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Blowing Bees

Tuesday August 20th, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

I was up at 5 and working on a magazine article. I had written most of the article already some days ago, but was unhappy with it, and today is the deadline.  I worked on it until noon and finished it, but decided to hold it back a day.  I hate to send something out before I have a chance to sleep on it.

In the afternoon, I took some honey to Three Hills.  We don't fill pails, but have a local packer do it for us.

We have no shortage of rain now.  I went for water around supper time and when I returned, we had had a flash storm and the basement floor was covered with water.

Today..Showers ending this morning then a mix of sun and cloud. Wind increasing to southeast 20 km/h. High 21.
Tonight..Partly cloudy. 30 percent chance of evening showers. Risk of a thunderstorm. Wind southeast 20. Low 8.
Normals for the period..Low 8. High 22.

Wednesday August 21st, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

We are having another flu episode.  It seems to happen every summer.  Dennis has been down almost a week and Marvin is still ill.  Mark phoned in sick too and some of the extracting crew have aches and pains that I suspect are flu-related.  The doctor told Dennis that he had 'para-flu'.  How that differs from the flu, I don't know.

We're 73 percent done our first round and this may also be the last round.  We got out the acid boards and the BeeGo today and will try that since abandonment seems to be problematic.  We are into robbing season and the blower has been the only thing that works reliably.

Today..Sunny. Wind increasing to southeast 20 km/h. High 24.
Tonight..Clear. Wind south 20. Low 10.
Normals for the period..Low 8. High 22

Thursday August 22nd, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

Denis is back today and we got the repairs to the north side of the quonset finished.  This is Kenton's last day.  He has been a real asset and we are all sad to see him go.

I finished the odds and ends of my magazine article and got that all sent.  This article has been the toughest I've written and I'm hoping the next one will be easier.  I also got a lot of filing done. The files were at the accountant's and I had papers going back as far a May to get organized.

We're now 78% done pulling and there seems to be no rush to get around.  The honey house is filling up, and we will be getting the extracting going up to speed again early next week.

Robinsons came for burgers tonight.

Today..Sunny. Wind becoming north 20 km/h. High 24.
Tonight..Mainly clear. Wind light. Low 9.
Normals for the period..Low 8. High 22.

Friday August 23rd, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

I was at Meijers the other day to visit and to watch their extracting system work.

On the left is a stack of floors in a cage that Jake designed and built to keep them from falling when in transit.  There is a door that closes.

Beside them are two feeder drums.

Today..Becoming mainly sunny this morning. Wind light. High 27.
Tonight..Clear. Wind light. Low 11.
Normals for the period..Low 8. High 22.

Saturday August 24th, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

We spent a quiet day.  Ellen went on a local garden tour that she organized with friends.  I did paperwork.  In the evening, we headed off in our truck and camper to spend Sunday at the beach. We slept over in Innisfail.

Today..Sunny. Wind becoming southeast 20 km/h. High 29.
Tonight..Partly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms. Wind southeast 20 km/h. Low 12.
Normals for the period..Low 7. High 21.

Sunday August 25th, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

Four more months until Christmas!

We spent the day at the beach in Sylvan Lake with Jean and Chris, then returned home in the evening.  Flo and Maurice came by around nine to return the truck they had borrowed.

Sunday..Sunny becoming mainly cloudy in the afternoon. Wind becoming north 20 km/h. High 27.
Tonight..Partly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h this evening. Low 11

Monday August 26th, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

We had four new people extracting today for training.  Some students are done for the year, and Lisa stayed home, since she wants to work part-time.  Ritchie is back again until the end of  the season.  He comes and goes from time to time.

Marvin is still ill, and Dennis went to the field with Paulo. The day started off cool and cloudy, but turned warm and sunny with a nice breeze.

Tim worked around the place all day and left at 4:30 saying he felt ill.  Flu again.

Paulo and Dennis got 150 boxes, some from yards where we had taken boxes of granulation and broken combs for robbing. 

I started the furnace in the morning and it was hot in the extracting room, so I mounted a fan on each super elevator, using two bolts.  That made a big difference, I'm told. The fans are slightly slanted downwards and keep the operator cool most of the time.

Today..A mix of sun and clouds. 60 percent chance of showers. Risk of a thunderstorm this afternoon. Wind increasing to north 30 km/h. High 23.
Tonight..Mainly cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms. Wind north 30 km/h diminishing. Low 11.
Normals for the period..Low 7. High 21.

Tuesday August 27th, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

Mostly, I did repairs today -- along with all the routine tasks.  I flipped the trailer over and welded reinforcements under where the wheels of the Swinger sit when we are hauling it around.  We have found this to be the only weak spot in our design, and the repair was quite simple.

We have had persistent problems with two Dadant vibrators blowers that I bought secondhand.  These two have Briggs and Stratton engines and they hadn't had much use before I bought them, but each has the same problem.  The tab where the blower attaches to the top of the engine appears to be a weak point.  One had been welded previously, and within a week or two, both had to be welded again at the same spot.  Then the headbolt/stud used for attachment broke and I had to disassemble that unit to get a new one in.

I called the co-op and was told that Dadant does not balance the rotors, so I took that to be a hint and, since I had to pull one apart anyhow due to the way I had welded it (not expecting any more problems) I checked the rotor for balance using a static method that has always worked for me.

Today..A mix of sun and cloud. Wind increasing to north 30 km/h. High 26.
Tonight..Clear. Wind north 20 diminishing. Low 9.
Normals for the period..Low 7. High 21.

Wednesday August 28th, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

Today..Sunny. Wind becoming south 20 km/h. High 28.
Tonight..Clear. Wind south 30 km/h. Low 10.
Normals for the period..Low 7. High 21

Thursday August 29th, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

Today..Sunny. Wind southeast 20 km/h. High 26.
Tonight..Partly cloudy. 30 percent chance of an evening thunderstorm. Wind becoming north 20 km/h. Low 12.
Normals for the period..Low 6. High 20.

Friday August 30th, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

Paulo went out and pulled Witstocks South and got 90 boxes.  He is using BeeGo and the blower.

I worked at home in the morning.  Dennis had to go to Red Deer with his son to have some tests done, so at noon, I rode with him to the muffler shop in Three Hills to get the camper truck -- for the third time in ten days.  This time they had actually done what I wanted and put on quieter mufflers.

When I got home, I decided to go out and pull some local yards. I had been to Elliotts in the morning and taken off several boxes, since the yard was plugged.  It is a half-mile from home and we have supers out for robbing since we have terrible granulation problems this year.  I guess the bees from that yard are making the trip; they seem to be getting more of the honey than bees in our home yard. 

I pulled Elliotts' and Elliotts' East and got 80 supers.  I just pulled them onto stacks three high on pallets to see if the bees will abandon. We have quite a bit of odds and ends of drip pallets and broken comb at that site for robbing out, but they are not as full as the first yard.  maybe for robbing there is an optimal distance, like a 1/2 mile?

At nightfall, the bees had left some stacks, but not others.

Today..Mainly cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Risk of a thunderstorm. Wind north 30 km/h. High 21.
Tonight..Mainly cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Wind north 20. Low 9.
Normals for the period..Low 6. High 20.

Saturday August 31st, 2002
Last year on this date       Year 2000 on this date

El and I ran over to Meijers in the morning so she could see their extracting system in action.  We made a movie of what we saw, had coffee, and went home again, stopping for lunch in our camper at the Morrin Bridge.

The bees still had not abandoned all the stacks and I am thinking now that is due to many of the hives having been singles.  My theory: in doubles, only field bees are in the supers, but in singles, the brood area bees are also in the seconds.  The young bees don't know their way home.

Dennis was working today.  He filled and lidded drums, went to Harders to get the plastic they were discarding from their greenhouse, then left after we got back.

Meijers came over in late afternoon and we went to the Mill for supper with P-Ss.

Today..Mainly sunny. Wind light. High 22.
Tonight..Partly cloudy. Wind northwest 20 km/h. Low 10.
Normals for the period..Low 6. High 20.

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