What Did You Do Today?

[steve b.]

I was having a hard time breathing through my nose even during the day.  Ended up having polyps removed.  Much better now.   Surgeon said one was bigger than a lima bean, easy.  I'm on nasal steroids the rest of my life to keep them at bay.  Why am I talking about this?

Today I worked on some yew bark backing that i hope to put on a bow someday.  There was debate whether it would crack when dried so I left a sample piece out in the hot sun for a few days.  Today I sanded any wood off the back until I saw the red color then glued it to a flexible piece of fir.  I coated the outside with TBIII.  When it all dries I will flex that fir more than any bow will flex and see if the backing holds up.

[steve b.]

Here's some pics of the backing pieces.  I removed any of the flaking outer bark and put two coats of tru oil on.  They are very pliable now but not fully dry either.  Today I sanded the back of one piece down to the red stuff.  I'll leave it outside in the sun now for a few days of drying then see if it gets brittle or whatever. 
If it works out I think it will make an interesting looking backing.  This big piece in the pics represents enough backing to cover an 84" bow, 2" wide, and after sanding it weighs 4 oz.  Not sure if that is heavy.

[steve b.]

[steve b.]

I have a canoe upside down in the backyard and up on a rack.  I saw a bird going in and out so I went up under with a flashlight and found these guys in there.

[Poggins]

Setting at the lake with friends right now , earlier I worked on a bow that I'm doing for my supervisor , I cut the stave in early March and I'm working it a little at a time so it doesn't crack or twist.
It's still a little wide and about an inch or more thick right now , in a week or two I'll get it closer to floor tiller , I put two coats of shellack on the back to keep it from checking while it dries.

[YosemiteBen]

Today I am going to another district in Yosemite called Wawona. It was another NDN village site as well as early settlers to the area. I am attending something called the Adventure Risk Challenge(ARC). No, not the Association of Retired Citizens!  Will do a how'd you end up in this career interview, eat lunch, jabber around with folks and head back to my regular office.  Still looking at 100 today at 4000 feet elevation.

[Eric Krewson]

Yesterday I noticed that coons had started working on my sweet corn patch, once they start the patch is history in a couple of days.

Here is my crop after a coon assault  a couple of years ago.



I put out my live trap, baited it with cookies then decided to put a couple low strands of electric fence around the corn patch.

Got up this morning to check my trap, I could see from a distance the trap was sprung, the trap had a nice red fox in it instead of a coon. I let the fox out of the trap unharmed.

The electric fence kept the coons out of the corn, at least for now.

[JW_Halverson]

I went out to work my beehives yesterday. Two are doing well and two were failing.  Both the bad hives had lost their queens, one had fewer than 3000 bees left.  I had requeened the better hive and combined the two into one stronger hive.  Then I got a little sting on my right forearm.  No biggie, been stung before.

A half hour later I was covered head to toe in hives, was feeling a crushing sensation in my chest and was sick to my stomach.  Popped some benadryl and laid down.  The hives went away in less than an hour, but my right forearm looks like a transplant Popeye sans tattoo.  In fact it kept getting worse until my right shoulder and pectoral muscle were also swollen.

This morning it's just the forearm that is badly swollen.  Guess I gotta stop being a cowboy and get myself a beesuit instead of going at it with no protective gear.  Maybe I need to get a Doc to write me a scrip for a epinephrine pen, too.

[bubby]

gee ya think jw

[Roy]

Yup JW, I heard a rumor you wasn't the brightest bulb on the tree.. LOL

[JW_Halverson]

I have been accused of being bright...but they could not get a conviction.

4 years keeping bees and less than half a dozen stings total, never had a reaction until yesterday.  Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.

[Roy]

Yup and as we get older, LOL...

[Poggins]

JW'S , I'd still get the pin , I use a bee suit and still get stung from time to time, usually smash one against myself . Stay safe and enjoy the bees , I need to pull honey and soon , all my favorite customers are waiting for some .

[Eric Krewson]

As I understand it the reaction from next sting could kill you before you can do anything about it.  Allergic reactions to stings tend to get much worse each time they occur, happened to a guy I worked with. He either died or almost died in the ER but they were able to bring him back.

[JW_Halverson]

Got a suit on order and will talk with the doc about getting a scrip for an epi pen. 

Went back to the hives this morning and checked up on the two hives I had combined and requeened.  They had blended nicely and were busy working.  The queen had not been released from her cage, so I tore open the mesh.  She immediately climbed down between frames and the bees did not swarm her.  That's a positive sign that the hive had accepted her as the new Queen.

I opened the strongest hive and stole a frame from the center of the brood chamber.  It was LOADED with capped brood and a halo of capped honey around the edges.  I smoked the bees and shook them off the frame and slipped it into the middle of the blended hive where the queen had just disappeared.  They will have new bees emerging in days, if not even today.  This is supposed to stimulate the hive and the new queen into egg production. 

That leaves me with two strong hives and two poor hives combined into one stronger hive.  Maybe I will have honey this year after all.  So far, none of the hives have shown they are ready for the honey supers to be installed.  With my track record of the last few years, I would be happy to have two hives put up enough honey to survive the winter on their own.