Another Day Off

Two days off in a row with nothing pressing to do.  Wow!  For a second, I was overwhelmed, again, with deciding what I should accomplish today.  It literally only lasted for a second though!

While CountryBoy was whipping up some breakfast I decided to pay a few of the ever-growing pile of bills.

That pile may not seem very large to some people but to me, it’s WAY more than I wanted when we moved here two and a half years ago.  Add in house insurance, vehicle insurance, health insurance and property taxes throughout the year and there you have my whole reason for going back to work outside the home.  The sum is just too much.

My ideal when we moved was to simplify our lifestyle and keep it simple but the reality of it all is very difficult to do in this modern age that we live.  Everything is expensive.  From food to fuel to fashion.  We have managed to conquer simplicity and savings in some areas of our life such as growing much of our food and, fashion?  we shop thrift stores, but fuel? it’s something we have no control over and it’s a necessity.  Not only is it needed to go to and from work but also fuel is necessary to keep the farm mowed, weed-whacked and bush-hogged.  And, short of going completely off-grid, there will always be bills to be paid.  I am, however, working on a plan towards a debt-free lifestyle within the next five years.  Vehicle, mortgage and all.  It’s definitely a goal and one that I am working hard to accomplish.

Enough about that.  It’s depressing.

Let’s talk about BEES!!!

One of my bosses has bees so at our party last night (which was so much fun!) I asked her what she was planning on doing or had already done to winterize her bees.

She said she will put the reducer on, treat for varroa mites, reduce the size of the hive and she’s pondering insulating three sides.

We were thinking along the same lines so while I had the whole day off today I thought it would be a good time to tackle the hive.

I added the reducer this morning then when the sun came out we pulled the cover off and removed the honey super.

LOTS of bees just hanging out!

I suited up (what little suit I have) and started the process of closing it back up without squishing any bees.

After a few minutes of sliding the inner cover on and over the bees and brushing the rest of them off the edge I managed to get it all put back together.  And, I might add, without getting stung this time.  Yay!

The smaller hive is now more manageable for the bees during the winter months and will help keep them warm.

We had left the honey super sitting on a dolly near the hive for the rest of the day.  Eventually the bees left it and just before nightfall I brought it up to the house and put it in the greenhouse for the night.

Upon inspection of the supers I found some capped honey on a few of the frames!  Tomorrow, before heading in to work, I plan on uncapping it and extracting the honey.  This will be our first honey harvest and definitely another learning experience.  I’ll let ya know how it goes!