Buzz-Worthy

A week ago, Sandy came home from a moving run to our old house to tell me that there was a message on the answering machine for me from Karoly Toth; the Russian Queen breeder.  My bees were ready.

Long-term readers of the blog here will recall that last year I had two hives of Italian bees whose queens I named, (oddly), Nefertiti and Nefertari.  They had a wonderful spring living at the show home, but then construction ongoing at the show home site made it necessary for me to move them over to our ACTUAL home in Middletown for the summer, fall, and winter.  Alas, the move was not as beneficial to the bees as it was to the construction workers.  I lost both hives overwinter.  One to wax moths, (ugh!  horror!), and the other to hive beetles.  I don't believe they starved - both hives had a TON of honey supply left over when I dumped them.  I think possibly the location was in too much shade.  I felt awful.  I'd lost both of my hives!   My poor girls!  I knew I would make mistakes the first few years of beekeeping, but I hadn't expected to screw up this big.  Damn.

To be certain I did not bring any hive beetles or wax moths to the NEW house, I threw out all of the frames from the old supers, and then Sandy used a small flame-thrower to scorch the insides of the supers thoroughly.  Then we went ahead and ordered two Nucs* of Carniolan bees from Karoly Toth**.

Carniolans are supposed to be more winter-hardy than Italians, and more resistant to diseases and hive pests.  They are sometimes referred to as "Hygienic Bees."  We thought we'd give this breed a try.

So, on the second of July we went out to Somerset and picked up our two nucs.  We put them into two hives, strapped them down so the hive parts wouldn't bounce apart during transit, and stuck them in the back of a pickup truck.  Then we drove them back home to Rumson.  

We brought the hives out to their new pad - a concrete pad located on the south side of our greenhouse - in the newly finished bee paddock.  (We fenced off the bees from the sheep field so as to cut down on negative interactions between the two species).  Then we went back up to the house, and I whipped up a batch of sugar syrup to feed them.  I have hive top feeders.  It's important to feed your bees when you have put them onto new foundation*** - it enables the bees to concentrate solely on building comb, and the constant supply of food encourages the queen to raise lots and lots of brood.  Queen bees lay eggs in direct relationship to the amount of food coming into the hive, so having a huge reservoir of food above their heads should encourage a population explosion, provided the workers can build out enough comb for her to lay in!  

When I went to pick up the bees, Karoly gave me an important tip regarding feeding - he said only ever give the bees enough sugar syrup if you are feeding in a hive top or division board feeder for three days.  As the bees interact with the syrup they will drop miniscule amounts of pollen into it, which will ferment - making the syrup moldy - which the bees do not like.  Important tip!

So we fed the hives, and closed them up, and left them alone for the next three days.  We changed their syrup once, and then I went back into the hives yesterday to change it again, and to do my first brief hive inspection - just to make sure that both of my Russian czarinas made it through the move okay, and were laying.  My mother, who has an absolute phobia of bees, assisted.  Her idea of assisting was to stand about 30 feet away and take photographs.  Alternatively, she posed a bunch in her bee hazmat suit.  

I hope you all will miss me when I'm gone.  Because she is going to kill me for putting that picture on the internet.  She's probably calling in the hit right now.

I grabbed my suit, my smoker, a small rack that makes it possible for me to remove a frame and hang it off the side of the hive so I can check multiple frames at the same time, and the large pot of sugar syrup I'd made earlier that morning.  And, of course, my hive tool.  One can do nothing without a hive tool!

I blew just a little smoke into both hives, to mask the guard bees' alert pheromones and to start the workers eating their honey stores - which makes them fat and sleepy and keeps them from attacking ME while I'm working the hive.  

I removed the hive top feeders, dumped them a good distance away from the hive to avoid inciting robbing behavior, and left them on the grass to drain a bit while I worked the hive.

The above is a good example of a typical bee frame.  It has capped honey in the upper corners, some open chambers where eggs were laid, and also some open chambers where pollen, (or bee bread), was stored, and then an absolute MESS of capped brood.  Brood gets capped after it passes the larval stage, so this hive is about to hatch a brand new and pretty extensive work force.  

Eggs are hard to spot because they are teeny tiny - easier of course if you aren't wearing a veil, but even so, hard to spot.  The best method for finding them is to check the central frames, (the queen begins laying in the center of the hive and works her way out), and to hold the frame out in front of your face with the sun over your shoulder, shining down into the comb.  

The eggs look like tiny grains of rice stuck to the very bottom center of the comb if they are laid by the queen, and that's what I found in both hives.  So both of my Russian ladies made it to Rumson safely.  Good news.  

Had one or both of them died, then I might have found eggs in the comb, but they would be lying on the walls, and more than likely there would be more than one egg per cell - those are indicators that the worker bees have started laying in absence of a queen.  Because worker bees are essentially sterile, only drone bees (males) can develop from eggs laid by them.  Finding a large number of drone bee cells, (which look in the comb like bullets because the top of the capped cell is convex instead of flat like the above brood is), is a good indication that the queen in the hive has perished.  

But both of my girls are laying, so for now all is well in the hives.  And this means that it is time to name the queens!  

Last year I named my queens after two famous Egyptians, in honor of the trip to Egypt that we took right after my girls arrived.  This year, I think I would rather honor the homeland of our new bees than name them after some famous African queens, (although there are many African queens that I could name them after.)  Having polled my Twits, I've obtained two names I think suitable.  So please join me in wishing long life and happiness to my two Russian Czarinas, Nadejda/Nadia (meaning Hope) and Anastasia (meaning Resurrection)! 

As usual, I had my work force keeping me company.   How DID I get anything done before I was Newfed?  

* A Nuc is the nucleus of a new hive - it consists of a queen and a number of workers, brood and eggs on four built-out frames.  It is in all respects a full working hive - needing only a bit more space to spread out.  You bring it home and insert the frames and bees into your own hive body†, add another five or six frames, and voila. 

**  Somerset, NJ (732) 873-2989

*** For instruction on the basic parts of a bee hive and frames, please click this link.

†Yes, I realize that saying "insert the frames and bees into your own hive body" makes me sound like some kind of crazy alien bee incubation unit.  And I think it's awesome.

Bee Post Incoming!

Should be up sometime tomorrow.  

Until then, enjoy this photo of me priming my smoker.  That *ought* to mean something naughty, but it doesn't.

Kiss kiss,

Nes

Africa Day Seven - Day of Lions Continued

Once again, this is going to be photo-heavy; but there will be photos I won't end up using so please feel free to click this link here and see all the ones I chose to upload.  

Now then, where were we?  Oh yes.  When last we left our heroine, (me), she was suffering from an abused bladder and a surfeit of lions. Well, "suffering," is perhaps not the most accurate of descriptions - but the important thing to take away from the above sentence is that I really, really had to use the *bush*. And lions = awesome.  We were still canvassing the region where the other group had found that pride of lions the day before, but Gavin, upon being made aware of my plight, found a grassy knoll with a small tree and several screening bushes right next to a group of grazing impala, gave the area a once-over, and then allowed me out of the vehicle to answer the call of Nature.

I felt quite safe in that particular location, since I thought the impala would surely alert me to any approaching creature which may have meant me harm. In retrospect, this was an incredibly stupid assumption, since lots of things eat impala regularly, and obviously in order to be eaten they must first be caught, and in order to be caught, they must first be snuck up on. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Requiring only the briefest of bush visits, I performed the necessary act with my usual economy, and returned to the vehicle post-haste because I knew we were running out of time on the "we have to catch our plane" countdown clock and I didn't want to be the reason we missed finding the lions. I need not have worried about that. The moments after I rejoined the group proceeded as follows:

1. I returned to the jeep, and got in.
2. Gavin restarted the vehicle, and turned us around for one more sweep over the area where the lions had been seen the day before.
3. We drove about 50 feet from my grassy potty knoll.
4. A group of 10 lionesses and sub-adult lions came out of the wild sage, making a bee-line for my "water closet."  They were, in fact, the group we were looking for - 10 lions from the Boro West Tribe.  

5. I had a minor fit.
6. I thanked a round dozen gods and goddesses that I had only had to urinate.
7. Gavin remarked that had I had to do anything ELSE, I would have been potato-sack racing back to the car with my pants around my ankles, and that would have been a safari sight no one would have forgotten. Appreciative laughter followed this sally. I began to breathe again.
8. I took an TON of pictures.

The impala were grazing upwind from the lions, and so had no idea that the group was on its way. Stupid impala.

You know in retrospect, it should have been obvious that I was in danger.  Here at home I have a Manx cat named Bear, and every time I use the restroom, he sneaks in, meows imperiously, and then bites me, hard, on the butt.  I am not kidding.  The past six years spent with Bear have obviously been spent in training for this one moment - the moment when I would be eaten by a giant cat while going to the bathroom.  It is clearly my fate and my doom.  How I escaped it is anyone's guess, but much like those kids in that movie Final Destination, I will surely pay for it in some equally horrible way later.

Gavin said the lions had been on the march, because they were all wet from traversing the flooded grasslands around us. I thought they looked hungry. And beautiful.

They walked up to a small treed rise, and settled down for a bit of relaxation. Several of them piled on top of one another and began a social grooming session that had everyone in the vehicle, including the men, (except for Gavin of course), squeeing and making "awwwwww" noises.

Brace yourself - the best picture I have ever taken is next up.

Seriously?  Resist its awesome powers of cuteness, I dare you.  You can't.  You know you can't.  And just think, they could have been this snuggly AND with full bellies, if I'd only had a bit more tea that morning, or the beans the night before...

There was, again, one very sleepy lion. There's always ONE...but seriously, this one had like, African Sleeping Sickness or narcolepsy or something.

You can tell it's making the lioness there sleepy just to hang out with him.  

I mean, he just KEPT ON yawning.

I think the other lioness was worried about him, so instituted Social Grooming time...either that, or she was attracted by his insouciance.  I've heard that a devil-may-care attitude is quite attractive to some members of the opposite sex.  

A third lion decided to join the love fest.

A fourth thought about it, but decided Three was Company, and four a crowd.

"You know what would be really tasty right now, you guys?  Human."

"Oooooh, yes.  Especially one that had to answer the call of nature, and was defenseless!"

"And pantsless!  I hate when I get clothing stuck in my teeth."

"Now you're talking."

Shaking his head. Think a bug in his ear?

The lioness in the background there seemed to be in charge - she was on the lookout for something, and when she caught sight of a vortex of vultures off in the distance, it was clear she'd found it. FOOD! (Mind you, I think she would have been happier with me...)

Off to the side, a young male had chosen a sunny little hill to have a solo siesta.

Another lion horned in on his hillock.

I think he looks like an adorable stuffed animal, albeit a stuffed animal that has a small wound on one thigh.

Meanwhile, the main female was starting to round up the troops and head out. Getting a group of sun-drenched lions on the move is not easy, even for a lioness. It is, exactly, like herding cats.

There are always a couple of hold outs that don't want to move.

"HUMAN!!!"

Yup. Still yawning.

She was looking awfully alert, but all the rest of the tribe were still snoozing.

But she gave them some significant looks and they finally started shifting.

They slunk past us, giving us the stink eye as they went. I'm pretty sure they were all thinking the same thing. "That chick looks DELICIOUS."

"We'll see you again..."

"Oh DROOL I can practically TASTE her delicious humanness from here!"

"Two words:  barbeque sauce."

This sequence contains some of my favorite shots from the trip - the individuality of each of the  cats is so clear.

Han Solo over here was the last to get his tuchis on the move.

To a cat, no time is inappropriate for some snuggling.

And so, I'm sure you are wondering, what could be better?  We'd seen a grand total of 20 lions in a few hours - asleep, awake, walking and loving on one another.  We'd seen grooming and hugging, and lots, and lots, of yawning.  We had but a short time left before the plane landed at the strip and we were compelled to meet it.  But we followed the lions for a bit longer, because the other group had been called to come and meet us to see them, and if we lost them they might not find them.  

That's when the entire group decided to cross the watery ground.

The mature lionesses, disdaining to perform any of the ridiculous acrobatics that the youngsters were indulging in to keep their tails dry, just slogged through, rolling their eyes.

But the kids were having a lot of fun.

I can't even get my housecats to LOOK at a small body of water.

The other group arrived just in time to see the lions cross.

And then our time was up. Wings up over Botswana once again - we were on our way to Chobe Chilwero, on the Chobe river, and our final safari destination.

Africa Day Seven - Day of Lions

Spot the lioness!

Before I really get into this post - there's a LOT of photographs for this day, because a lot happened.  I've narrowed them down to 150 pictures for this post, but even that is way too many, so for those of you who would like to see ALL the pictures, please feel free to click on this link right here.  Note also, halfway through the album you'll see the events repeat - Sandy's photographs are first, and then mine - so you are seeing the same things through two different lenses.

Right.  So, the morning of the seventh of April, and our seventh day in Africa, I woke up to see Sandy standing at the zipper of the tent, with his flashlight in his hand.  I must have made some sound, because he said, without turning to look at me..."Listen!"

I listened, and heard what sounded like the world's largest food processor.  Humorously, I was not far off.   Sandy, still at his post, unzipped the flap and proceeded to duck his head out and look around, saying as he did so, "it sounds like an elephant."  I was thinking, "it sounds like Gurgi, with his munchings and crunchings..."  Around that time, our breakfast coffee and tea arrived on a tray, borne by one of the camp staff.  Sandy was out on the porch with his flashlight, trying to find the elephant.  The woman with our tea things said, "yes - an elephant," and she pointed out past the palisade toward the path that leads to the main camp.  Sandy shone his flashlight in the direction she indicated, and the elephant, annoyed, gave a short trumpet blow.  Sandy said, "Oh!  There he is," and his voice was half laughter and half chagrin.  I was still in bed.  Even an elephant in camp was not enough to get me willingly out from under the covers at 5:30 in the morning.  At least not without a fortifying cup of tea in me.  

By the time I had drunk my cup of tea and begun to resemble a human being, the elephant had been encouraged by the staff to seek browsing off the path, and I didn't see him.  Breakfast was a rush job - the morning helicopter crew had to get their tushes in the air, and the rest of us were hustling so we could go try and find that group of lionesses and young before we had to catch our bush plane to depart Chief's Camp for Chobe Chilwero.  Gavin had already called the plane and begged off for an extra hour; we'd been due to leave at 10 but he pushed our flight back until 11 or so.  

The morning boded well.  We hadn't been driving long before we bumped into two lionesses.  Gavin told us they were from the Golf Course Tribe.  Nancy and I joked around that if they were Golf Course girls they ought to be wearing Lily Pulitzer and have pink sweaters knotted around their necks.  Then we had to explain the preppy clothing style, and its association with certain American traditions like country clubs, to Gavin - who was utterly mystified by our comments.

"So then I said to him, I said - 'I don't NEED this, you know.'"

"Right, right..."

"I mean, I'm hot!  I could have any lion I wanted!"

"I hear you..."

"I said, 'Just because you have a big mane, it doesn't make you a big man!'"

"Good one..."

The older female was pregnant.  

The younger female was sleepy.  I totally understood how she felt.

We followed the two girls for a while, then left them and hurried off to the area where yesterday's group had seen the large pride of lions.  No dice.  We looked high and we looked low, but we couldn't find them.  It was a bummer.  

We found some other stuff though...a Lechwe dining while casting a truly fabulous reflection of himself into the water...

Sacred Ibis which I was totally not obsessed with at all...

More (Gavin Ford)ing of watery bodies.  (I'm going to hell for that pun.)

Impala does.  Fragile beauties!

The best were two Giant Eagle Owls - complete with lovely pink eyelids!  Cross Dressing owls!  They are the Eddie Izzard of the Owl world!  I was so very happy.

If you have been properly stalking me, as I expect many of you have, on Facebook - then you already know how I feel about Owls in general, and Giant ones in particular.

Two Saddle-Billed Storks  by the side of the road - we startled them into flight.

Am I the only one who instantly thought, "Klingon Bird of Prey!" upon viewing the below photo?  Probably.  *sigh*

A Red Necked Francolin.  Insert hill-billy joke here.

A lovely Greater Kudu doe.  

And who could this jaunty fellow be?  I thought Gavin was going to have a stroke on the spot, he became so excited.  An adult male Red Necked Falcon.  Gavin said the species in general enjoys hanging out in palm trees.  And he mentioned several times that it is quite uncommon to spot one, and that we were very lucky to have a glimpse of this gentleman.  Binoculars were passed around.  Gavin and I were the only two on the trip to have brought binoculars, so they went from hand to hand pretty frequently.  Note - anyone planning an African safari - bring binoculars.  You never know when you might need them.  Anyway, what's one more strap-chafe-mark on your neck?

Completing our Jackal inventory, we stumbled for the first time upon the Black Backed Jackal.

Sandy got some fabulous pictures of a Brown Snake Eagle.  

Another Wattled Crane...

Botanicals.  Sorry Gavin, I have no idea what this flower is.

But the below is wild sage, the plant responsible for the heavy fragrance in the air as we drove about.  

In the area where the lions were supposed to be, or rather, had been - was a very large troop of Baboons and a herd of Lechwe.  

This was a troop male.

Not sure about the below - a female or a young male?  (Edit:  took a closer look at her behind - and she's very definitely a female.)

But THIS is very definitely a girl. And a mother. Can you see the baby hanging on beneath her belly?

How about now? That can't be a very comfortable way to travel.

Like this shot of the Wattled Cranes

More of the baboon troop. I love the baby riding pillion on his mother in these shots.

After driving around for a bit with no lion pride success, Gavin got a call on the radio from the other group. They'd returned from the helicopter drive, and had found a pride of lionesses and cubs. Not the same pride we were looking for, but they weren't very far from us, so we drove to meet them. At first, we couldn't see anything.

But as we got closer...

This one lioness was sunbathing, but when we drove up she decided she'd had enough and got up to join the rest of the group in the shade.

This cub got up at one point, and went back to lie down next to one of his siblings - they lay down facing each other with their noses touching, and wrapped their paws around one another! I did my best to get the shot but the grass was largely in the way, still if you look closely maybe you'll see it.

The Mamba Boy brother with the broken leg was with this group.  Gavin was pleased for him, because the protection of the group might help him survive the winter, but he thought this particular lion was on his way out - he gave him maybe one more summer if he survived the winter.  Circle of Life, y'all.  Still, he makes me cry.  

While we were watching the lions, Gavin pointed out this fabulous Little Bee Eater to Sandy.  

African birds = Awesome.

After we left the pride of lions to their snooze, we drove around for a bit and watched some Red Lechwes playing in the water - they have this amazing bounding gait where they gallop five paces and then LEAP as high as they possibly can.  Photographing this is difficult.  I gave it a try anyway.

Look!  A Line of Leaping Lechwes!  (I know, I know.  Groan.)

The leap:

Hang time!

The landing:

We also got to see two males face off in a duel.  I love how the rest of the herd watches.  The does are clearly rooting on their favorite, while the males are placing wagers and making mental notes on strategy.  

 "Ooooh, Cynthia!  Ronald and George are finally having it out!" 

"Really?  Gladys you're right!  I wonder who will win?"

"Oh Ronald, without a doubt.  Look at the size of his..."

"GLADYS!" 

"What?!  I was going to say horns!"

"You're a dreadful old baggage, Gladys, that's what!"

Alas, George lost, and had to make a run for it.

After we finished shooting leaping lechwes like Japanese tourists on overdrive, (speed of lechwes requiring photo shooting in sport mode - meaning camera takes shots in rapid-fire succession, many in a second...clickclickclickclickclick), we drove off to re-canvas the area where the other group had spotted the lion pride the day before - Gavin was DETERMINED that we should see those lions, and none of us objected in the least.  But we drove and drove and looked and looked to no avail.  We just couldn't seem to find them.  And the off-roading was having a predictable and unpleasant effect upon my bladder.  It was time for a call of nature.  A call of nature I will never, ever forget.  Yea, to remember that call of nature is to feel the creeping chill of doom lightly brush my spine once more.  But that story will have to wait until my NEXT post. 

Stay tuned...

Packing...

sorry y'all - I'll try to get back into the swing of Blogging asap - but the packing is really kind of owning me, at the moment!  Anyway, just didn't want you to think I was ignoring you!

Kiss kiss,

Nes

***ouch***

Pooka and I left this morning at 7 a.m. to drive to Bear Mountain Newf Club's Newf Know How To day. I was very excited because it's the first time his breeder has seen him since he was very young, and he was very excited because I told him since he missed Canada he got to have his own special Newf day, and we'd been on the road two hours, and were 2/3rds of the way there, when a man cut across two lanes of traffic to t-bone my car. He hit us in the passenger side, head-on. 

I braked slightly and checked my rear-view - no one there but him stopped dead athwart two lanes of traffic, surrounded by bits of broken car. I braked some more, and limped my car over to the side of the road and stopped. I checked on Pooka first. He was freaked out, but fine. I checked myself next - also freaked out, but fine. Then I got out of the car and checked on her.

Not so good. One wheel totally flat, a section of the passenger siding missing, the wheel well crumpled a bit...but it could have been a lot worse. As I was investigating, the car that had hit me came squealing in to park behind me. HIS car had suffered a great deal more damage. The entire front bumper was missing, and his hood was damaged, one headlight out, and something sounded wrong with his tires - they were making a very high-pitched noise as he braked and parked. He got out and didn't even look at his car, he came straight towards me. "Is everyone okay? Are you okay? I messed up!!! I messed up big time..."

I was able to tell him that both Pooka and myself were fine, and we stared at each other for a second. I said, "Sooo...what do we do now? I've never had an accident before." He said, "Me neither." We blinked at one another. I said, "I have Triple A." He said, "Me too." We continued to blink at one another. I said, "I think maybe we're supposed to call the cops." He said, "really?" I said, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. For the accident report for our insurance. Oh! Do you have insurance?" He said, "Yes." I said, "I'm pretty sure we're supposed to exchange that information. And then we should call the cops." 

So that's what we did. My conversation with the dispatch officer was probably completely insane, I started with, "Hello. I have been in an accident." and then felt like the lady from the On Star commercial and started giggling like a total lunatic. My hands were shaking. I apologized for my lapse and told her it was my first accident, and I didn't know what to do. She asked if everyone was okay, and I said yes. Then I said, "but I have a flat tire, and there's a lot of damage, to both cars." She said, "more than $1,000 worth?" and I said, "Oh yes, definitely." She told me she'd send someone right out, but needed to know where I was. Since he'd hit me right after a major intersection, I was able to read the street signs to her and she knew where I was. She said, "you're right by a mobil station." I said, "I don't see one." She said, "it's right there." I looked but couldn't spot it. (it was around the corner). She said, "I know where you are, the officers will be there in a moment." And indeed no sooner had I hung up with her than two big squad jeeps pulled up behind us. We're talking actual seconds. Fastest cop response EVER. I remarked on it when they climbed out and sauntered over, and one said, "Oh yeah - we were right at the mobil station getting coffee." I guess that was why dispatch kept mentioning it to me. 

Anyway, long story short, they determined that the guy who had hit me had been an idiot attempting a U Turn across four lanes of traffic, that I was blameless, and one of the nice officers jacked up my car and changed my tire to the spare donut I had because he said it would take Triple A an hour at least to get someone out there. But alas, the donut was so frail, and I was so far from home, that the officers recommended that I return home on it cautiously instead of continuing on, and skip the rest of my day's plans.

So Pooka and I are back home again, and not out with our newf friends as we should be; my car looks like it has been through the wars, and my hands are still shaking, two hours later. I stopped at Petsmart and bought Pooka two new toys because I felt so badly that he had to miss his field trip. There was a newf at PetSmart and he and Pooka exchanged kisses and nose bumps. So the day wasn't a total loss. AND he got a hamburger from Burger King. Nanook was very happy to see us, and Pooka doesn't appear to have any residual fear regarding the car, so that's a win. 

And I think I'm going to go have a nap.

Day Seven Post Upcoming

But I need you to be patient!  I'm not sure yet how I'm going to do this...on Day Seven we spent a few hours of the morning driving around at Chief's, and in that brief time we took well over a thousand photos.  I'm whittling them down, but I know that those few hours are going to take more than one blog post to cover.  I've separated them into two groups - Pre-Life-Changing-Event and Post-Life-Changing-Event; and even so the pre-life-changing-event group is 150 photos!  Doom!  And of course the Post-Life-Changing-Event will be even worse!

So I'm looking at options.  The idea of forcing y'all to sit through waiting for 150 photos to upload...

But the resolution on a slideshow if I embed it is so poor...

Yeah I really haven't made up my mind.

Anyway, that's what's going on.  I'm working on it!