First Honey Crop

I went to do a hive inspection this morning.  I intended to move some of the bars around to create some room for the bees next to the brood nest.  They have been building comb like crazy this week.  Anyway, as I was moving the bars around, I broke one off.  The bees had attached it to the side of the hive and while I was trying to pry it off, it pulled apart.  Turns out the whole bar was full of honey!  So I pulled it off and ran inside to put it on a plate.  Then cleaned up the hive.  By the way, hot day morning inspections are not as calm as the cool afternoon days.  I was getting buzzed quite a bit today.  Still no stings though!  Here is what the broken comb looked like:

Behind the broken comb is what I'm using to strain the wax out of the comb.  Its just a bowl, a colander and a paint straining cloth I got at Ace Hardware.  Next, I broke the comb off of the bar and crushed it in my hands.  Yes, this is messy!  I had honey all over my hands.  Maybe I'll look for a cleaner way to do it next time, but it was actually kind of fun.  Anyway, you squeeze out the honey and put the clump of wax into the paint strainer "bag".  The honey drips through into the bowl.  Like this:

I let it drain while I ate a brat from the high school fund raiser at Walgreens.  Mmmm.  Then, I took the left over clump of wax and put it in a pan and baked it at 300 degrees until it melted.  This separates the wax from the remaining honey.  Here it is melting:

While the wax was baking, I just poured the honey into 1/2 pint jars.  I suppose later I will use bigger jars, but I figure I should spread my first crop around to more than one person.  So, smaller jars this time!  One bar of honeycomb made about a pint and half of honey.  There are several more bars of honey in the hive and I expect the bees to bring in much more in the next two weeks.  Here is the final product:

Pretty fun!  And pretty messy.  It should be pretty fun to have the girls help next time!

Bee Inspection

I got all beekeepered up this morning and took a look inside the hive.  The bees are still incredibly calm.  They were not really all that interested in me poking around.  They generally stayed crawling around on the comb while I pulled them out and looked around.  A few flew around me, but not bad.  I never really felt nervous or "swarmed"!  Anyway, right now there is not much honey in the hive.  Most of the bars look like they have capped brood (eggs / larvae) or pollen.  Capped honey looks whiter, and more papery.  This picture shows a close up of the comb. 

On the top, you can see a band of capped honey.  Then in the middle, you can see capped cells of brood.  That means the queen is still alive, and laying eggs!  I split the brood up a little bit so the bees think they have more room.  This is to prevent swarms.  I didnt see any queen cells though, so I dont think swarming is a danger soon.  

Here's some more pictures from the inspection!

Humming Along

I received a message from the Dane County Beekeepers that the nectar run is on in our area.  I dont know exactly what that means, but I suspect it means honey is pouring into the hive right now.  I went last night and removed the divider board so the bees have the entire hive.  I also took out the feeder, since there should be plenty for them to eat in the prairie.  I should do a hive inspection one of these days to take a closer look at the honeycomb, but it looks fine from the window.  Here's a current view through the window:

Keeping Cool

Here is what bees do to cool off a hot hive:

Here is what kids do to cool off hot feet:

Heat Wave

Its hot here in Wisconsin!  Yesterday was over 90 degrees.  It looks like summer has finally come!

The high heat is apparently another big debate in beekeeping.  When the outside temperature exceeds about 95 degrees, it can begin to soften or melt the beeswax in the hive, causing it to fall off the top bars.  Dont worry, I checked mine last night and its ok!   The debate is over whether to ventilate the hive or not.  Some people say yes, ventilate because it allows it to cool the inside off.  Others say no, dont ventilate because it allows the hot air in.  The tipping point seems to be moisture.  I dont see any condensation in the hive, so I figure I'm good with the  balance of ventilation I have.

The heat wave has also brought something else to the house - a pool!  Erin set up the pool on our deck.  Its about a 10' diameter, 2 foot deep pool for the kids to swim in.  Yep, they've been in it every day since Erin filled it.  Even when the water was about 50 degrees straight from the hose!  It looks like a really fun summer for the kids!

Young Farmers

The girls got a treat this weekend!  We stayed over night with my cousin Dan and Kristin at the farm!  In the morning, after they treated us with pancakes, we got a tour of the farm.  Emma has been learning about dairy in school this week, so all week she has been asking if she could milk a cow.  Emma and Ginny jumped right in!  Here's some photos of the young farmers:

 It was a lot of fun.  I have such good memories of exploring the farm with my cousin Dan as a kid, so it was great to share the experience with the girls!  Thank you again to Dan and Kristin for being such wonderful hosts!

Hungry Bugs

The bees are really hungry!  Tonight, I refilled the sugar syrup jar in the hive for the third time.  I've gone through over a pound of sugar so far!  I never thought I would pay this close attention to the weather and when things are blooming.  Apparently, the cool, wet weather keeps the bees from foraging as much.  Everything that I've read says that when the bees can find natural nectar, they prefer it to the syrup.  When that happens, I shouldnt have to feed them for a while.  Well, it isnt today.  Nothing I can do but keep feeding and watching.

It is pretty neat to watch them build honeycomb.  I'm pretty impressed at how much they have built.  Here's the view from the observation window tonight:

Its tough to get a good picture with the glare on the glass.  Anyway, hopefully you can see the rows of honeycomb in the picture, going up and down, perpendicular to the glass.  Just like its supposed to.  The space between the comb looks to be full of bees.  The cluster seems to be getting much bigger, but it might just be comb taking up space and making the same number look bigger.  I now know where the phrase "Busy  as a Bee" comes from!

Better Lucky than Good

Lefty Gomez, a pitcher for the Yankees in the 30's, once said he'd rather be lucky than good.  Lefty had a lot of good quotes, that you can read here.  Anyway, I feel that way about beekeeping this morning.  One of the first worries for a beekeeper using the type of hive I have is that the bees will build honeycomb in nice clean rows.  This kind of hive doesnt have a guide, or foundation, comb for the bees to follow.  You want the comb to be built along the bars, perpendicular to the observation window.  The danger is that they will build it across the bars, parallel to the window, which makes it very very difficult to work with.  Even if they build it they way they are supposed to, you want it to be very straight.  There are lots of strategies for making this happen.  First, you want a level hive.  I took some extra time before putting the bees in the hive to make it level.  Second, you can paint your bars with beeswax in the direction you want them to build comb.  I read this after the bees were in the hive, a little late.  Third, you can pray, which is essentially what I did!

When I checked on the hive this morning. I could see the honeycomb peeking out of the bee cluster perpendicular to the observation window, just like its supposed to be.  I changed out the feeder jar for a new one and noticed it was too close to where they are building comb.  The bees had turned the last comb and attached it to the jar!  I took that piece off and moved the feeder jar to the other side of the divider board so they wouldnt build comb next to it.  Hopefully the comb there will be built straight now that I've corrected it!

So this is what the comb I removed looks like:

Its very white and clean right now.  I left it sitting on the counter, and when I came back and moved it, I noticed there was a little drop of honey left behind.  Tastes good!  There's no doubt I am not yet a good beekeeper.  At this point, I'm happy to be lucky and having the bees build the comb right without my help!

Queen Cage Is Empty

Tonight, I went to check on the hive and noticed the bees were going through the syrup pretty quickly.  Maybe its the rainy weather, so they dont go out and forage as much?  Or maybe there just isnt enough nectar yet. I made up another jar of syrup and got all beekeepered up and went out into the hive.  While replacing the syrup jar, I spilled some of the syrup.  I need to remember to spill outside of the hive next time, because after that, syrup was dripping from the bottom, but I couldnt tell if it was what I spilled, or if the seal on the jar was leaking.  It slowed down over time, so I think its fine.

While I had the hive opened, I retrieved the queen cage.  It was empty!  Dont worry, thats good news!  It means the bees ate through the marshmallow cork I put in and released the queen.  Looking at the massive number of bees in the hive, I suspect the only time I will see the queen was when she was in the cage.  I'm not nearly good enough to identify her in the hive.  So instead, I have to look for evidence she's there.  If there is capped honeycomb that's not golden, its called brood, which is where the eggs are.  Capped brood is a sign the queen is in the hive.  And thats good.  I could tell the bees were building honeycomb.  Its a very clean white right now.  They build it down from the roof.  The ones I saw were empty, but its not time to worry yet.  I'm sure Magnolia is busy in there somewhere.

Here is a picture of the empty queen cage.

On the left side, you can see where the cork was.  On the right side is the hanger that held it in a slot in the package.  I put a quarter in the picture so you can see how big it is.  

Bees. In. Hive. - The Visual Edition

Wow, reading yesterday's blog is a wall of text! Here's the pictorial version!

This is what a "package" of bees looks like:

Here is Hyacinth the bee.  She stayed pretty much right there the whole drive home:

Here are the two beekeepers, trying to look confident before putting them in the hive:

Here is the smoker Jerry gave me.  Works Great!

Here is the empty hive.  The opening is where I dump the bees in.  The glass jar on the inside is the feeder, full of sugar syrup:

Here's me trying to get the queen cage out.  I have a few seconds to lift the can, slide the queen cage out and then put the can back down.  The picture below is actually a video.  See how fast I did that!?  

Ok, it is just a picture, I couldnt do it that fast.  A few bees got out.

Here is "Magnolia", the queen, in her queen cage.  This is before I replaced the cork with a marshmallow.

Here is me smoking the bees to keep them a little calmer.  The next part is kind of harrowing, so I want them as calm as possible!

Here is me dumping bees into the hive.  They pour out like water!  How many bees do you see flying in the picture?

Here is "most" of them in the hive.  I have an observation window to peek in on them.

Here is my outstanding assistant!  One of the bravest 6 year olds you will meet!

What a day!  You can click on most of the pictures to see all the pictures Stephanie took!  I really appreciate her taking pictures.  They are awesome!

Bees. In. Hive.

Today was the big day when the bees arrived.  No longer was this a planning project.  I had to put on my bee veil, open a box with thousands of bees in it, and put them into the hive.  Lots to talk about!

This morning, I prepped the hive with everything I could do before hand.  Emma and I made syrup to feed the bees.  It is a pretty simple recipe.  Emma measured 1 cup of sugar.  I added 1 cup of warm water.  Emma stirred.  We repeated until the mason jar feeder was full, and we had a little extra for the "bee spritzer".  I filled up a bucket of water and put a bunch of wood chips in it, and placed it next to the hive.  The wood chips are something for the bees to stand on when they get the water.  They cant swim.  I put the feeder in the hive, with the syrup.  Then I cut up an old tee shirt and stuffed the pieces in 3 of the 4 openings in the hive.  This is to limit the number of openings the bees have to guard while they establish the hive.  It also makes it slightly more difficult for the queen to escape, taking the rest of the bees with her.

Then, Emma, Mom and Dad drove with me to east of Watertown to pick up our "package".  We arrived at a barn with about 2 dozen cars and a line of people waiting for package bees.  The line was inside of the barn, where over a thousand boxes of bees were being stored.  There were bees flying everywhere in the barn!  Just standing in line there was enough to overcome fear of being around honeybees.  They are really very gentle.  We stood there maybe a half hour, and they never really bothered us.  One fellow in front of us bought 40 packages!  I bought my one package and put it between the seats of the minivan, ready for the drive home.

Yes, thats right, we drove an hour with a box containing over a thousand live, buzzing bees between us.  They were pretty much contained to the box.  One was outside the box.  Emma named her Hyacinth.  I know what you are thinking - how could we possibly drive with a bee loose inside the car?!  Really, it was no problem.  Hyacinth just sat on the outside of the box and let Emma inspect her.  She didn't cause any trouble at all.  Emma and Gramma decided it would be a good idea to name all the bees.  They came up with quite a few!  The queen is named "Magnolia".  All of the drones (males) are named "Lazy" because they just sit around and eat.  The worker bees mostly have flower names, but I think I'll just call them all Hyacinth.  You know, so when I see one, I'll know its name.

We got home and Erin, Ginny, Nathan, Stephanie and Walter all came to watch me attempt to put the bees in the hive.  I'm sure they all thought I knew what I was doing, but I was pretty worried about releasing all these bees.  I put on my veil and tucked in all my clothes.  Emma decided she would help, so I put a veil on her and we found her some gloves.  I got all the equipment to the hive, took a deep breath, and started to work.

The first step is to get the bees a little wet with sugar syrup, so they dont fly as much.  I used the "spritzer" spray bottle with the syrup we made this morning.  I sprayed about a dozen spritzes on them.  Then, I put some smoke on them to calm them down.  Thank you Uncle Jerry for the smoker!  Incidentally, corrugated cardboard worked wonderfully for making smoke.  Then, I banged the box on the ground three times.  This is so that bees fall to the bottom of the box.  I always question the wisdom of shaking a box of bees, but thats what the directions said, so I did it.  I used a hive tool (small crowbar) to pry out the metal feeding can that was part of the package.  One the can is out, you have a few seconds to slide the queen cage out of a slot, and replace the can before all the bees escape.

The queen has her own cage.  I think the reason is twofold.  First, the queen hasnt been with this bunch of bees for very long.  The queen being in the cage allows them to overcome their first instinct to kill a queen that isnt their own, and lets them get used to her.  Second, the cage sure makes it tough for the queen to escape when you first establish your hive.  Where the queen is, the bees are.  If the queen is in a cage, she aint going anywhere.  The problem is eventually releasing her from the cage in the middle of a swarm of bees.  The answer?  Marshmallows.  The queen cage has a cork in it.  I removed the cork and replaced it with a marshmallow.  Over the next day or so, the bees will eat through the marshmallow and release the queen.  Once the queen is out of the cage, it should be easy for me to retrieve the empty cage from the hive.

I put the queen on the bottom of the hive.  I've read all kinds of philosophies on this.  Some people tell you to hang the queen cage from the top of the hive, and others say to put it on the bottom.  I chose the bottom because putting it on the top may cause the bees to build their first honeycomb crooked around the cage, and mess up all the rows.  The risk of the bottom is that the bees prefer to be on the top of the hive, where they begin building their comb.  They are supposedly happier near the queen at the top.  I dont know.  If this doesn't work, I'll try the other way next time.  I suspect it doesn't really matter.

Once the queen is in the bottom, my next task was to put the rest of the bees into the hive.  Here we go.  I banged the package on the ground three more times to get them to the bottom.  Then I pried out the can again.  Yep, as expected, bees flying everywhere.  Deep breath.  Then I "poured" the bees into the hive.  Like water.  Shake the box, tip it to the side, shake it some more.  Pour the bees in.  Bees still flying everywhere.  I  didn't get all of them (not sure how you could), so I set the open package next to the hive.  Then, I put the top bars back in, closing up the hive.  I made sure to use my bee brush to gently push them out of the way before putting the bars in.  I'm sure I still squished some.  I put the roof back on and walked slowly away.  Phew!

We've checked it several times since then.  Miraculously, they are still in the hive!  They seem to be covering the queen cage, so I think they are taking care of her.  The feeding jar is covered in bees, so I think they found their food.  There are a lot of bees clustered at the top, so I suspect they are beginning to draw out honeycomb.  Maybe this will work!

I am impressed at how gently honeybees are.  Not a single sting.  Not me.  Not Emma.  Emma was an outstanding helper.  She is a brave little girl!  I love that she is interested in helping me with this.  The honeybees being so gentle convinced me it was ok for her to help.  Its a sigh of relief that they are in the hive. I feel like the hard part is over, but I bet I have more ahead of me I dont know about yet!

Stephanie took a lot of pictures and I'll post them soon!

Bees Delayed

Apparently cool and rainy weather in California means the bee packages arrive later.  You all know that bees cant fly in rain?  Apparently the winter storm in the midwest isnt helping things either.  I suspect its all going to be ok.  The later they come, the less sugar water I should have to feed them before the nectar starts flowing.

I have the hive all set up in the yard.  I put down some old shingles under the hive so grass wont grow underneath.  I would hate to go out there with a weedwacker to get rid of the grass underneath!  I bet I would get swarmed!  I leveled the hive with a couple of wood blocks.  When its level, gravity should make the comb nice and straight.  To start, I put in 10 top bars.  That should give the ladies some room to work.

Speaking of ladies, did you know all the worker bees are female?  The males pretty much dont do anything except mate with the queen.  They laze around the hive all day eating honey and kicking their feet up.  Sounds pretty boring to me!  I'd rather explore the world and see the flowers!

Garden Art

We got all the kids together this morning for some garden art!  Emma, Ginny and Walter painted the beehive!  Grandpa provided the stencils, stamps and paint.  I think it was a great way to get the kids involved with the beekeeping!  They had a lot of fun putting colorful designs on the hive.  I really liked the snail and butterflies!  Here's what it looks like now:

The Orchard

Over the winter, I had some bad luck with the fruit trees I planted last fall.  It seems that rabbits really like the tender sweet bark of young fruit trees.  In their search for food in the snow, they chewed the trunks of my new trees.  I noticed this earlier in the winter and bought some "trunk guards" from home depot.  They were about 8 inches long, and I doubled them up on each tree for about 16 inches of protection.  That sounded pretty good until it snowed... a lot.   With the snow so high, the rabbits used the trunk guards to rest their paws on while they gnawed all the bark off the trees!  I now see why people shoot rabbits.  I can relate to Elmer Fudd.

Anyway, I'll wait for a few weeks to see if the trees survived.  I figure if they bud in a week or two, they might survive.  If they dont, I'll plant some new ones.  I think the honeycrisp apple will be fine.  The macintosh is probably gone.  The bartlett and comice pear are on the fence.

I stopped into Jungs on the way home yesterday to see how much a replacement tree might cost.  Their bareroot section opened up on Friday.  As I walked in, there on the right was the sweet cherry tree variety I couldnt find last year!  Needless to say, I left with two cherry trees (one black gold, one white gold).  They were developed at Cornell University, so my hope is they will winter better than most sweet cherry types.  Trees have it a lot harder than I thought, frigid cold and rabbits.  Who knew?!  I also talked with a gentleman there about rabbits and I think I have a plan for next winter.  The orchard is currently 6 (possibly alive) trees.  I doubt any of them will fruit this year, but the wild plum trees should make up for it.  We should have a bumpercrop of plums!

T-Minus 1 Month

So I'm about 1 month away from my bees arriving.  Things are coming together.  My dad glued back together my "bee feeder", which is nothing more than a wooden slat with a circle cut out of it the size of a mason jar lid.  Its good to go now.  I still need to paint the hive.  I've got some white primer paint and then Emma wants to paint a bee on the roof.  I think I'll let her!  After that, its just waiting.  Oh, and I need to get bee veils for those of you who want to get closer to the hive.  Let me know if you want one!

Spring Ahead

I got back yesterday from a great trip to Spring Training in Florida!  I visited my friend Henri and went to three ball games, Tampa (Yankees), Clearwater (Phillies) and Orlando (Braves).  The most memorable thing from the Yankees game was trying to sell my extra tickets.  They put is in a "bullpen" area for scalpers and I got to wrestle with the professional scalpers to sell the tickets.  I felt like I needed a shower after standing with those guys!  At the Clearwater game, we were part of a stadium record crowd.  It was packed!  The park was really nice, with Philadelphia cheesesteaks and a 692 foot Johnny Damon home run.  Seriously.  The sign he hit it by said 692 feet.  Longest. Homerun. Ever.  Ok, not really, but it was a nice homerun.  Here's a picture of the Phillies spring training home (thats David Price on the mound):

In Orlando, the Braves spring training is on the Disney property.  Henri is a vacation club member there, so we got a villa at the Animal Kingdom lodge, with a Savannah view!  Right outside our room were giraffes, wildebeests, ostriches, and African cattle.  I woke in the morning to the sound of a warthog oinking!  Very cool room - highly recommended!  Look closely below and you can see the cattle and an ostrich (sorry, phone camera doesnt have zoom).

The Braves game was also very fun.  It was at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, which was also hosting a cheerleading competition and a lacross tournament.  Think dolled up 14 year old girls in way too much makeup, mixed with shirtless 17 year old boys carrying lacross sticks.  Yeah, we hurried into the game as quickly as possible.  Chipper Jones hit a homerun in the game and looked great.  At least players older than me can still smack the ball!  It was a nice trip; not a cloud in the sky, shorts on for the first time in 2011, sunburn on my neck and a smile on my face.  

Thinking Inside the Box

I bought a new office chair today to see if it will help my hip bursitis.  I was noticing my hip hurt more after sitting in my office chair so I wanted one with more cushioning.  Anyway, this isnt a blog post about a chair.  Its a post about a box.  The box the chair came in to be more specific!

The kids decided the box was really a car.  They colored it all up and made it into a convertible.  On the inside front, they taped a steering wheel.  Yep, they've been playing with a cardboard box for about an hour!  Here's some photos of the new drivers.

This box is going to be pretty great for dad too.  Apparently corrugated cardboard makes for excellent smoke in a bee smoker.  There's a reason the cardboard box is in the Toy Hall of Fame people.  

Winter Sports

Sorry again for the long delay between blog posts!  My deadline at work has passed, so I should have energy at home again!

Emma went for skiing lessons late last week!  There is a ski hill in the town next to ours (Tyrol Basin) that offers lessons for kids.  Below is a video of Emma skiing (turn off the volume)! Not bad for a first timer!  Here's hoping this shows up in an olympic montage someday!

Erin got to do some skiing with her too.  Definitely something they will do again next winter!  Me, I'm looking forward to spring.  Spring training that is.  I head to Florida to see some games with my friend Henri next Thursday!  Where did I put those shorts?

Bees on Order

I sent in my "reservation" for bees today!  I reserved them from Dadant & Co in Watertown and requested a mid-April delivery.  I should be getting a 3 pound box of bees.  I have to go there to pick them up, which begs the question: "What do you do with a box of bees while you're driving?!"  I think I'll have to bring Erin along so she can hold them on her lap!  She'll be really excited about that!

It was a $10 deposit on a $76 package.  I have to put down $4 as a deposit on the box.  I'm not sure its worth $4 to drive it back to Watertown, so lets just say it costs $80 for a three pound box of bees.

I also got the glass repaired in my hive today.  I took it to Verona Plumbing and Glass and they fixed it up nicely.  I didnt tell them what it was, so they had a good time guessing what it was for.  Nobody guessed it was a beehive!  It was nice to talk with them in the shop.  I worked there about 18 years ago.  Those guys taught me how to work hard!

My next step is to paint the roof of the hive.  I bought some white primer, and then I was thinking I might let the girls paint some more on top of the white.  I definitely want to get them involved!

Jump Around

Its been a long busy week at work - sorry for no blog posts this week!  Boy, was I glad to get a chance to go to the Badger game yesterday!  I needed that!

The Badgers were playing #1, and undefeated, Ohio State.  There was a big buildup for the game.  During the football season, the Badgers had beaten #1, and undefeated, Ohio State.  Everyone was wondering if the basketball team could do it too. The crowd was loud and ready to see an upset.  The Badgers played really well in the first half and was only losing by two.  The second half started really poorly and we were eventually losing 47-32 - 15 points!  It looked like a loss for the Badgers.

But then, the Badgers made a 3!  And another!  And another!  Everyone was on their feet and cheering. It was the loudest I have ever heard the Kohl Center.  We tied it!  When they made another 3 pointer with 30 seconds to play, there was elation.  I was literally jumping up and down!  Amazing!  Improbable!  Unbelievable!  We won!

When you've had a tough week, let yourself do something fun!  Get carried away in it!  Jump Around!  Have fun!

First Lessons In Beekeeping

Yesterday, I went to the full day beekeeping class I wrote about a month ago. I went expecting to be in a round table class with 10 or 12 other people.  I arrived in a large classroom with 90 students.  90!  It was pretty incredible to see so many people interested in beekeeping.  We all wore name tags and it was neat seeing where everyone came from.  I felt like singing the Johnny Cash song "Ive Been Everywhere".

The instructor was excellent.  She was very knowledgeable and had a good sense of humor about how beekeeping worked.  I know a lot more than I did on Friday, and I actually feel more relaxed about the things I was worried would trip me up.  She would explain how things were supposed to work, then tell you that it wouldn't work that way, but you would figure it out!  

The main question I had going into the class was "How do I get bees?!"  The answer is you order them.  They come in a screened box, with a metal soup can looking thing that feeds them sugar syrup.  In the box is also a much smaller box, about the size of a matchbox, that holds your queen.  I can order it from Dadant, in Watertown, and pick it up there.  Interestingly, Dadant is the author of "First Lessons In Beekeeping", the book I am planning to buy as a reference.  Apparently, the author is an ancestor of the Dadants who run this business.  They are 7th generation beekeepers.  I think I'm in good hands.  Bees cost about $60-$70 for a package.  They are sold in weights, and I'll probably buy 3 pounds.  I will be able to pick them up in April.  

I also met the Honey Queen of Wisconsin.  Emma and Ginny would have been so impressed!

Half the Man I Used to Be

Well, that's not true.  I'm 80% of the man I used to be.  Today I reached my goal weight of 160 pounds, about 40 pounds lighter!  Lots of people ask me why I decided to lose weight.  I dislocated my knee again in August and I realized I had not lost the weight I gained during the recovery from my knee surgery.  I figured I should lose that weight (and then some) so it would put less stress on my knees.  That and the Wii fit thing can quit calling me overweight!

The next question people ask me is how I'm doing it.  If I had to pick one thing I'm doing, its that I'm eating smaller portions.  I'm eating dinner on a side plate rather than the main plate.  I've also tried to replace processed foods with more fruits and vegetables.  This is where Erin has really helped me.  I really couldn't do it without her.  She has been making me really delicious low calorie meals.  I hardly know I'm on a diet!  I still eat things I like, just in more moderation.

Ah, and the other thing, it snowed about 2 feet here last night.  Snow day in Madison!  Well, it was for the kids anyway - I worked from home.  My parent's neighbor had their entire front door covered in a drift.  The WHOLE door!  Ours wasn't that bad.  Here's a picture of the drift on our deck.  Its taller than Ginny!!

Music To My Ears

Erin had a great idea this week to help the kids with playing the piano!  She took scotch tape and put it over the piano keys.  Then she took a sharpie marker and printed the note on each of the keys.  After that, she marked a couple of pieces of music with the notes to play a song.  I came home on Friday to the sound of Ginny playing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".  Awesome!

The kids are getting much more interested in music.  Gramma and Grandpa gave Emma a guitar and she has been writing songs and playing them for us.  I got to accompany one of her songs playing my roll patterns on the banjo (about the only thing I can do).  It was a lot of fun.  I'm looking forward to more banjo lessons from my dad!

Here's a couple pictures of Erin's great idea:

Butt Warmers

On our way to the last UW basketball game, which my parents graciously drive my brother and I to in their Toyota Prius, we noticed their gas mileage had dropped substantially over the winter.  In the summer months, they were easily clearing 50 mpg.  But now in the dead of winter, its down to about 40 mpg (still not too shabby).  We were trying to figure out how the mileage could have changed so much?  Was it the seat warmers?  Is a warm butt worth 10 mpg?!

I did some research tonight and found this website.  Besides the heater running more (which saps power), cold tires and a different formulation of gasoline reduce gas mileage.  It happens in every car!  If I was paying attention, I would have noticed my Pathfinder's 17mpg was dropping to about 14 mpg in the winter.  Wow, 20% looks a lot better on those lower mpg cars.

The moral of the story is:  It's better to keep your butt warm in a low mpg vehicle than a higher mpg one.  Right?

Traffic

I recently finished a book about traffic.  I know, I know, who would want to read a book about traffic?  We sit in it long enough and its a source of constant complaint.  It was actually a really interesting book.  It had a couple of fun statistics, like a majority of people rate themselves as above average drivers.  Or people all over the world alot themselves 1 hour of commuting time, whether its by car, bicycle or foot.  Tokyo, Japan - one hour.  Wild Rose, Wisconsin - 1 hour.  It explains why the other lane is always moving faster (human perception is flawed).  It spends a whole chapter on risk, and concludes that driving is the most dangerous thing most of us will ever do.   Drive safe!

I'm Screwed

Last week, I contacted the craftsman who makes the garden hive that I'm constructing for my bees to see if he could send me some more connector screws.  He replied and mailed me the screws I needed to complete the construction. They arrived on Wednesday!  I've never been so excited about receiving screws in the mail!

After putting them in the pre-drilled holes, I could complete construction of the hive!  It took about 10 minutes when I had all the equipment.  The only issue is I broke the observation window when I was tightening the screws.  The pressure of the wood holding together spider-webbed the glass.  Right now I'm holding it together with duct tape (the magical fix-it), but I think I'll replace the window before spring.  Anyway, I think the hive came together pretty well and it looks great!  Here's a couple of pictures of the (almost) completed project!

She's got it write

We were excited that Ginny began writing her name unprompted this week!  She must have been watching her big sister.  She wrote both her name and Emma's!  Its really amazing to me how kids pick up new skills.  It almost seems like magic.  I'm really glad there are so many magicians (teachers) in their life!  I really like the E with all the lines in it.  The picture on the bottom is another Ginny drew this week.

Black Comet Defender

Emma played her second basketball game this week.  She plays in the Verona rec league on Wednesday nights.  She is on the Black Comets team!  The season starts out with 3 practices and then there are 4 games. Its really fun to watch the kids learn how to play as the weeks go by.  In the first game, Emma was a fantastic on the ball defender, following the ball handler around the court and waving her arms furiously over her head to make sure they didnt get a good shot or pass.  This week, in the second game, she was a great all around defender, staying with her girl and keeping herself between them and the basket.  She kept her arms above her head waving furiously the whole time on defense!  She even followed her girl on offense!  Bo Ryan would be so proud.  Its really fun to watch!  Here's a shot of our great Black Comet Defender!