The first week of May

May was one of those months that had so many events in it, I decided the only way to get through it was to do only what was necessary.  Take one week at a time, and prepare for the event that was going on during that week.  I barely had time to breathe, let alone blog. 

 I blogged Mom's 80th birthday celebration, which was the beginning of the month, and I blogged the end of the month, with the passing of my Mother in Law.  But there was a whole lotta in between stuff that happened.  Sometimes when I would wake up in the middle of the night, I would get out my phone and read some of your blogs.  Today, I had some time....and I decided to blog, but I didn't know where to start.  I had a couple of other posts ready, but didn't like them much.

 So I got out my calendar and decided to start at the beginning of the month, and work my way through to the end.  June is here....and it's going to get busy too, but hopefully, a lot happier.

Starting with Friday, May 1st, which happens to be" First Friday" in downtown Kokomo, and the last Friday ever that Beth's studio would be open.  We spent a lot of time in her studio over the last year,  and I went almost every "First Friday" and hung out there.

During May's  first Friday, my friend Debbie and I went.

(this is Debbie at my house.  She came over to learn how to make a flower, and sew a lining in a bag she made for her Granddaughter.)

We decided to go shopping for a little bit at this new store downtown called "The Jitterbug" and they sell fun, funky, vintage kind of houseware type stuff.  

 Well...when we were there we saw Frank Sinatra!  And funny thing, when my friend, Teresa, and I were in Vegas, we were wondering if he was still alive.  Well he was, or is, because he was in The Jitterbug singing Frank Sinatra music.

A very bittersweet evening, since we knew it would be the last time in Beth's studio, but fun times downtown.

The next day our family went to Ty's first Birthday party.  

Ty is my Great Nephew.

 He was a little fussy.

 My sis in law and I decided to have a brewski.

 Andrew (my nephew) and Duke (my brother/Andrew's Dad)

 The birthday boy with is ma and pa.  My niece and her husband.

 A selfie with my sister and niece.

Mom with her Granddaughter and Great - Grandson!

Dylan, the birthday boy's sister! (my great niece)

It just happened to be the day of the Kentucky Derby so we had a little bit of betting going on.  

And our family won!  American Pharoah!!!  

IF ONLY WE KNEW THEN WHAT WE KNOW NOW!

The Winner Circle!

(Cindy, Taylor, Theresa, Lorri, Tom - Taylor put her name down after I snapped the chart. Bets were only $1.00 and we had to split it, so I think we all got 6 or 7 dollars.)

Monday of that week some of us met at Red Lobster for my cousin Vickie's birthday,

 

Next was

Mom's 80th birthday celebration, 

which I already posted about.  Just click on 

Mom's 80th birthday celebration (two lines up) if you want to read about it!

And of course, the next day was Mother's Day.

But we had a lot of partying that week, especially the night before, so I just had Mom over for simple sandwiches, fruit, veggies, and dessert.

 Strawberry shortcake!  Tis the season.

 The bag came from The Jitterbug store.  

That ended that week, except I want to show you....I did take time to smell the lilacs!

No, we don't have money growing on trees.  We gave Mom a money, lilac bouquet for her birthday!

 And yes I really did take time to smell the Lilacs.

 After celebrating Mother's Day with Mom, we went to see Dave's Mom.  At that time she was okay.  Not great, but in rehab complaining about her lousy dinner! (it was lousy - hot dogs and crusty baked beans) so we knew she was feeling okay.  And she did like the hand warmers I made for her!  Fastest pair of hand warmers I ever made! 

 Her hands were always cold, even after the stroke.  So we put them on her after the stroke.

 Oh, and during that week, I did get a swarm of bees, so now I'm up to three hives.

Yes May was a busy month....this was only the first week.....

Coming up.....

a bridal shower, AND

a bachelorette party! 

Cindy Bee

PS - Click here to see our finished breezeway!

A Swarm Lesson - read it even if you aren't interested in bees....to educate yourself! You could get a swarm whether you want one or not!

 I've received three calls in the last two weeks to come and get "swarms".  I don't usually bother in the fall, unless people touch my 'sympathy nerve'.  Here's why...most of the calls are not honey bees (see post before this one), they are usually yellow jackets, and most swarms are about the size of your fist in the fall.  Not big enough to make it through the winter and not worth my time.

One call on Saturday was from a guy who is doing construction work and "cannot continue until the bees are gone".  And it was only three miles from our home, so I went.  On the phone he said the swarm darkened the sky, it was like a huge cloud.  I said that is unusual for this time of year.  This is what I saw when I got there.  

 Honey Bees were flying in and out of this hole. 

 

I'm wondering where the swarm is, so I asked...and found out...."it was huuuuggge"....."in June."  Peeps, if you see a swarm of bees land somewhere, In JUNE, call your local extension office in JUNE, IMMEDIATELY, and get the name of a beekeeper to come and get the swarm. If you don't have an extension office, call the police dept., fire dept., local beekeeping association, etc.  How do you know if it's a swarm of bees....it does look like a dark cloud flying quickly across the sky, and when it lands, it's usually the size of a football. Watch where it lands and make a call.

Here's the thing about swarms.  They don't usually bother you if you don't bother them.  The swarm will stay where it lands anywhere from three hours to three days. Then it moves on.  It could go into the house it landed on, into your house, a barn, a dead tree, you get the idea.  But once they get in the house, they are hard to get out without tearing the house apart.  These bees are flying in this hole, but after removing the osb wall, we saw no sign of a hive.  You know why?  Because they are much smaller than a human, and newsflash, they can fly.  That hive can be anywhere in the attic or walls at this point.  They might fly in this hole, but who knows how far back they go.  They've been building a hive since June in this house!  There could be 60-80 pounds of honey in that house!

He asked if he could kill them.  Sure...go ahead....if you can find them.  Then, next year, plan on killing wax moth.  Click on wax moth for pics.   Because once you have an unprotected hive, wax moth will move in.  Ask a beekeeper.  Ask my friend Marcia.  Ask you, since you've read this!  Your local exterminator knows this, but he probably won't share that information.  But when he leaves he'll hand you his business card with a smile, "in case you have any more problems".  He knows you will....you now have an empty hive in your house. I don't know the people that owned this house, but you can tell by the way they take care of their house, they are very lax about things.  They should have made the phone call in June.  I left.

The second call, which came within ten minutes of the first call, was from a man who owns a local excavating business.  He keeps my name and number on hand, because every now and then he tears down a house that has a hive in it.  He doesn't usually know the house has a hive in it, until it's on the ground, which is unfortunate.  You can see a post here from another time he called me to get some honey bees. 

 This trip was not as successful as the last time.  This is all the bees that were left.  Not worth driving to the other side of town.  I picked them up and put them in a box, but there weren't enough bees to mess with really.  And NOTE that the owner of the excavating business is not the owner of the house.  And the owner of the house had no idea that the owner of the excavating business called a beekeeper. When I got there the homeowner said, "what a great idea."  But when one of the people hanging around said, (use your doofus voice here) "yeah, a couple uh weeks ago those bees started coming at us so we sprayed 'em.  Think we coulda killed the queen then?"  I left.

I wasted my entire day.  Those "swarms" which weren't swarms at all, were in different counties, and on opposite sides of town.  Not worth the trip.  When you call a beekeeper to get a swarm, educate yourself, make sure it is a swarm.  And guess who else learned a lesson or two here?  Me.

Go here and here for real swarm stories or to see what a swarm looks like.

Cindy Bee

The Center of the Swarm

This is honey in it's purest form. You'll never taste anything sweeter or better than this! Mmmmm I want some right now!

But the reason for this post is to show you this.....I was pulling frames yesterday, getting ready to extract honey, and right after I pulled a couple of frames, the hive I was working in started swarming. Look at the little dots flying all around me.


I grabbed my camera and started snapping pics, but it's hard to see what you are taking pictures of with a bee hat and veil on and it's hard to push the picture button with bee gloves on. I managed a few.


Very amazing to be in the middle of this. I don't think I've ever been in the center of a swarm in the ten years that I've been beekeeping.

Not one sting either....as I've said before, honeybees tend to be gentle while swarming.

This is a small swarm. And not worth breaking my neck to get to. Unfortunately, swarms in the fall tend to not be worth getting unless you have an empty hive full of honey and frames. Most beekeepers do not.

Anyway, I thought you might enjoy being in the center of a swarm!

Cindy Bee