been in one, but had always heard good things. When I checked the website, they are offering free shipping on all orders over $39 too. That shipping kills me on ordering alot of stuff, that alone is a big plus. They were out of some of the things I was looking for. They had 22lr, but it was limit of one box. About everyone was getting the one box, which on Sat. was a 50rd box. Bricks were gone on Fri. That is some of the first 22lr in the area since Nov. that is normal price unless you can catch it at Wally World when a truck delivers.

Look around your area, there should be a local guy near you. Check out farmers market next month as keepers will be bottling soon.

Yes, it is in Cape Girardeau by Sams and Kohls.

Academy Sports opened on Fri. locally here. First trip in was to buy a Heritage 10' sit on top and a Malone Yak Stacker 2. They are not stocked up fully yet, so I walked away with the Yak Stacker and some lures. Went to town last night for supper and decided on treating myself to a 50 year Bday present and walked out with a Lowrance Max 4 fishfinder and gps. I came home to install and realized that I did not get the one I wanted. Went back today and exchanged it for the one I was looking at, Max 4 DSI that went on sale for $30 less last night. Picked up an Ezset 10x10 canopy for about $44 while I was at it. This area has sucked for sporting goods. We have nice gun shops. We have a great fishing store that stocks what you need or can order BPS stuff. But,. for the niche, Academy seems to fill the bill. I wonder what the rest of the store has to offer. I have only seen a portion of it.

Academy Sports opened on Fri. locally here. First trip in was to buy a Heritage 10' sit on top and a Malone Yak Stacker 2. They are not stocked up fully yet, so I walked away with the Yak Stacker and some lures. Went to town last night for supper and decided on treating myself to a 50 year Bday present and walked out with a Lowrance Max 4 fishfinder and gps. I came home to install and realized that I did not get the one I wanted. Went back today and exchanged it for the one I was looking at, Max 4 DSI that went on sale for $30 less last night. Picked up an Ezset 10x10 canopy for about $44 while I was at it. This area has sucked for sporting goods. We have nice gun shops. We have a great fishing store that stocks what you need or can order BPS stuff. But,. for the niche, Academy seems to fill the bill. I wonder what the rest of the store has to offer. I have only seen a portion of it.

Last night we were watching a preview for a new show on Nick. White family moves into a house that it haunted by 3 ghosts. I said "look, 3 spooks" and was tongue lashed because they were 3 black persons portraying ghosts. And one of them seems to be a cross dresser and the homophobe came out in the conversation too.

Honey will be sold here locally when I get it. Trust me, you tell someone you have bees, the honey is the first thing they ask for. Honey production is alot of work. You pull the supers at the right time when they cap them. Then you have a short time to uncap it, spin it out of the comb, filter and bottle it, label it, then sell it. I am honestly looking at the other side of the business, production of bees. There is a good market for bees, queens, and other starter stuff. Bees are catching on and many new persons are getting info it.

One week later after splitting the hives, the queens have settled in and the new hives are doing well. The parent hives are no worse for the loss of bees either, the queens are busy making the replacements. Plenty of rain this summer, things are green and blooming. Bees should have a banner season this year unless it turns dry later.

I have only puttered in my new to me Tracker Pro 17 with a 35hp. I have not gotten to run it full throttle since the test drive at a private resort. All of the lakes I have had it in are 10 hp limits. Puttering the boat seems to load up the carb somewhat and may foul some. The 10 hp limit has always puzzled me, a boat running on plane does not create much wake. But a big boat puttering makes some waves. And a 9.9 on any boat running full throttle will put out more waves than a boat on full plane because a 9.9 will never really trim out. I know most lakes that have the limits are small ones that would be pretty dangerous running on plane if you did not know where the stumps lie. Some areas do it because the waves create erosion on levees or banks.

This little hobby may amount to an income in a few years. Honey sales. Queen bee production. Nuc sales. Looking to a retirement project.

Picked my first cucumbers today. One mountain fresh table tomato and several grape tomatoes. Corn is about waist high. Squash is starting to bloom. Plenty of moisture this year. Looking at a cool spell this weekend. Okra is foundering like last year. Beans are not doing much, growing slow. At least the rabbits are leaving them alone. They keep the lettuce bed mowed down short. It is in another part of the yard next to the house. I used to have fun with the ground hogs. They don't call them whistle pigs for nothing. Catch them out in a row, whistle and they stand up real pretty for a head shot.

This heat has the girls out on the front porch for some air the last few days. It is called bearding, a big wad of bees outside the hive. Normally they are inside maintaining the temps of the brood, fanning the honey to dry it out, or other duties. With the heat, they come out for some air as they are not needed for those duties. New queens are released and the new hives are coming along. 2 are strong, 2 may need some reinforcement this weekend. I will probably move a few more frames of brood into them to build their numbers.