I like weeds

I scattered a lot of wild flower seeds around this summer. Not sure if this is one of them or not. There were a few interesting, unusual wildflowers. I'd say 98% didn't come up. This box of seeds obviously did not adhere to the "growing like a weed" philosophy. I'm definitely going to till first next year before sewing the seeds (I know: "duh!"). We had a bumper crop of black eyed susans but I can't take credit for those.

Enjoy it while you can!

Wow! These guys are really hungry! They even pester me in the yard. It really unnerves the family. The hummingbird has given up. This must be why the feeder only cost $2. Defective design - no doubt.

Close Encounter with Red Tailed Hawk

I saw this red tailed hawk on the side of the road. Not sure why he was just hanging out there.

Bike to work? Is it far?

I am actually considering this! It could be fun to have a bike at work. Handy too! And it's free! It is about an 18 minute walk from the bike lockers to the building I work in. Here's half way - looking back:

But, it is a pretty walk/ride.

Is this okay?

What is the deal with the sugar water lately?! They are sucking down a liter in a single evening. If I put it out after work, it is gone when I get up in the morning. They are also a bit more hostel. I feel the need to gear up to simply change the sugar water. Today, it has been 6 days since I added the new hive body IN BETWEEN the old hive body and honey super. I checked the new hive body. There was a decent amount of bees on it but they weren't doing anything with it. No comb buildup and certainly no eggs or larvae. You might guess they were simply traversing it to cap the honey in the super I moved it (as it was mostly capped).

I didn't get into the main hive body as I was trying not to disturb them too much. OKAY, it did do one thing: I robbed on half of a frame of the capped honey. We just got a taste of it last time and were left wanting! This time, I got plenty! We ate until we were sick of it (which didn't take as long as we thought it would). This was the good peach orchard honey! Anyone know if this is considered MUCH worse than pulling the supers at harvest time? I scrapped one side of a super frame with my hive tool and put it back dripping honey. I also sprinkled powered sugar on the new hive body hoping to attract them into that section more as well as pay them back for the honey (no hard feelings?)

The pic wasn't worth it (Got stung adding sugar water last night)

There were a lot of bees on the feeder when I pulled it. I thought it'd be a good picture so I was trying to hold the bee covered feeder in one hand and take a picture with the other. No gear, of course. Before I could get it framed up, I had made a mistake - I crushed one in the feeder. My fault! That triggered their attack response! That would be sting #4 of the year. Funny - didn't hurt - but it DID open up my lungs! The venom is an anti-inflammatory and causes a steroid to be produced by the body. Still, I prefer the inhaler for asthma.

This is the wrong way to do this - eh?

The bees were pretty crowded. I added a super and they started working on that but they were still crowded and they looked like they were honey bound. (I had a queen excluder on the super). After sampling the honey in the super and realizing they had pollinated the peach orchard a half mile away, I was determined NOT to give them that honey back! (It was unbelievably yummy!) So I decided to insert another hive body in between the 1st hive and the super. If this were not disruptive enough, I had a couple of frames stick to the honey super. They were ticked! The next morning, I looked very early and there were NO bees in the entrance. I hadn't seen it like that lately. I popped the case and saw them. Again - they were irritated and started emerging. It had dropped to 58 degrees and I guess they were cold AND they now had lots of room. That was Sunday. They're still there so I guess I made it. I was afraid they were going to swarm on me (like last year). they are sucking down the sugar water. I ran out yesterday and forgot to add more. They went exploring and found my wife's hummingbird feeder. They're all over it! Ha! I told her they'll keep her busy now. They drink a liter a day!