April 10, is quickly approaching. It is the day we head to Stillwater, MN to pick up the bees. Until then, we have been busily preparing things. On Friday, there were two large boxes of stuff sitting on the front porch. It was the unassembled frames, wax-coated foundations, two new bee suits/jackets, a new smoker, and several other miscellaneous things. It looked like we would be assembling frames over the weekend.
Saturday was a bust for accomplishing anything bee or garden related. We headed down to the Twin Cities for a Basset Rescue event planning meeting; we arrived home late Saturday evening.
Sunday, as luck would have it, was a gorgeous day. Sun, a bit breezy, with a high in the upper 50s (teens for you metric folks). The sun is now high enough in the sky to give one a small bit of warmth; something those of us in the colder climes sorely miss during December, January and into February.
We set to work early afternoon. The dogs were out in the yard with us; they are fantastic solar collectors or rugs, but poor craftsmen and labors on account of a lack of thumbs. The wife helped, instead. I should actually say she took control of the situation. Once she got the hang of knocking the wedge off the top rail, lining up the rail, applying glue, tapping the stiles in place, applying glue to the bottom rail, and moving onto the next...I could barely keep up with the pneumatic brad nailer.
Somewhere in the middle of all of the assemblage, Melissa found time to whip together a delicious Thai dinner. After dinner, and then after a slice of apple pie, we finished up the frame assembly. Eighty frames; thirty-two brood-sized frames, and forty-eight honey-super frames were assembled in the day.
Next, will be finishing the preparation work on the hive site. This will involve clearing some rocks, leveling a slight slope, and then building a small platform or deck for the hives. Fencing will also need to be constructed to keep the nosey scent-hounds (bassets) out of the area. The weather predictions are pointing to a less than warm week; with a bit of hope (maybe some change, too?), the weekend will be nice enough to accomplish all the remaining tasks.
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Comments
hey- that’s alot of work! those dogs have the right idea-sometimes that lack of a prehensile thumb makes up for lack of prefrontal cortex. life’s all about trade-offs, eh? can’t wait for the honey. what flowers are you planting ? have you scoped out the mile or two around your yard to see what will be blooiming? keep up the good work. hope the weather cooperates for the arrival of the bees. your first customer
Well, as you found out from that photo I sent you (http://bit.ly/bM21K8), there is Salix caprea (willow) blooming right now, of course, there will be dandelions very soon - there is a field, on the Midway side of Ugstad, that will be covered from edge to edge with dandelions this spring. Lilac and crabapple are also very plentiful in the area.