From Bees to Peas and Other Things......

 Tuesday was a wonderful day - as in 10 degrees cooler and lower humidity until well in the afternoon!

As  soon as I woke up, I turned off the AC, threw open the camper door and allowed the cats their freedom to wander back and forth from the front room and camper.

Louis Dean took advantage of this mild mannered day to get back up on top of the camper and do some maintenance and repairs to the AC.

Tabitha is such a fat and sassy cat now!

She really knows how to relax.

The birds were singing and lots of activity was going on with the critters outside the front windows.....from birds to dogs and insects and people. 

They  watched it all.

Sherry picked me up at 5:00 and we headed into Belmead to meet up with our beekeeper sister Rosey for dinner and a visit before we went on to the monthly bee meeting out at the college.

Alas, I was so excited to see her that we talked non stop while we enjoyed margaritas and Mexican food at El Conquistador and were ready to leave before I realized I had not taken a single photo!

On to  the June meeting of the Heart of Texas Beekeepers Association - held the 4th Tuesday of the month at McLennan Community College Emergency Services Education Center, MCC ESEC.

This is located at 7601 Sreinbeck Bend Dr. Waco, Texas 76708 in case any of you who are local are interested in beekeeping!

It was an informative meeting.

We are all concerned about our honey harvest this year.

Sherry has been bucket feeding our bees as the flowers are starting to die out.

Most of  the flowers have played out here in our area by July 10th. Since we are behind at least a month or more, we are hoping for some pollen and nectar to start up to carry us for a few weeks and give us a honey crop. You can see in the photo above that the horse mint has passed its prime.

Our apiary is in a perfect location with a water source, and lots of flowers.

We are still hoping and praying for a harvest this year but it will not be until July if there is one.

ANY honey in the supers will be harvested then!

Raw honey brings $100 a gallon. Last year we made 8 gallons.

If you do not harvest the honey, the bees will eat it.

If you DO harvest the honey, you must start feeding the bees immediately!

You can feed them sugar water that cost $3.50 a gallon - or let them eat the honey that is worth $100 a gallon. That's a no brainer to me!

I came in on Tuesday all relaxed and happy - until Louis Dean told me that Tabitha had got out!

I spent the better part of two hours trying to get her back in. 

Louis Dean kept saying, "Don't chase her! She's playing a game." 

Well, after trying all his cat and mouse tricks that didn't work, I chased her, caught her, and put her inside the camper! She had been up under the deck in the deck and as soon as she was inside, she set to cleaning herself like her life depended on it!

I may have given her a stern talking to and I may have been none too gentle when I put her back inside.

I think she was a bit traumatized by her whole adventure because she slept in the girl bunk and would not budge from staying right beside me.

Today was back to typical Texas weather in June - hot!!

Louis Dean already had the material for a deck that he meant to put in on the west side of the camper.

Instead, he opted to extend a portion of the front deck out to better accommodate the picnic table.

He knows how to build a deck and it's now a done deal!

I shelled up the last of the black eyed peas I'd picked and tomorrow I will go out and pick some more.

I've also been cleaning like crazy!

The front room is either like 'glamping' or primitive housing. Take your pick - it's the same.

I had the water hose in there cleaning since the floor is a deck with outdoor rugs on it.

The camper is pretty air tight and stays clean but sometimes you just need to sweep out all the dead spiders, knock down the mud dauber nests and give everything a good strong dose of Pine Sol in the front room!!!

I've been itching to get my art out, write more in my book and whack up a pile of denim for quilts......

but I had to get my house in order first.

My first art project is a restoration of a painting my new soon-to-be sister in law did back in 1979.

It is not actually painted on canvas but on Gesso treated cotton.

I must repair the tears and touch up the paint - plus there's a tiny square missing in the center.

I started by taping the tears from the back side and brushing a coating of linseed oil over the front to put some moisture back in the fabric and hopefully keep it from tearing anymore.

Tomorrow I will go to town and get some Gesso and some stronger tape for the back. Then I will Gesso the back side and possibly back it with cardboard to give it a firmer support.

Louis Dean is out on the front deck putting together the deck box.

We are going to have a party on Saturday night here and he's all about cleaning up the tools and debris that's strewn all over the place!