Snapshots of our Country Days....

I am loving my time here in the country!

Yes, it is hot and we have to be smart in when we go outside -even into the front room which can be close to 100 degrees. It's best to stay inside the camper which hovers around 80 degrees in the heat of the day.

The camper is pretty much airtight but the front room is like camping in style!

I was preparing breakfast the other morning and this spider was watching my every move.

Most spiders are good ones but I really don't know the difference - so I just use a flyswatter to relocate them.

Louis Dean managed to bend his mower blade and son Dean took it off and straightened it out and even sharpened it for him! I told LD that he gets only ONE new lawnmower a year!

So far - thanks to son Dean - he can continue to use this one!

The sunflowers are still blooming but the abundant wildflowers that were here when Linda and I visited on June 16th are gone! All of our roses are doing well and Louis Dean is weeding that bed and will be putting cedar bark mulch down tomorrow.

We are in our happy place and found a porch to swing in!

Cooking here is not as easy as it is at home so I was happy to find cooked spaghetti and a bottle of meat sauce in the freezer.

Louis Dean is always looking for projects and he decided to defrost the freezer that sits on our front deck!

I added a garden salad and garlic toast and it was a good meal with honeydew melon for dessert!

I've been spending time whacking up denim and watching movies on Amazon Prime.

I think I may can watch Netflix on my laptop and will try that tomorrow.

Dean and Sherry loaned us the Lonesome Dove DVDs and I am loving them!

I bought popcorn at HEB on our way in and thought this would be a perfect way to spend the hottest part of the days watching the series.

Louis Dean says it's 'okay' and I am thinking if the movie doesn't have John Wayne in it - he's not at all excited!  I am still going to watch it and he can join me or not!

Keeping him hydrated and out of the sun is a big job and makes me want to turn around and go back home....except I don't want to leave.

 

Louis Dean loves to wash his clothes by hand and even his shoes!

I love the smell of Fabuloso and that's what he used!

Saturday morning Sherry, Dean and I were up early and out in the apiary shortly after 8:00 to do hive inspections. We fully expected to see supers full of drawn honey!

Instead we found empty frames and loads of small hive beetles who have stolen all of our spring honey!

Those small hive beetles eat EVERYTHING!! 

From pollen to brood to honey and even dead adult bees and comb!

The 'other' Linda Chapman, Sherry and I inspected the hives on June 16th and all was well.

It looked like we would get a good honey harvest.

We have never seen so many SHB as we saw on Saturday!

The good thing is we saved the bees because if we hadn't done the inspection, the beetles would have overwhelmed the bees by this coming weekend and we could have lost all of them because if there are SO MANY that the bees can't deal with - they will leave and take up residence someplace else.

So, while we are sad about not getting a honey harvest for the second year in a row - we are happy  that we saved our hives by putting beetle traps in each and every box - supers and brood boxes!

The bees will now be able to keep control of the beetles and we will be inspecting the hives again soon to make sure the traps are working.

We always suit up when we work in the apiary.....but I have read how beneficial bee stings can be to those who suffer from arthritis and my hands -especially my right one has been causing me some significant pain lately - so I chose to NOT wear my gloves in the hopes of a honeybee stinging my hand. And one did! However, it didn't just sting me - but it got STUCK in my hand and couldn't get out! Sherry had to pull the bee off of me and it left the stinger behind so she had to pull that out, too!

Bottom line - that sting did NOT help my arthritis one bit but only added to my pain.

It swelled up and continued to swell up my arm.

Sherry brought down some baking soda and I had white vinegar to make a poultice and put that on my sting. It helped and added with the Benadryl she gave me, the swelling went down a bit!

I went to bed at 10:00 Saturday night and got up at 10:00 Sunday morning.

This is our one frame of honey and it is a good one.

A jar for Sherry and a jar for me and part of a jar to keep for taste testing in the future.

I will strain the wax out when I get home.

Louis Dean is up and doing projects by the time I wake up in the mornings.

We have an extra freezer for the waxed bee frames on our North deck - and he decided he wanted to move it  to the other side of the door which he did and was working on rewiring a new outlet when I woke up this morning!

Goodness! He does things when I'm not looking and this involved electricity to our refrigerator!

As I close tonight's journal entry, he is still out there working to finish up his project!

We have lots of spiders and I saw the tiniest black hummingbird I have ever seen right through the bathroom window, I was spellbound and my phone was in the camper so I couldn't get a pic.

We are in the COUNTRY so there's all manner of critters around.

Tarzan is a brother to Samantha and Tabitha and he seems to love us!

I feed him morning and night and he is definitely an outdoor cat with hard muscles and used to taking care of himself

 

But I love how he is such a lap cat!!

This is a Hodge podge of our days here!

Tomorrow we are going to 'town' and when we come back I hope to watch a few episodes of Lonesome Dove during the heat of the day.

Right now it is 8:47  and I am going to publish and then go out and water my pumpkin patch.

I am so close to giving up on growing anything this year!