By six AM, I was out moving bees. I had decided to thin out a yard that
was a bit overstocked and brought back 40 hives that are supered to five high.
Some were a bit heavy, so I think there is some honey there. The shots
below show the truck loaded, then tarped down. The whole process takes
only moments. The third picture is a detail of the chains that hold the
bottom of the tarp in place while permitting ventilation allowing for clearance
lights to be seen. The tarp tension is supplied by the roller attached to
the tarp halfway up the side.
Most of the crew was off a a funeral for a friend who was killed in a truck
rollover last Saturday night. The other two fellows who were in the truck
accident are in hospital in bad condition. The whole thing has had a
depressing effect on local youth.
Today Paulo went out to check for honey and to adjust the supers from weaker
hives to better performing ones. He tidied yards and generally looked
things over.
Karl was working on the supers and got near the end of the job, however it
has become apparent to us after many many 'last chances' that we can never rely
on him to work independently, so he will not be coming back. He does have
a pleasant positive personality and can handle rejection very well. I
predict a great future for him somewhere in sales.
Around noon, I got a call from the local bike shop. A swarm had
landed on a stack of junk bicycles they were cutting up for scrap and that cut
their activity short. I went over and caught it in a box with a window
screen taped on, and took it home. They watched from a distance at first,
then came closer. Then Cal was even happy to hold one of the bikes while I
shook the bees off another into the box. At least I tried to. The
cluster was on a wheel, and the wheel rotated in mid-dump, dropping bees
onto the ground and requiring us to wait while they marched merrily into the
box. In a few minutes most were in and I advised the proprietor to get to
his shop forthwith to plug the holes in the siding which had been drawing bee
attention when I first arrived.
After supper, Bill came to get another load of bees. We were done
loading at 12 and he headed home with 40 hives. (Actually 39: one was just
barely a double).
Today
Afternoon thunderstorms
High 24°C
Tonight
Occasional showers or thunderstorms
Low 14°C
Last night, after midnight sometime, I heard my computer reset and guessed
that lightening had caused a power glitch. Then the power was off for a
while. Today Matt D. was a no-show. Jeff guessed that his alarm had
been disrupted, and sure enough Matt called at 10:20 to say he just woke up.
Paulo and Dustin each went out to check for honey and to tidy yards.
Jeff is going to finally finish the supers today. Matt K. is working on
the Kelley drive conversions.
Joe and Oene came for supper and we had a bonfire. I found a message on
my phone that Terry Huxter is in the area and coming by in the morning. I
was up until 2 AM writing articles for BEE-L.
A few minutes after seven, the doorbell rang, and there stood Terry and his
son, Doug. We visited for a while, then set about trying to find someone
to repair his truck, which had lost fifth gear and was in danger of losing
transmission function entirely. Apparently this fifth gear thing is a
common Dodge problem with the transmissions used on the Cummins
engines. The nut comes loose on the back of the main shaft and if the
truck driven too far in that state, serious problems arise. I phoned
everyone I know, but this is a summer weekend and all the shops were busy or
closed. Finally, I called Matt K who just got home from all-night
Stampeding and he said he would look at it as soon as he caught a few winks.
Today: Sunny. Wind west 20 km/h. High 25.
Tonight: Mainly clear. Low 12.
Sunday: A mix of sun and cloud. Wind south 20. High 26.
Monday: Mainly cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers. Low
13. High 26.
Tuesday: Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Low 12.
High 27.
"If I make a
living off it, that's great -- but I come from a culture where you're valued not
so much by what you acquire but by what you give away,"
-- Larry Wall (the inventor of Perl)
