Our Bees Came!

Actually, they came about 2 weeks ago, but I’m just now getting pictures up.

Our Bees are here!

Tying them up tight.

Getting them settled in their spot.

Pulling the plug

All suited up

Fireing up the smoker

Putting our hands in a hive of bees!!

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Even I helped move some frames!

What the wall in my backyard is made of

There is a wall in my backyard.

One that really needs to come down. All this growth is taking up like a third of our backyard.

But look at what that big ugly mess is made out of!

And it smells great too.

I’m not looking forward to missing the wild roses and honeysuckle (?) next spring.

I just need to buy some new plants, equally springy that won’t take up my whole yard.

My Spring Fling Needs Another Fling

So a couple weeks ago I started my design project for the summer. It’s this tank, and I got pretty far on it too. In fact, I had almost started the armholes. And then I realized it was WAY too big. Note to self: if you want a garment tailored around the bust, you really shouldn’t have two inches of ease. It should be more like 0.

When I realized I’d have to tear it back pretty far, I decided I’d just try again. The guage on the first was a bit large anyways.

I designed the lace edging myself. Like it?

Right now I’m calling it the Spring Fling. It’s a perfect first project for the summer weather. The plain knitting goes so fast that at the first signs of spring, you can whip one up in time for all the out door events of the warmer months. A knitter’s spring fling.

I liked brains when I was a kid

Look at my Brains! Well, that’s what we called them when we were little. I think they’re actually called Celosia, but to me they’ll always be brains.

What makes these brains so cool is how healthy they are! The first time i ever saw one was on the research flower gardens at Penn State University. The things were large, and had a spherical shape. To a kid, it looked like everything I’d ever seen in books about brains.

Ever since then I’ve seen them here and there, but they’re always really little, have terrible root systems and really don’t amount to the big brain shaped plant I remembered when I was a kid. But these are huge and awesome. And it’s only May! In July, I’m hoping for a little walk down memory lane. 🙂

Can I brag on my garden?

It’ll just be a moment. I’m just so excited about how well it all turned out. See?

I can’t get over how organized it is. Very few weeds, I can actually see the edge of each patch.

And I love the view outside my kitchen window. I love my little deck. It’s like I have a whole new room in my house.

And I’m ecstatic over the first flowers off my rose bushes. This red one came from a bush that hasn’t had a proper rose gardener for years. They just needed me to bring out their stunning beauty.

And this one… well I practically tried to kill it by waiting 3-4 months after I bought it to plant it. oops.

K. I’m done bragging now. 🙂

“How can there be ponds if dirt floats!?!”

I’ll spare you the long drawn out story about Chuck’s bee research. Long story short, he’s getting bees. They’re supposed be coming next week. Now bees, like all living things, need water. So in prep for the arrival of the bees he’s been looking into how to do a water source that would work for the bees.

So last week he bought what resembled a large flower pot and some aquatic lettuce plants to have floating in the water for the bees to stand on while drinking. He filled the bucket, dropped the lettuce plants in, and we pretty much left them alone.

The last few days Chuck’s been getting antsy. Kinda thought they were rotting, and started to wonder how they were growing or getting nutrients without there being any dirt. I really didn’t think much of it.

Till this afternoon.

His antsy-ness turned into action.

He found some forgotten potting soil, and took the time to show me the cute thistle in the middle of it.

I went into the house to put away the laundry he had folded so nicely for us this afternoon.

Suddenly, from behind me i hear… “honey, I think I made a mistake. It floats! how can there be ponds if dirt floats?!”

I went to the back deck and this is what I saw.

I did my best to sympathize and be the helping, advising wife I try so hard to be.

I failed.

I split a gut laughing, took a picture, and blogged it.