Nothing like being holed up in your one-man office when it’s raining and the tax man is taking way more than you previously thought possible. “Can that be right? Maybe if I carry the decimal and add the 2…” Nope – TurboTax can only do so much. Sigh… So that takes care of the first Biz. I got nothin’ for the second and third – suppose it was me just wanting a bit of onomatopoeia. And rightly so, since this is partly what this post is about. Animals. Animal sounds. And lot’s of em! Can you guess what we got?
Bees!
Yep. Jen and I got a colony of happy little Italian Honey Bees. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for so long. Why? I love nature. I love honey. I am pretty afraid of things that fly with stingers. Wait, that last statement doesn’t make any sense. Well, I figure, it’s time to stop being such a wuss, and tackle my fear. And so one early morning, Uncle Jer (my bee guy, but not my Uncle) came by and dropped off a nice strong colony. I asked a few questions, and then he was gone. And then it was me and 10,000 of my closest girlfriends.
Honey Bee and Flowering Quince Blossom.
It’s been a great learning experience so far. Been into the hive 2 times, and the last time I didn’t use any gloves. If you don’t know why this is a big deal, see the above paragraph. No stings yet, only good fun. Without going on with text, here’s a bunch of pics from the last few weeks – from my lovely wife Jen building our new amazing chicken coop, to the brussel sprout plant with water droplet – to bring you up to speed with what’s going on in our backyard.
Enjoy!
Jen, out-building me and my chicken shanty town.
A little smoke helps keep the girls calm.
Front Door.
Now the roof.
That's capped honey comb. That frame weighs about 5 pounds.
That's a whole lotta bees - tending to the brood.
Bee in nice light.
Getting to a new bud.
Hidden.
Macro's pretty fun. Once you slow down and look, there's all kind of stuff going on.
Water Droplet.
Front of the hive.
Traffic Jam.
So far so good. I am sure I will be posting a few more about the bee colony. Hope you enjoyed!
See you down the road.
-Todd
TODD PARSONS PHOTOGRAPHY 
Wow! Those photos are awesome! It looks like we found fellow “Urban Homesteaders”.
Today we had to catch bees for a bee show tomorrow. Yikes, windy and wet. We got it done just before the real rain started. I asked Jer if he wanted me to help find the queens and he declined. Ten minutes later he was at the door asking for assistance. I was not ready, of ‘course. So I threw on my bonnet and rain coat, forgetting that I had bell bottoms on. Forgot the rubber band trick, so, naturally opening up a hive on a wet windy day = angry bees. One up the pants leg. That would be sting number three. Not so bad considering I don’t were gloves when I mark the queens. That is on a lovely spring day when they are happy. Lucky Jer found her majesty quickly and we wrapped up the hives for the storm. The bees in demonstration hives are over-nighting in our warm laundry room. There are lots of drone cells!
Hi Guys-
Ellen, sounds like when I do something, and Jen asks the same question. Funny, usually the end result is a similar outcome to what you experienced. Ha!
Speaking of drones, I got a glimpse of my first drone out of the hive two days ago. Poor guy was walking away from the hive, all deflated. Guess he was on a death march. I picked him up and said hello, and let him walk on Jen. She and I both felt very confident – since there’s no chance of being stung! Put him back by the hive in the end.
Anyway, glad you like the photos. Hopefully I will post more bee related images in the next few months.
Cheers!