That thing about the bees is odd

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Cabol told me to go do something while waiting for the furniture to arrive today (it’ll probably coincide with a thunderstorm). So I went down to the beehives, since they are way past due to have their mite medicine removed, and the feeders from the winter taken off.

All three hives seem to have made it through the winter. The one closest to the garden (which blew over in the middle of the winter) still seems the smallest, but there were bees in it, at least. I put a new super on the middle one, and the third one had comb built on about half its top super.

I know a real beekeeper would take the supers off each other and check each one and see how things are going, but I’m too scared of the bees to spend any more time down there than necessary. Maybe if there is no drought this year we’ll get some honey to harvest, although having living hives these days is a feat unto itself.


Eleven Months

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Through the magic of technology, I am posting this Anya Update only one day late.

In month eleven, Anya:

+ Learned to say “Mamamamama.” Yes, I know she was saying “Mama” at a few weeks old, but really we all know that was just my imagination. It’s the real deal now. Except for the part where it doesn’t actually mean anything yet and is just something to say.

+ Ate pretty much anything, including: blueberries, pizza, broccoli, peas, carrots, pancakes, biscuits, chicken, rice, oatmeal, cat food, peaches, crackers, bananas, yams, green beans, and of course cheerios. These are things she likes in regular people format, though some of the things like the peas, carrots, and peaches seem to work better for her all blended up. Also, I’m not sure there is a people format for cat food. She does not like yogurt.

+ Opened a kitchen cabinet door, shrieked in disgust, and told us we need to declutter.

+ Wiggled, rolled, and bounced on her butt to move around. Who needs to crawl?

+ Had her second ear infection.

+ Became a kindred spirit to Anne of Green Gables by finding her very own “window friend” in the glass doors of the entertainment center. Anya and WF have spent many a half hour playing together happily.

+ Became addicted to kleenex. I think Sana taught her how to seek them out and devour them.

+ Searched high and low to find the girl panda to go with the boy panda when she played with her noah’s ark animals. The zebra almost threw her for a loop, but she figured it out.

There will be a picture here probably…oh, yesterday (thanks, technology!). I just have to figure out where it is.





Lamb update

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Well, I’m at home today because Anya is sick, and Cabol said it was my turn to stay home with her. I went down to the barn a little while ago, and little black sheep seems sort of confused on who her mommy is. Her mouth feels warm, and I’ve seen her futzing around under Pearl, so I think she is feeding. But when Pearl went back into the barn to eat, the baby was confused and baaaaaaaing outside and following Sadie around. At one point, she even forced her way through the fence and came after me. I put her back in the barn with Pearl, but it’s still a little worrisome.

Sadie has a pair of toes sticking out of her hoo-hah, so I expect more babies today.

UPDATE: Two more sheep outside with Sadie. A black and a white one. Now that won’t get confusing.


Another hard day of lambing

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Another hard day of lambing here at the Loafkeeper residence. We wake up, go to work, come back, and find Pearl with these:

The black one seems a little less aggressive than the white one, so I think Cabol will go down later and maybe give her a little nutra-drench. They both appear to be girls.

I think another might soon be on the way, too. Check out Sadie:


Foggy evening

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It got foggy this evening, and while checking on the sheep (still no babies, but Pearl sure has some big boobies) I took some pictures. Most involved Anya pulling on Cabol’s hair, though, so I deleted those.