Friday 22 July 2016

Catching up

It's been a while, hasn't it? 

There have been a lot of political things going on, which I've not blogged about, partly because that's not what this blog has been about, and partly because "Oh Fuck" isn't really the basis for a whole blog.

So, not blogging about that.

What can I talk about? 

The bees and having their ups and downs. I had to feed them (with sugar syrup) because it was so cold and wet and there is the 'June Gap' when there is less pollen available. And I was dead pleased with myself for having spotted that they were getting low on stores, and choosing to feed them, before a general warning was sent out by the BBKA, which made me feel I was getting something right!

However,it seems I may have lost my queen - I have done a couple of hive inspections and found no eggs or larvae, and I have not seen her (but then she can be tricky to spot at the best of times)

I got a (much) more experienced beekeeper to come and have a look, and he thinks I may have a new queen (which means I need to be patient, to allow time for her to mate, and start laying,which could take 2-3 weeks). He has recommended checking again after a week, and has said that he will be able to give me a test frame (a bit of comb with eggs and young larvae in it) which would allow the bees to build a Queen cell and turn one of the eggs into a new queen if necessary.

So, fingers crossed...


In other news, I had a nice family meet up - both of my parents turned 70 earlier this year so we (their 4 children) wanted to take them out to celebrate, which we did, and very nice it was too!

Both the meal, and catching up with all my siblings and their partners, worked out well.

The restaurant we went to was in Cheltenham, and is in an old, art-deco style former cinema, which makes for a rather nice setting for a celebratory meal. 


In fact, although I didn't realise it beforehand, it is the restaurant used in filming 'Sherlock', where Watson proposed to Mary 


Sherlock did not call in while we were there, however! Bit even without Sherlock, it was a good day!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In a world where so much of the news is irredeemably horrible, these two sweet stories give mine heart a bit of ease.

Our Saaremaa bees are doing very well. Aivar, the Honey Man dropped off a new supply last Monday and these are running out of the shop - mainly into Finnish suitcases. The Nun's bees have made the newspaper and they too are very happy (bees and sisters, all)