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OkeyDokey, @larry_stewart since you asked. Mr bliss just finished the 12 hour bee keeping class, and goes to monthly beekeeping meetings. We order Nucs (nucleus of bees/queen/small brood) this next week. We're aiming our first year for 3 hives with 3 available supers (mediums) for each, and a 4th should we get a swarm, and some swarm traps. We already have the cooperation of someone to hang the swarm traps on their property.
These are the sides of the supers(mediums) with sides cut with dado blades for the joint.
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And this is a swarm trap on top, and deep hives and supers below, and behind that, plastic containers for winter sowing. (our basement is just crowded as can be right now) The swarm trap is a deep+medium tall to fit the frames. The hives will be a deep+medium high, to allow for larger broods.
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Thanks for filling me in. I've always had an interest in this. I do the solitary bees for pollination purposes, a much simpler process.
I saw somewhere on here, you talking about a different kind of bee and how to keep them for pollination. What are they again?
 
Gathered up the paperwork for my income tax and sent it off to the accountant.

I’ve had the same accountant for more than thirty years and we’ve never met, which I guess is a good thing! ?
Lol Bea,
Don't ya just luv tax time?
It's confusing this year for me.
All the changes. Finalized things. Sold, bought....
Maybe I'll just go back to bed.
Thinking makes my head hurt. ;)

Munky.
 
I saw somewhere on here, you talking about a different kind of bee and how to keep them for pollination. What are they again?
Mason bees early spring ( april'ish), mostly for the fruit trees which bloom early. they make the cocoons out of clay.
Leaf Cutter bees, from May - august. The prefer warmer weather ( I think above 65F). they may their cocoons out of soft leaves ( like pea leaves). Their life cycle is about 6 weeks, so get a bunch once a month from may through July or August. Due to there short life span, they can go through a few generations during the season. Once it gets cold, they will overwinter and hatch the following spring, once temps are above 65F.
I think both usually stay within about a 300ft range , so for the most part, they stay on or around the point of release ( I guess also depending on the amount of flowers). they LOVE sunflowers. During covid, we would just sit and watch buzz around. I never really understood the ' busy bee' phrase until I saw these little boogers do their thing. They're on a mission, they just dont stop ( until night when the actually sleep on the sunflowers until the next morning when it warms up again). And theoretically , they are not aggressive at all. I have literally have them bounce off of me when I walked in between 2 sunflowers. Ive literally released thousands of bees over the past few years, and never got stung once ( a yellow jacket got me, and my wife, but never one of our bees).
 
Just an added note, the mason and leaf cutters are solitary bees. There is no queen or swarming . Each bee is on their own doing their own thing for their own survival. We get just as excited opening up the bee houses to see how many cocoons we get each ear as we do harvesting the veggies. We definitely dont break even from a bee - count point of view, but the increased pollination/ harvest ( Which I can prove scientifically, but I assume they make a difference ) and just the education and entertainment value makes it worth it. I also have to assume that a even though their not cocooning in he purchased houses, they are likely cocooning in some of he other nooks and crannies on he property, so we likely are increasing the population , kinda like the praying manis egg sacks we hatch and release.
 
"Larned me sumpin' new!" Thank you Larry.
Have to look into those bees.
Wonder if they're purchasable in Canada.
I actually thank Pepperhead for introducing them to me a few years back.
This is the site I get my bees and stuff from.
I asked if they ship o Canada, jus waiting for a response.
Ill keep you posted.

 
What am I doing? Waiting for Bell to get their act together and fix the DSL that they hooked us up to. They won't give an ETA. Our frigid weather seems to have done a number on a bunch of their DSL centres/nodes, what ever you call them. Once they get that fixed, our regular internet should just come back. I'm still using phone data, but I'm no where near my monthly limit, which renews in few days. I have never needed much phone data, but I took the extra every time they offered it as a freebee.
 
Been busy clearing out the weeds that have cropped up in the yard.
Almost done. Has to be the cans full. :)
 
Doing a sous vide experiment with a London Broil steak. Around here LB is cut from the shoulder and is usually kinda tough. So I'm cooking a steak SV for 7 hours to see if that tenderizes it. [133.0ºF for 7:00 hrs.]
 
Puttering around.

I fixed a container of crudités and put a pot of bean soup together.

Doing the dishes and straightening up while I watch an old episode of Leave it to Beaver, my how things have changed. ?

I need to get cleaned up and go for a walk, mid 30s this morning.
 
I did nothing outside today, since it was quite cool, and I've been spoiled by that warm weather I've been having! Got the usual indoor things done, plus something I started a few days ago, when I pulled the oven knobs off, to "repaint" them. In 39 years, the markings were totally gone, from all the cleaning. I was surprised it was so easy, on the one knob, where the markings were all indented, so I just took the quick dry marking liquid, and over marked them, then wiped the excess off with acetone, and it looks almost new!
Numbers and marks worn off the almost 40 year old oven knobs. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

One of the oven knobs, looking almost brand new! by pepperhead212, on Flickr
 
After hours of checking this, that, and the other thing, I finally ordered a new phone on Wednesday. I had to get a new phone plan to get the really good deal. Turns out the new plans are pretty good. But, the check out was clear as mud. I have been with this cell phone provider for over 20 years and it just keeps getting more complicated to replace a phone. Anyhoo, the phone arrived yesterday. I haven't started using it yet. I'm sure the process will be fairly easy, especially since I am going from a Pixel 2 to a Pixel 6a. But, none of the info is easy to find. And, once found, there are instructions for how to transfer data from an iPhone to the Pixel 6. There are instructions for how to transfer data from a non-Pixel Android phone, but no instructions for how to do it from an earlier version Pixel. So, what I'm doing is PROCRASTINATING.
 
After hours of checking this, that, and the other thing, I finally ordered a new phone on Wednesday. I had to get a new phone plan to get the really good deal. Turns out the new plans are pretty good. But, the check out was clear as mud. I have been with this cell phone provider for over 20 years and it just keeps getting more complicated to replace a phone. Anyhoo, the phone arrived yesterday. I haven't started using it yet. I'm sure the process will be fairly easy, especially since I am going from a Pixel 2 to a Pixel 6a. But, none of the info is easy to find. And, once found, there are instructions for how to transfer data from an iPhone to the Pixel 6. There are instructions for how to transfer data from a non-Pixel Android phone, but no instructions for how to do it from an earlier version Pixel. So, what I'm doing is PROCRASTINATING.
For my Android phone, I just have to back up my phone data to the cloud and then restore it to the new phone. Could it be that easy?
 
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