Friday, August 03, 2012

Summer's spinning out of control!

Okay, I know I'm too busy when it's Friday and I look at my blog and see I haven't posted since Tuesday, and I can't even remember what I did on Wednesday and Thursday. I hate it when things keep me from my blog! Plus I have a hell of a lot of blog-reading to catch up on.

I went running alone today for the first time since we started this in April. (Don't tell anybody, but I love running.) Gordon was acting as duty-counsel in court today, and couldn't make it before the track closed this evening. There was plenty of excitement in the courthouse today. Apparently heat makes people commit more crimes; Gordon was trying to bail out the arrestees until 5:45.  And there was a mini-riot down in the holding cells (where Gordon visits the accused criminals.)  Some guy with anger-management issues actually kicked out a window of bullet-proof glass allegedly separating the prisoners from the lawyers and other staff. Makes you wonder how useful the bullet-proof glass would be if it were actually shot with a gun! 

Anyhoo, off I went to the dome to run. It's not very busy there and at 3 pm, I was the only person who had shown up all day. It does get a little hot and stuffy in there, but not as hot as outdoors. I can't take running in the blazing sun, at least not yet.  

It was nice to have the track to myself, and  listened to tunes on a running playlist I made for my iPhone. I laughed out loud when Muse's Survival came on. It's the official song of the 2012 Olympics and because I haven't watched any Olympic coverage (Owl Wood and I are two of that rare breed of Olympic abstainers!), I'm not even sick of it yet. I am as far from an Olympic runner as you can get, but the song (which seems to be one of those you either love or hate) was strangely motivating. 

I did survive my run, and am still enjoying my endorphin rush, but I'm also bloody hungry so I hope hubby shows up soon and we can dive into the Thai food I got at the Maxville Farmers' Market today. The Glengarry Highland Games are this weekend and we avoid them like the plague. My in-laws are Scottish, my hubby wore a kilt to our wedding, and while a Navy musician, I played next to bagpipers in a massed band many times at the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo. On top of that, my parents were English and Irish. There's only so much highland flinging a girl can take, although I would happily visit Scotland again! But the only caber I want to see tossed is my husband's...

ANYHOO! Here are some pics I took the other week and neglected to post.


Polar bear chainsaw-carved by Gerdine Van Woudenberg. I bought it at Art Fayre this year and just love it! Note the book title. :)


The bee-phobic Owl Wood might want to avert his eyes for a moment...


LOOK AT MY BEAUTIFUL BEES!!!


This is what we beekeepers love to see: lots of bees flying in the sun, heading back to the hive with honey and pollen.


You can see there the phrase "hive of activity" came from.



Look at those lovely girls coming and going from the hives!


Here's another lovely girl...


A bumblebee on catnip flowers. All bees go crazy for catnip and other flowers of the mint family.



Incoming!



Three of my hives. I pulled off several boxes this week and extracted a bunch of honey. YUm-o!

And some flowers from my garden...


These poppies self-seed everywhere.



The echinacea is especially popular with the butterflies.

And I have mason bee houses in my garden. I'm not convince I'm attracting any actual mason bees, but I am making some leafcutter bees and I'm not sure what is making the mud nests....


Not a great pic, but the little bee above has a piece of leaf in her grasp.



Here comes another inhabitant!



This box has seen more action this year than ever before. It's quite the year for insects, with all the dry heat we've been having and our crazy, early, hot spring.



Here's a honey bee on motherwort. They go NUTS for this stuff.


And a lily with...


...a fly. Not some pretty bee, but an ugly old fly. I like the juxtaposition of beautiful and icky here.

Have a happy weekend. We have heat warnings issued for tomorrow because it's supposed to be at least 34C with humidex above 40C. All I can say is yuck. But they are predicting much-needed rain on Sunday, and it's supposed to last for hours, not minutes. Fingers crossed, because we're in a drought.


14 comments:

  1. I love your posts Knatolee. You always make me feel I'm living on your farm. So much better than dry, dusty Toronto. Although I have learned now to look at the little bit of green and flowers we have here and there. I haven't seen one bee yet but I keep looking.

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    1. OH thank you Claude! I'm glad I can bring a little bit of the countryside to you!

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  2. I used to work in a courthouse behind bomb proof glass (the IRA days), we had panic buttons everywhere. I can understand your avoidance of the Highland Games....we used to live in Scotlnd...bloody agony bags everywhere!
    Jane x

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    1. I think our courthouse needs to, er, upgrade its glass! If a prisoner can kick it out, it's definitely not bomb-proof! :)

      "Agony bags", i love that!!! Hahahha!

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  3. I'm with you Natalie, I don't watch one second of Olympics. I haven't run since Nov. 2011. I still want to run but my head tells me no.

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    1. I am all jaded about the doping and other silliness. And I don't believe in winning at all costs!

      And walking is plenty good for exercise! :)

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  4. Not watching Olympics??? I don't get it!!

    On the other note, I would really love to have some of your honey!

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    1. I wish I could share some with you. Too bad we don't have a tasting blog!

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  5. You're not the only one casting their eyes away from the Olympics! ;)

    I've read too much about it to enjoy it. O.O

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    1. Exactly!! :) Glad I'm not alone!

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  6. I've just been catching up on a week's worth of your blog posts.

    I loved the bee post. I can't remember if you've ever said, but how is honey made? Does the nectar just turn into honey or do the bees do something to it? I hope it isn't by regurgitating it from their stomach rucksacks, yuck!

    We don't seem to have as many insects as usual this year, which I presume is down to the wet summer we've had. I've only seen one butterfly on my Buddleia bushes so far.

    I'm not watching the Olympics either.

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    1. The bees help the nectar along! They add enzymes to it to break it down into simple sugars, then remove enough moisture to make honey. One of the ways they remove moisture is by fanning it with their wings. There's a good explanation here:

      http://www.fordshoneyfarm.com/honeymade.html

      Your wet summer seems like a logical explanation for the lack of insects. By contrast, I've seen more bugs this year than ever. WE've had an amazing array of butterflies! So the hot, dry weather has had one good outcome!

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  7. Anonymous10:51 pm

    Oh I've been away too long! I've missed your bee photos and you have some stupendous ones here. In several I felt like I was flying with the bees (only I don't know how to do the dance...

    Janet

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    1. The waggle dance is what they do in the hive!

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waggle_dance

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!