1 Week in...

Well, I opened up my hive to check out what the girls have been up to since I hived them last Saturday.

They had been running through a quart of syrup (1:1 sugar and water mixture)almost every day, which is supposed to be a good sign that things are going well. Yes, and no. The good is that the bees are working their tails off making honeycomb. This is called "drawing comb" in the biz, by the way. "Yeah, my gals drew about six frames of comb last week," is probably what I would say at a Beekeeping party, if I were invited to one. Then I might say,"Is anybody buzzed yet?" Or not. Anywho... the not so good thing is that I didn't notice any eggs laid in any of the comb. Bummer. This means one of two (or about 50) things. The biggest possibility it that the queen just hasn't started laying becasue she is not completely comfy yet. The next biggest possibility is that the queen is a failure and there is a good chance my hive will decline and die. That would be a drag. Apparently I can order a new queen and maybe save the hive, but if I wait too long it will be too late. I have seen the queen and she looks happy and healthy, crawling around being a busybody. I don't really want to give up on her after a week, but this realm of maverick beekeeping is a cutthroat world. I am going out there after school today. If I dont' see any eggs, I will order a new queen, and send my present one to the guillotine.

Maverick Beekeeper

Well, here I am. Keeping bees. On Saturday I performed a successful hiving of a package of bees. Sadly, I am not very digitally capable, so all I have is one photo of me after the successful hiving. You can see the smile of a job well done on my face. You can also see, in my hand, the book The Circle by David Eggers. I used it to cover the hole of the bee package after I removed the sugar water feeding can that comes with the bees. I always knew Eggers was good for something... I decided to get some bees because my friend Solar Chaucer told me last year up on Lake Bill about how a couple beehives tripled the amount of fruit he harvested from the fruit trees on his property. Intrigued, I started doing some reading. "Self," I said, "you can do this." So I took my daughters, Bubbles and Carlos, down to Sacramento Beekeeping , bought a box, and ordered a package of bees. We built the box and painted it. I let Bubbles and Carlos choose the colors. We decided on a camoflague(ish) of brown, green, and gold (ish). I don't think I took any photos of that event, but I am going to try to better document this new undertaking henceforth... Back to the bees. Or rather, the beesuit. Even though I am a rogue beekeeper, I was very concerned about being fashion appropriate while working with my new ladyfrens. Solar suggested coveralls for all the pockets they offer. Looking for a dowel at Emigh Hardware last week, I stumbled upon apair of white coveralls made for a Shaquille Oneal-sized painter. Sweeeeet! Now, not only am I covered head to toe in white, I also sport the sagging look favored by most of the sophomers that I teach. Tomorrow will be day 3 of the the new hive. I am supposed to open the hive and check to make sure the queen has been released from her cage. I'll try to take some photos.

Lists

Well, it is that time of year at work. Classes are finished, finals are graded, grades are calculated, and there is nothing left to do but throw away the detritus of this year and waste time. The 21st century has brought us a wonderful new way of wasting time- Blogging!!! So, I decided to make a few lists for today's blogpost. The first one is my supergroup:
vocals- John Fogarty
lead guitar- Curt Kirkwood
Rhythm Guitar- Buddy Holly and Joe Strummer
Bass- Mike Watt
Drums- Keith Moon
Fiddle- Jason Kleinberg
Keyboards- Ray Charles
Harmonica- Sonny Terry
Interpretive dancing- me


Tell me that group wouldn't raise the roof at your local sockhop.

My second list is my all-time Field Day team. Who knows what events will come up- could be 3 on 3 hoop, could be tug-of-war, could be competition Pictionary. Anyway, here are the guys I pick on my squad:
Michael Jordan
Jason Kidd
Nolan Ryan
Patrick McCrystle
Walter Payton
Sergei Bubka
Tiger Woods
Satchell Paige
Andre the Giant
Lance Armstrong
You'll notice that my team is heavy on winners.

Alright, I'm off to do the crossword, the Sudoku, the Scrabble, the word find, and to pretend that the Wizard of Id needs three or seven reads to find the humor in it.

Heading Home

A happy post in which I let everyone know that TANK will be in California from March 9th until May 5th.

We are really looking forward to the trip. The girls are already Disneyland-crazed, my wife is going to learn how to shoot a gun, and I am hosting a big picnic in Golden Gate Park. If you are in San Francisco on April 25th stop by Lindley Meadow, have some barbecue, play some gaint croquet, and have a tasty beverage.

Behold this mesmerizing image: Happy guy smacking giant croquet ball through giant wicket!

Gary Larson, eat your heart out!

I stole the picture, but still... This basically puts me in the same cartoonish echelon as Gary Larson and the guy who writes Frank and Ernest. Where do I sign?