Aftermath

Hackberry butterflies collecting moisture from the soil of a freshly watered start of Dittany of Crete.

The clothesline groans under the weight of towels and sheets today. Three little girls for the weekend meant extra bath towels, plus towels for the swimming pool, and then it's finally time to wash the sheets from the guest bedroom -- plus the usual round of laundry.

As the washer ran through cycle after cycle cleaning the laundry, the wet stuff sat in the basket waiting for the rain to pass. I knew it would. While it delayed the hanging of the clothes, I don't like to complain about rain at this time of year. We are treacherously close to July, followed by August, when Kansas typically gets hot and dry.

But the clothes are now on the line, and even though heavy clouds hang in the sky; the satellite image indicates that they will soon move on. I always prefer to hang sheets and towels on the line, not just to save energy, but the sun and wind remove any remaining smells that might linger, while adding a pleasantly fresh smell. Nothing like climbing into a bed made with sun-dried sheets.



Why must baby rabbits be so cute?

This weekend's visit had much excitement. A storm blew in late in the afternoon, chasing everyone from the pools. The younger girls and I made it to the car before the rain began pelting the streets. However, my husband and the oldest girl waited for us at the "big kids'" pool, taking shelter under a small tree.

Earlier in the day, we relocated a nest of little bunnies that were nestled in the straw of one of our raised beds. We had to chase a couple down, but all got moved to the woods nearby. The cursed little things are so adorable, and my heart is always heavy when I relocate them, most likely dooming them to being eaten (which most of them will be anyway) or starvation. I tried to take them somewhere that mama rabbit can find them.

However, the biggest hit of the weekend was the butterflies. Hundreds of hackberry butterflies gathered on the porch and driveway, soaking up the sunshine. The girls spent hours -- yes, hours -- encouraging the butterflies to rise in clouds around them, or to let them land on their fingers, feet, shirts, heads -- wherever they would land. More interesting because at least one of them was terrified by the butterfly clouds a year or two ago.

Fascinating.

The smile says it all.

Bee Happy

Colony one, at the bottom of the hill on the edge of the woods.

We have bees again!

On Memorial Day we received the call, "Bees are coming tomorrow." At first, the bee roundup was scheduled for the afternoon, but at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday I received another call, "They're coming early." Apparently, the bee guy feared that his bees were in danger from the warm weather and he wanted to distribute them early.

So I rounded up two hive boxes and headed out.

In the past we obtained bees in a "package," which consists of a small box with screen sides full of bees and a young queen who is a stranger to the workers. To prevent the workers from killing the strange queen, she is in her own little box within the box of bees. After a few days, the workers (it is hoped) have accepted the new queen and the keeper (me) must look in the hive box and make certain that she has been released. The queen's chariot has a hole in it that is plugged with hard candy or a marshmallow that the workers eat through.

Searching for the queen during the transfer.

This year we decided to get our bees in a nucleus (actually, two of them). A nucleus contains a working queen, hundreds or thousands  of workers and five frames containing brood (deposited eggs and developing larvae). Because the queen is new and no eggs or larvae are present in a package, it takes longer to become established than a nucleus does. We also had saved several frames full of honey, collected when our previous colony failed during the winter. So these girls were going to get a good start.

By 9 a.m. or so on Tuesday I was on the road with my empty hive boxes. When I arrived, the gentleman who had brought the bees had set a couple dozen or so boxes full of working bees on the ground in the orchard of the local beekeeper who has served as mentor to us and numerous other local beekeepers. The bee guy wore no gear -- no veiled helmet, nor even a long-sleeved shirt. He was clad simply in a white t-shirt, jeans and a hat to keep the summer sun off of his bald head. That is a man who is at one with his bees.

As he emptied his boxes into my hive boxes, he carefully checked each frame until he found the queen. If we get no queen, soon we'll have no bees. Each worker lives only about three weeks after emerging from her larval cell. So a queenless hive will survive only until all of the incubating eggs and larvae are gone.

Hive two near the house, under a hedge tree.

In one of the colonies that he transferred to my waiting boxes, workers appeared to be angry at their queen. Perhaps they were simply stressed by the ride, whatever, but it concerned the bee guy and he instructed me to check the hive in a few days and make sure that she is doing well. If not, he'd send us a new queen.

So we checked that hive on Friday and found the queen alive and well. The workers appeared to have calmed down and were going about their business as usual.

The second colony he attempted to transfer appeared to have no queen. So he removed all of the frames he had already put in my hive box and transferred a new set of frames, showing me the queen before he finished the transfer.

Then it was a slow and breathless drive home. Screen had been placed in the hive box opening to prevent too many of the bees from escaping, and cargo straps held the hive box, the bottom board and lid together. Another strap kept the boxes from sliding around in the back of my pickup. With all of that, I still worried that things might shift on the 20- or 30-mile trip home. When I reached our gravel road, I drove as slowly as I could to minimize the rattling and bumping, but gravel roads are gravel roads.

Busy bees.

Everything was still in place when I arrived at our homestead. Whew! I donned my bee gear -- I am not as confident as the bee guy and I did not want to get stung while carrying the heavy hive box and possibly drop it. While the opening had been blocked by screen, a few bees still were wandering around on the outside. The first hive box was set in place (top photo). Then I zoomed up the hill and set the second box in place, near one of the garden sites. This was the box that we needed to check in a few days. Best to have it within easy reach, I figured.

It gives me great joy to have bees again. Now, when I see honey bees on the salvias and other garden flowers, I can assume that they are "our girls." Fortunately, our flower garden is full of blossoms right now. Yesterday we noticed that the caraway thyme, now a mat of tiny red-purple blossoms, was covered with honey bees. Yay!

Something seems missing when the only thing you have is plants (well, and the wildlife, of course). So our little operation now feels more complete. Next up -- chickens. But next year. Or the year after. It will take a little more work to get things set up for them.

A garden full of blooms..