Category Archives: winter

The (Dead) Bee Report

In true procrastinator form, after ignoring the fact that one of my bee hives had died out much earlier this winter, I finally cleaned up the hive and brought it inside.

In extra true procrastinator form I did it today because it was sunny and cold and beautiful outside and I was doing all I could to avoid my inside chores.

#hopeless

I’m sure you will be pleased to know that unlike the mess of a mouse nest I expected to find in a hive that had been left out for part of the winter, (because of course this isn’t the first time I’ve made such a poor decision) it was empty.

All that was inside was a small cluster of dead bees still clinging around hundreds of bee butts sticking out of empty cells. A sad sight.dead bees in frame

The cluster was much smaller than I expected which made me wonder if the hive was never as big and strong as I had thought it was. Perhaps that was why it was the target of the robbing behavior last fall and they never would have made it through the winter anyway. Or perhaps the robbing threw them off, destroying so much of their home, hive and brood that it caused them to be low in number going into winter.dead bees in frame

Whatever it is, it drives home the fact that the longer I keep bees the more I know how little I really know.

After shaking off what bees we could and cleaning up the hive for transport into the garage for the rest of the winter, Jane and I spent some time poking about in the pile of dead bees. I’m going to fob this behavior off as “investigative research”  but I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty fascinating to look through the pile of bees. Frozen and dead they look very much the same as when they were alive and the hairs on their legs will still “grab” onto jacks and gloves and each other. Sifting through the pile I only saw one (dead) mite still clinging to it’s host which I shall take to be a good sign. And after a bit of searching we pulled the queen out of the pile and were able to take her back to the house for a morbid little photo shoot.

Queen bee on top with one of her daughters below to show the size difference.

Queen bee on top with one of her daughters below to show the size difference.

While we looked through the dead hive evidence of cleansing flights from the live hive was all around us and they appear to be doing fine. I’m crossing my fingers and making a note to check them during the next warm spell, it can be hard to be a hive of bees in the winter that might be counting on a little extra care from an expert procrastinator.

 

 

Weekend Invasion

When we show up at the door of a kind relative who asked us to come stay with them for the weekend (or the door of an even kinder relative who didn’t mind when we invited ourselves over for the weekend) I cringe.

Five people and an indeterminate amount of animals pile out of our truck and head to the house with smiles and hugs and an inordinate capacity to cause havoc. I don’t think my family is extraordinarily messy or unruly, but neither are we neat and calm. We rush the house while cheerfully saying hello and unload our mountain of “stuff” that we’ve brought with us.

This weekend in our almost-annual winter trip to Michigan to visit my aunt and uncle we brought the five of us, one dog, and 22 pairs of footwear for all our winter related activities.

When you have unloaded 22 pairs of footwear from your vehicle and moved them into your kind and unsuspecting relatives home, I’m pretty sure that’s when the scale tilts to weekend invasion.

We had to bring all the footwear because ice skating!!!
The OFG hits the ice for the first time in 50 years!
Uncle Jim working hard to fix the one dog we brought!
Hiking in the woods
Visit to the Air Zoo
Visit to the Air Zoo

We invade and we try to use manners but we eat lots, leave a trail of jackets, hats, mittens, lost toys and markers wherever we land and that’s not even the worst of it.

The worst of it is the toilet paper. No, we don’t bring our own toilet paper (We probably should but since I can’t keep it in stock at home I’m not about to start traveling with it). We use other people’s toilet paper just like normal people. Except that we use lots of it because four of us are girls and three of us have no concept of the amount of paper necessary to use the necessary and all four of us are befuddled by the thick pillowy sheets that others use as toilet paper. You see, at home we are a one ply family. That’s right, we use toilet paper that most would only deem fit for a government institution or a sketchy gas station bathroom because septic tanks and little girls.  I am sure it is possible to teach young girls to regulate the amount of toilet paper they use but I’ve always just been so relieved that they actually USE it and the accompanying toilet that I haven’t bothered. Instead, to prevent things like this happening we buy terrible one ply toilet paper so that even ridiculous wads of it won’t clog up the pipes and the septic. Now this is all very fine for our own home, but please remember, we just invaded a relative’s home.  My relatives, being my relatives, either have septic systems of their own, old plumbing or both. Now imagine, you are used to using toilet paper that comes off the roll in see through sheets,  you reach over and yank a big handful off to use. But, joy of all joys, it’s soft and thick and pillowy and now you have a giant armful of it and oh… this is why nobody’s been able to flush the toilet all weekend.

If septic systems could cringe I wouldn’t be the only one internally quivering as we all pile out of the truck on the next visit to the relatives.

Burning Firewood

I put another stick of firewood on the fire.

It’s a large awkward chunk with holes riddling it, part of an old carpenter ants’ nest. It came from the big cherry tree on the old fence line. It must be one of the oldest trees on the property with three big trunks and when one of them broke and fell it landed on the neighbors side. Cherry is about as good of wood as we have for burning at our place, so I quickly sent John over to negotiate. Our tree, his land, we will clean it up quick, thank you very much!firewood carved by ants

My brother happened to visit just about then so I put a chainsaw in his hand and he cut the limb into rounds while I heaved them over the old wire fence. Straight into all the kinds of prickles that grow in Wisconsin. It took another day with John running the chainsaw to finish clearing everything. And then, over the course of several months I smashed my wheelbarrow through the brush to a little clearing I had made. There I split the big rounds into firewood sized chunks. There I also learned it’s important not to catch brush on the top of your arc while splitting wood. Then I loaded them all up and brought them to the wood pile. That was the time that I learned that even if those ants are frozen solid, they thaw – alive…

My firewood piles near the house are dwindling. I need to move more from the big stacks a bit further away but I need a better system. The tractor would be ideal. Hopefully it’ll be fixed soon. Maybe a sled would work. I think there might be a half dozen hard to split pieces back by the fence. I must have given up on them when I hurt my shoulder last year. I should check. And I should learn to use a chainsaw so I don’t have to rely on the boys. Of course that gives me an excuse to spend a day working outside with John or my brother or my dad. Maybe I’ll stick with the splitting maul. Our chainsaw has issues anyway, I wonder what else we can try to fix it…

I put another stick of firewood on the fire and I wonder what people think about when they turn up the thermostat.

 

 

Not Just Any White Stuff Will Do

There are all different kinds of snow.

There is the icy, crystally kind that hurts your cheeks when it drives down out of the sky and the impossibly fluffy kind that falls out of the sky in feathery clumps that compact into almost nothing by morning. There are the super cold drifts that squeak beneath your boots and the terrible warmed and refrozen kind that is really just snow shaped ice covering the ground.

The best kind, that never seems to come around as often as you hope, is the wet pack-able kind. This snow, that snowballs and snowmen are made of, shows up on warm days. And those days, when the snow is debating disappearing altogether but hasn’t yet given up it’s hold, those are the days for sledding.sledding

The track becomes hard and packed so you fly down the hill.Ivy sledding

And between the climb of the hill and the warmth of the day everyone can stay out for hours.Jonas sledding

The soft snow that might be turning to slush at the bottom is forgiving of crash landings. Grandma Mary and Ivy sleddingIt will melt on your face and your clothes, until snow pants start to sag with the weight of it.Grandma Mary, Clara and Ivy sledding

It takes a certain kind of day, a certain type of warmth, a certain amount of snow and a perfect hill.Tyler and Jonas sledding

Not just any white stuff will do…John sledding

…if you are looking for…
Jonas and Pete sledding

 

 

… a perfect day on the hill.Jane sledding

An Icy Reminder

Last week, after a few warm days, winter came back to ensure we all didn’t forget about her while in the throes of spring fever.

She showered us with sleet and rain and snow and ice – just because she could.DSCN1711-(2sm)

Winter stopped by for a day, perfectly encased the world in ice, then let the sun out the next morning to show it off.

By the end of the day she was gone. Every last bit of her.

Today the daffodils are showing yellow in their buds.

I told them to hold on.

Winter has gone but I think she’s still hiding just beyond the next bend.

I encourage you all to head over and visit Jerry Johnson on Dispatches from a Northern Town and read Glazed. He got hit a bit harder than we did with the same storm and he describes this weather perfectly. (Also I’m pretty convinced that he has re-adjusted the “in like a lion and out like a lamb” saying about March just right…)

 

It’s Still Coming

The last weekend in February was warm.

Fifty plus degrees warm.

And sunny.

So sunny that two of us ended up sun burnt.

The snow melted, sandals and shorts were dug out of closets (because this is Wisconsin) and we all enjoyed the hint of things to come.

And then, on the first of March (because this is Wisconsin), it snowed.

A perfect, beautiful fluffy snow.  And people howled as if spring had been stolen from them.

icicle

It’s still coming.

Can’t you feel it?

The sun beams warm the patches of floor they fall on.

Can’t you see it?

The chickens are laying more eggs.

speckled chicken egg

The forgotten tulip bulbs have sprouted in their bags.

Even the garlic can’t resist the call of spring as it sends out tiny green tendrils from it’s dark corner of the kitchen.

It’s not here yet.

It’s not time yet.

But a little snow fall can’t stop it.

snow drops

It’s still coming.

 

I Got Pooped On Today

I got pooped on today, but it’s all right.

It was just a little bee.honey bee

And I was wearing John’s jacket.

honey bee

During the winter bees won’t defecate in their hive. Instead they wait for a bit of mild weather and then fly out on “cleansing flights”. Which is a very polite way of saying that if you are out walking near the hives when the snow stops and the sun peeks out for a moment you might be lucky enough to get pooped on by bees! 

They’re Coming

Me: “Hey! How did you know that!?!”

Jane:” Because I’m going to know everything.”

Me: “How old do you think you’ll be when you know everything.”

Jane: “Probably… 14.”Jane

The teenage years are coming and I guess I can’t say she didn’t warn us.

This Moment – Lookin’ Around

A Friday ritual.

A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

John and Jane

In interest of full disclosure I feel compelled to share with you that this picture was not taken this week. It was taken last week. I’m sure there is no one other than me that finds that important. But now, when I look back on this in years to come, I’ll know that this was taken the first week of January and not the second and, clearly, that will make all the difference.