Mad Bees And Swirly Designs

~The weather warmed up this weekend and I was oh so happy to see some sunshine.  I've been waiting on a day like this to check the bees.  It's been cold so there has not been any activity from either hive and I was anxious to check their food supply.  Since it was sunny and warm I was certain I'd see activity and since I have top feeders and wouldn't have to actually open the hive, I considered not suiting up.  And I certainly wasn't going to go to the trouble of lighting the smoker.  I changed my mind and suited up and took about 3 gallons of syrup out.  But I was surprised to see no activity again.  And when I popped the lid the feeder was still full.

I had this sick feeling that I was going to open the hive and find them dead.  But as soon as I pushed the feeder to the side they let me know real quick that they were just fine!  And they were none too happy with me nosing around!  I've never been so glad to have my bee suit on!  They were attacking my veil and in a terrible mood.

The next hive does not have a feeder because they have a full honey super.  I peeked in and found them in a good mood with lots of food.  It appears both hives are doing just fine with only the brood box full of honey.

And while it was warm I also put everyone to work cleaning out old frames.  This needed to be done but I was a bit scared to just jump in fearing I'd break something.....plus not really understanding the best way to go about it.  But it was super easy and fun and we had a bunch of them knocked out in no time at all.

~ Our friends at Immanuel were needing a worship leader while their main guy was out having surgery.  So for 2 weeks now we've been loving some IBC time.   This kid is one of our faves from our youth group.

  Remember Spirograph?  I loved that thing when I was a kid and made all sorts of swirly designs with colored pens.  Well I bought Mally a cheap version at the dollar section of Target and they have barely left it alone since.  It was way harder than I remember and took us a good long time and a lot of paper to figure it out.  I think it might have something to do with the  $1.00 price tag.  

~  Yesterday we had physicals for our home study. Our doctor's office was very gracious and agreed to see seven of us in one day. But do you know how I hated stepping foot in that office during flu season!? And it didn't help that a lady in the waiting room was coughing up a lung then sneezed out a huge snot that was hanging from her nose!! My boys thought this was HILARIOUS!! The nurse asked the lady to wear a mask while I said, "Load Up!" And made my kids wait in the car until it was their turn.

By next week the other 3 of us will have had their physicals and that will be done. References are turned in, we are CPR certified, PRIDE training wraps up this weekend, and FBI fingerprints are next week.   Moving right along!