Saturday, December 19, 2009

Day Three Hundred Fifty Three...

Okay, so I doubt that many of you could have seen this coming, but if you know me, you also know that NOTHING is outside the realm of possibility. Today I attended my first beekeeping class, and it was really interesting and fun. I had read an article in the Austin American-Statesman a few weeks ago, and thought we might be able to do some beekeeping here at the farm. We have plenty of room, and could not think of any reason not to, and I honestly think it is kind of a natural thing for us to think about. I was concerned that there may not be enough flowering plants to sustain bees, but the Instructor (Konrad) said the bees would be perfectly happy with the grasses and things that we have around here. I think we are going to put in an area of wildflowers anyway, not so much for the bees (although I am certain it could not hurt) but for our own enjoyment as well. It should be interesting.

The photo above is of the (from left to right) the Instructor Konrad, then Phoebe (who has taken classes before), Linda (who is a friend of our friend Dawn), Phoebe's husband (I can't remember his name and if they are not married, then they are at least really close friends), Jennifer, ME and Alan (an engineer, but I won't hold that against him). It was a three hour class, and part of the time was spent actually going to a hive (he called it a training hive) not far from his office. That is what the second photo is of. Konrad had actually taken the hive apart, layer-by-layer and exposed the more activity of the bees. As you go deeper into the hive, there is more activity. I expect you will all get pretty tired of the bee trivia that will be forthcoming in the next several months. Anyway, if you want any honey, you will need to put up with the trivia rants!

So, after the beekeeping class, I came back to the house and got Jody and we went into Georgetown and had lunch at Chick-Fil-A...basically just so I could have another one of their cookies-and-creme milk shakes. DELICIOUS. After that, we took a drive into Austin to do one piece of shopping, and on the way home we stopped at Sprouts in Round Rock for one more specific piece of shopping. Weird though, we have been able to get Cinnamon-Raisin bread from Sprouts ONCE and every other time we have tried, they have been out. I am trying to decide if the shortage is of raisins of Cinnamon? Not sure.

Anyway, we are home now, and looking forward to a quiet evening (I think). There is a possibility we may head into Bartlett for dinner, but I actually think we are both pretty full from the late afternoon lunch we shared.

Tomorrow will be a day to feed the cattle, and I am considering moving the cattle from the pasture they are in to another pasture. It will greatly depend on how I am feeling tomorrow, but they probably should be moved. The weather forecast will play a large part in it also...if there is REALLY strong freezing weather predicted, I may leave them where they are...they have plenty of water in the tank, and I can keep the water in the trough shut off and not worry about it freezing. If I move them, I will be going back and forth worrying about the freezing temperatures, and I am having knee surgery on Tuesday, and don't want to really be thinking about a lot of walking back and forth from the pastures. We shall see...

Okay, remember...Deeds, Actions, Changes, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas and FUN!

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