Comings and goings, or, more bumbling in the beeyard

A cute little drone came to visit while I sat outside typing this post.

I’m behind this time not because there’s nothing new, but because there’s a lot new.  For now it’s the bees’ story.

So we’ve had a week of delicious heat and sunshine, actually longer than a week, but you sort of lose track after a week.  After April’s fickle weather – hail, rain, frost – coming after the sunny delight we had in March, May seems to be a reward.  I happened to be home on May 1, waiting for the new propane tank to be installed*.  We had a light frost that morning, but the day dawned sunny with the promise of warmth to come.  I hadn’t been home to see the beehives in full sun for a month, so it was great to watch them wake up as the sun hit them after the chilly night.  Except Beatrice’s hive was pretty sluggish.  It was still chilly, so maybe it was just taking longer to warm up.  Regina’s girls were out and flying, reveling in the sun as the tiny sun worshippers they are.  By noon I was getting concerned.  Sure, the propane guys were late (they’d called, and were only an hour or so behind targeted time), but Beatrice’s hive was looking really bad.  A few bees flew in and out, aimlessly and almost as if they were confused.  Not good.

By the time the propane guys came and went (GREAT service by Pacer Propane!), the hives had been in the sun for several hours.  Regina’s hive looked just like it should – lots of happy, active bees flying in and out, full of purpose.  Beatrice’s hive, my two year old Langstroth, was a little more active, but nothing like it should have been, and nothing like it had been just a month earlier.  It was too late to do an inspection that day (something that should be done in full sun, at the height of the day’s heat, to reduce hive stress), and I knew the next day I’d be able to get to it would be Sunday, which promised to be a nice hot day.

I opened her up on a roasting hot Sunday noon.  The first two boxes of Westerns looked good, as they had in April.  The further down I went, the more mold I found.  There was a LOT of mold.  I stopped for a moment and went inside to look up what to do about it.  I’d always read that the bees would take care of the mold (I had the usual mildew on the wood, but also fuzzy green mold on the honey stores, and white mold on the pollen stores).  The Natural Beekeeper was reassuring, but also not – mold was harmless and the bees would handle it, unless the hive was weak.  I went back out to continue my inspection.  The frames on the deeps had honey, mold, some dead bees and…zero brood.  Not a single egg, no larvae, no capped brood cells, nothing.  Something had happened to Beatrice and my hive was queenless (I’ve only rarely seen my queens during inspection – I saw Aurora once or twice, and honestly hadn’t done a full inspection since Beatrice took the hive after Aurora swarmed back in July.

I was dumbfounded.  No brood means my hive was basically dying a slow death.  The bees there looked healthy and active enough, if a little aimless and purposeless.  They seemed young, too – like they were still in the early phase of life, where they stay in and work hive duty – usually caring for young…no wonder they seemed confused, there was nothing to do.  I finished up, putting the hive back together, minus one of the westerns (there was so much honey and no way they could all use it), and went inside to post on the local bee forum.  I needed a queen, stat!

Beatrice (RIP) on left, Regina, in the Warre hive, on the right.

In conversing with a couple people in the next few days, it sounded like I wouldn’t have enough remaining bees to rebound with just adding a queen.  I couldn’t remember how many were in there – a few hundred for sure, and one guy asked me how many cups of bees I had.  I estimated two or three cups, feeling like maybe I’d overestimated.  Once I realized I had no brood, though, I kind of lost track of the rest of things.

I wasn’t getting anywhere with the bee forum folks, so went to Craigslist.  There was a guy about 60 miles north of me that had nucs and packages listed.   This could work.  When I called him he said he only had nucs (a nuc, or nucleus, is a small box, usually four to six frames, of bees and a queen).  I made the arrangement to go up on Friday night.  The drive wasn’t bad; I left at about 6:45 p.m., and after a stop for cash and some fuel for the car, hit the highway with Daisy in the back.  We made good time, arriving right at 8:00.  The bees were still quite active (it wouldn’t be dark for another hour or so), but he removed the feeder and brushed the girls off and I was on the road, a Rottweiler and a box of bees in the back of my car.  I drove a little slower on the way home, but stopped at the grocery before heading all the way home.

From the weather forecast I knew I had a very short window of time to get the nuc installed, so as soon as it warmed up a bit

The nuc is installed.

on Saturday, I was out prepping.  I needed to reduce my hive to just the two deeps, and would use the newspaper trick – a sheet of newspaper between the bottom and top boxes; by the time the bees chewed through it, they’d all be settled in and used to each other’s scent.  To add the nuc frames without some sort of buffer means an all-out war could ensue, potentially endangering the queen.  The newspaper slowed this, and the queen pheromones would also go a long way in getting all the workers playing nicely.  Beatrice’s girls were very docile, with no brood or queen to protect, they didn’t really have much to get angry about, so it was quick work.  As I did this, though, I realized I had a pretty healthy supply of resident bees, and probably could have saved myself $100, two hours on the road, and four gallons of gas by just getting one of the local queens I’d talked about on the beek forum.  Oh well.  It would be good to have the extra stock, too.  It’s not the first time I’ve blown a Benjamin when I didn’t have to.

I put the sheet of newspaper down, replaced the second box with all but four frames in place, and opened the nuc.  It was packed with hungry bees (no food since I’d picked them up, 16 hours earlier).  In theory adding them to the top box, with the newspaper between, would work well, but getting the resident bees out of the second box’s frames, and then, upon opening the nuc box, having those girls actually stay ON the frames as I transferred them into my hive box…well, I could only hope.  I made the transfer amidst a swarm of bees flying.

Sitting with Pal, watching the hive activity after the nuc installation.

It all went pretty smoothly, but the mixing of bees was inevitable.  I saw a little interaction/altercation but considering what I was doing, it went fairly well.  I put it all back together and kept my fingers crossed.  I checked on them 30 minutes later and it looked like they were settling in.  In two hours it looked even better.  By the end of the day, all were in the hive, and on Sunday, a warm day, activity looked pretty normal.  So far so good.

The only good thing to come out of all this is the fact that there was a bunch of honey that was no longer needed. So I harvested honey.

I cut the comb from the frames into a large bowl, then crushed it with a potato masher, then my hands. After that I strained it in a colander over another bowl.

I’m still working on getting it all in jars – I harvested almost 48 pounds of honey!

*I switched propane service when I realized (after 3 years) that I’d been paying roughly one third more for my fills and annual lease with Ferrellgas than several other competitors.  I’d never had propane heat before, and since the tank was here when I moved in, I continued with them.  I just figured they’re all the same, or within a few cents, like gas stations.  I was depressed to learn I had been paying hundreds more each year with Ferrellgas as their price was almost $1.50 higher per gallon than several competitors, and the tank lease fee over $20 more annually.  Live and learn, I guess.

Starved for sun

Hail storm pounding down last Saturday – I suppose I should be grateful that this weekend it was just rain. And it seemed like my blog post at the end of March was a little premature.

I haven’t posted in a while; nothing too new going on, I guess, and I’ve been on a break of sorts.  Every three months or so I take a week off from my daily writing practice.  I’ve actually only been doing a daily practice for about six months, but I do find at the end of three months that things have deteriorated to the point that I have to stop or fling the computer out the nearest window.  I need to get back on track, but may take another week off.  I’m toying with signing up for a daily write with a writing coach, so I can generate more than just journal posts (better than not writing at all, but contribute to the burn out).

So, nothing too new with me, but life progresses.  I’ve chosen not to blog about world events and politics, and have to admit I occasionally to frequently want to.  There’s some crazy shit happening out there in the past year or so, and my opinions are strong (and of the tree hugging variety), but that’s for another blog.  Stay tuned for the launch on that one, because it’s been percolating for a while.

If a bee could squee, my little sun worshippers were surely squeeing this afternoon.

It’s late Sunday afternoon, and the rain has stopped.  It rained for about 24 hours straight this weekend and everything is super soggy.  As soon as the sun came out this afternoon though, the bees were out.  It was still a little breezy and cool, but warm enough that they all came swarming out the door.  They’ve been cooped up for a week now, with the chill and the wet.  I’ve decided that seeing the bees out flying causes me to take as many photos as the seeing the dogs sleeping does.  Both are fairly lame as photo ops, but both compositions make me so happy I can’t stop myself.  Seeing the bees out in force, especially after a long winter, is such a thrill, always.  The photos look the same as the last 40 times I took pictures of them out flying, but still I click away.  The dogs sleeping is so adorable and heartwarming, I just take them over and over (am stopping myself now, surrounded as I am by my three beauties, all caught in a sunbeam nap).

I let the sheep out of their pen this afternoon, and of course when I got home yesterday afternoon too, when they only got an hour or so of grazing and browsing before the rain set in hard.  They spent some time chewing cud in the doorway area of their pen, under cover, then, being gnarly sheep, headed back out into it.  At one point I saw Nona shake off and it looked like a bucket of water flew off of her.  I love this about sheep.  I’m still keeping them penned and on hay until the

Milling around at the gate to the pasture, which isn’t quite ready for grazing.

pasture gets some decent growth to it (and close the pasture gate when they’re out on these afternoons).  I am really sick and tired of the whole hay thing.  It’s been six months now, filling the damn hay nets every day, and seeing the waste and the mess my feeding system makes of their fleeces.  The BWM wethers are using the nets as some sort of back rub (and I’m so tired of them rubbing on every thing), so they look like someone’s dumped a bag of hay dust on their back every day.  They were sheared a month ago, so chances are the fleeces will be fine at next shearing, but I wish the grass would hurry up and grow so I could get them out on pasture. This coming week the weather predictions are for sunny and warm, which will help to turbo-charge the grass growth.  I decided not to overseed this year, since it doesn’t seem like it does much good.  What I really need to do is some moss control and add some lime.  I need a ton of lime to do the pasture.  No, really, I mean 2,000 pounds of lime.  And that’s on the low end of the rate recommended.  A 40 pound bag runs $5 or so, so we’re talking two or three hundred dollars to lime the pasture.  Something to save up for, I guess.  It’s pretty much too late to do it until next fall at this point (fall/winter or early spring are best for applying).

Weee! Our NACSW membership packet came this week; we’re all set to start getting some titles (well, with a little more practice, that is).

Daisy and I had a good time at Nosework class yesterday.  She’s quite the champ when we first get started, though I think she’s more of a sprinter than a marathoner.  She comes roaring out of the gate, all business and locked on task.  It’s really amazing to see her work.  On the second round she started to lose focus a bit, and threw herself down and rolled in the grass with glee.  I had to remind her what we were there for.  It was hard, because she rolls with such joyful abandon and it’s so adorable…  Once she put her mind to it, though, she was awesome.  She did pretty well on the third run – right to the hide, four feet off the ground, and jumped up to put her nose on it (the other dogs in class had to be coaxed to do this – sometimes being a wild thing is an advantage!).  By the fourth run, though, I could barely get her to concentrate.  She was so bored and looked at me with one of those “really?” looks.  In contrast, the other dogs in class got better and better on each run.  I need to do more work at home with her to keep her motivated.  She’d only had one workout in the previous two weeks, so it’s easy to understand why she got tired of it so quickly.

After we finished nosework I ran to the pet food store to stock up, then over to fill the gas tank.  I had to hurry, as we had an appointment at 2:15 to pick up some new family members.  More on this in my next post!

Spring has sprung

I’m glad these only come once a year. I can’t be trusted with anything larger than this size. So. Good.

It was an absolutely lovely day today, the end of a beautiful weekend, as well as the last day of

the month (and Easter to boot).  I’d of course like another day at home wit

The trillium are blooming out in the woods – proof of spring!

h this delicious sunshine – weekends are much too short – though I had a nice mix of down time and chores and errands and fun time.

Saturday was Nosework class with Daisy.  We met at a park in Monroe and did some paired hides (birch scent paired with food treat).  There were a couple of hides where the target was buried in leaves and it was hard for the dogs to scent.  They all did, though, and I was again pleased with Daisy’s performance.  The park was right on Highway 203, and it was a sunny day, so the traffic was super loud as we worked.  Daisy’s a champ, though, and isn’t bothered a bit, it seems.  The biggest drawback was finding a shady spot to park the car so she was comfortable while she waited her turn.  I ended up moving the car three times as the sun progressed across the sky during the course of the class time (90 minutes).  This time of year most of the trees are still bare of leaves, so don’t provide much of a break from the sun.

Later that day we had a fun day at a local training center where Marilyn, our Nosework

Future Nosework champ!

instructor, holds some of her other classes.  It was a big day for Daisy, out and about with so many people.  She did me proud.  The three runs to find her hides (indoors, Easter basket themed) were surrounded by distractions – people, children, and it was a brand new place for her (with lots of barking dogs in the background at the boarding kennel).  She really wanted to go see the two children, and the other people, too, but she wasn’t out of control with any of it.  I left after the indoor runs – it had already been two hours, mostly waiting, and if she wasn’t tired, I was!  It would have been nice to do the outdoor runs too, but since she’d worked in the park that morning, she’d had plenty of Nosework for the day.  It was after 5:00 when we headed home to enjoy the evening with the rest of the gang.

Freshly shorn.

The sheep were sheared last weekend and are settling in to their new coats.  The first morning after shearing Fergus and Cinnamon were looking miserable cold when I went out to feed them before work, shivering and hunched up.  We’ve had some chilly mornings, but the days have been warming up to decent temperatures.  After the first couple of days they’ve acclimated and when I let them out of their pen to roam, they look like a herd of deer as they move about the property, up into the woods and down into the pasture, around the house, and over by the beehives.  It’s too early to let them on the pasture full time—the grass has a lot of growing to do—but they get good exercise and lots of browse as they move around pruning everything.

The wool is delicious-looking.  Fergus’ creamy white fluff and Lorna’s chocolate ice cream scoop,

Fluffy soft wool.

and all the rest.  I may have a buyer for it and I’m torn, though since I have the shearings from last spring and fall still out in the garage, it’s a little ridiculous to hang onto it if someone wants to buy it. I’ll still have plenty to work with when I finally get time to do so.

Heavy and full, plenty to get them through spring.

The bees have been loving the warm days, of course.  The mornings are chilly, and the valley fog takes a couple hours to burn off in the morning, but by 11:00 they are up and out.  I am very happy that both hives made it through the winter, though we’re not out of the woods yet.  Today was warm enough that I popped the hood on the Langstroth hive and did a cursory inspection.  When I went to lift the top box, thinking it would be light and easy, I was surprised that it was as heavy as it was.  I moved it over to the plywood board and lifted frame after frame of honey out of it.  The next box down was also loaded with honey filled frames.  It was quite tasty, too (stuck my finger into a portion of comb).  There was a little mold present, and some of

Looking good; lots of honey, lots of active bees. Yes!

the dead bees in there were moldy blobs.  I picked out what I could, but will have to let them do their thing with most of it.  Since we still have plenty of spring weather ahead, I put it all back without disturbing too much more.  I didn’t use the smoker because there was a bit of a breeze and I didn’t want to stress them too much either.  So far so good.  As long as the weather stays temperate they should be able to use the honey stores as needed.  It’s only when it gets super cold that they cluster and could potentially starve, unable to get to the stored honey.

The dogs enjoyed a great day in the sun, with Farley and Pal both dragging in loads of leaf litter and pond muck from their rolling and frolicking.  Pal hunts all day long, running like the wind much of the time, on point (to the Robins in the pasture), and often sitting on the hillside in the pasture, watching the world go by.  He’s a darling little dog.  Daisy played with her piece of siding and her portion of wire fencing.  She’s enamored of these things, the wire fencing having been appropriated from the apple tree, where I had wrapped it in a loose coil to keep the sheep from eating the bark.  Her other favorite toys are the garden hose and a roll of chicken wire, which is now chewed and half unrolled along the side of the house.  I gave her the name Daisy as a nice feminine name for a cute girl Rottweiler, but maybe I should have stayed with the name she came with from the shelter – Jordan – since she’s such a tomboy.

Spring is here.

All in all a good weekend, full of the promise of spring, and all my animals enjoying it as much as me, which makes mypleasure all the greater.

Another one bites the dust…jacket

Why is it that when I sit down to write my mind goes blank?  I have all these good ideas tumbling around in my head and all I get is dead air when I open up a fresh page to write.

I recently read of another blog that’s going to be published as a book.  I’m not sure if the fellow was soliciting to publishers or if the publisher made him an offer (I’m pretty sure it’s the latter), but it does give one pause.

I will state right now that I never started this blog (four years ago last month!) with anything other than a way to keep up with the little things in life, and didn’t then nor do I now believe it’s anything more than that.  There may be a post or two that could, with minor

My adorable Farley-foo, most handsomest Setter ever!

modifications, be reprinted in a magazine, or as part of a book (how-to or memoir), but most of it is just a bit of self-centered nattering about my favorite subjects – the critters, the farm, the garden, and the work to keep all of it going.

But, that said, it does make me think a bit about it all.  Like many bloggers (and non-bloggers) I follow a dozen or so blogs from fellow bloggers.  Usually with similar interests (small farms and/or livestock) or things I’m interested in (cooking), but it’s a fun way to see what others of like minds are up to.  There’s Bliss, a fellow dog (Rottweiler) person, whose Blabs are always entertaining and often thought provoking.  Or Emily in the UK, an apprentice beekeeper who puts my beekeeping practices to shame.  Another is Donna, a fellow Shetland shepherd and mentor, whose ram, Jocko, sired my two ewes’ twin lambs (four lambs total) last year.  And there’s Michelle, another shepherd nearby whose posts are always informative and there’s generally lively discussion on the comments, too.  There are another half dozen or more I read regularly, plus the random blogs I catch here and there.  I’ve learned from other blogs, made recipes posted on them, and admire these other bloggers.

I learned of this latest blog to book deal via the host for my blog, WordPress, touting the blog and the deal.  I went to read it, with it’s romantic sounding name, and left feeling a little deflated (but not defeated!).  It’s another of those stories that make me feel envious, that my life is dull and I have no sense of adventure.  It’s written by an ex-pat living in New Zealand with his partner/husband, and the stories revolving around the 20 acres they purchased where they raise chickens, pigs, sheep and olive trees, and even bottle the olive oil for sale.  The blog posts are sometimes quite long, but usually always entertaining.   Certainly the twist of doing this as a couple of city boys from the U.S.A. in a land as beautiful as New Zealand makes it much more adventurous and appealing than someone who’s just lived her life yearning to be on a farm, surrounded by animals

The sheep hanging out last weekend.

and becoming as self-sufficient as possible while still bathing regularly and paying the power company for lights and heat.  Sure I’ve kept a small flock of chickens for most of my life now (the tipping point came a few years back, much to my wonder – it sure doesn’t seem that long…), and had a few years of dairy goat keeping back in the mid-80s, but mostly it’s just been coveting.  I still think of the property in the Okanogan that I almost went to look at; when I drove by it six months later the people who’d purchased it were doing exactly what I would have – some goats in the front yard (it was 20 or 40 acres with oodles of outbuildings and rolling hills…sigh.  (I’m ready to dash off to view some RE websites now.)

Still, it makes me think, this blog to book thing.  How can I make my blog more interesting, more readable?  And do I really want to?  I’ve been struggling to make it more succinct (not succeeding), but now I wonder.  Maybe if the story is compelling enough it doesn’t need to be shorter, and making the mundane seem, if not profound, then at least appealing and  interesting, with observations and thoughts along the way, is pretty much all we do as bloggers.  I do plenty of that, I think, but it always seems so self-absorbed and kind of icky, so I reel myself in much of the time too.  I’d like to make it more readable–more followers would be great, a real following, so to speak.  Must work on this.

Signs of Spring

Out for a walk/fenceline check with Peachy and Daisy

I’m going at the weekend a little backwards, spending time at home and doing my writing work early, then going out later. I usually hit the road early on Saturdays, running the errands and doing the chores, leaving the “me stuff” to the evening (which means it often doesn’t get done). It’s a bit of reprioritizing, but also convenient.

Daisy’s Nosework classes are on break for a couple of weeks, so that added to the luxury of changing it up. She’s been doing very well with Nosework and progressing nicely. I work the boys some too, and forget they’re behind her in skill level; it took Farley a while to find the last hidden treat in the garage the other night and I realized I’d moved him to elevated hides too quickly, so while his back was turned I moved the box down to the floor. I’m also progressing slowly with Daisy on her carting. She’s not thrilled about this idea, but I was able to get her to stay within the shafts last time I harnessed her up. She doesn’t like it when the cart moves, and quickly shimmies sideways, causing awkward positioning outside the shafts and tangles with her harness. For now having her sit quietly with the cart behind and around her is progress.

Both hives are sooty with mildew after a long, wet winter.

It rained (and hailed) hard on Saturday afternoon, after a very nice morning. Not sunny, sigh, but very mild weather and dry. It was a thrill and a half to see both beehives active, with lots of flights out and several of the incoming carrying full pollen sacs – fresh food! I’m not sure what’s blooming right now that they’re finding, but obviously something. The Indian plum shrubs are the first native plant to bloom but the ones on my property aren’t quite there yet. I found one or two just opening blossoms on a couple of them, but most are still just twigs with a few new leaves starting to unfurl from the pregnant buds. At any rate, I was so pleased to see my strong girls out and about on this late winter day.

While our winter was mild from a snow standpoint, it was still wet and cold, with many freezing cold days, all very hard on honeybees (especially the damp). I just had to wait and watch. The Warre hive, with its two observation windows, was a little

Lots of dead bees in front of each.

easier. On most days when I checked, I could see live bees among the combs. With the Langstroth hive the only thing I could do was put my ear to the side and tap lightly on the wood. I almost always got an answering momentary bZZzz from the girls, reacting to this noise. With all the dead bees in front of the hives, I just never know for sure. The masses of die offs are normal, but still disconcerting to see. I periodically insert a thin bamboo stick in the hive openings and use it as a crude scraper to pull all the dead bees on the bottom of the hive out the door. When it’s cold, but not cold enough, the rot and decay sets in, and isn’t healthy for the live bees clustered above. And, hopefully it eases the work load for them when we do get a day like this. Seeing them struggle out the door pulling a dead comrade to dump in the grass nearby takes a lot of resources. They have to work hard to tidy up the hive to keep things hygienic, but at this time of year nectar and pollen flights are just as important and I try to give them a little help. We’re still not out of the woods, with at least six more weeks before they can get out regularly, but I was very glad to see the activity before the weather turned.

I trimmed up the lavender patch, something I should have done in the fall. I gave all the plants a bit of a haircut to encourage new growth and keep them from getting too woody and leggy. The cut foliage smells so good; I’ve put some of it around the house to give the house a fresh scent.

Fresh nettle tips – the first of spring.

The sheep were out loose this weekend, and the chickens too, of course, all enjoying a little exercise and finding the first nibbles of green. I, too, am enjoying those. I picked a bunch of nettle sprouts and baked a soufflé/quiche thing. I used a dozen or so eggs, the last of the raw milk (a little past its prime – it separated into curds when I steamed some to make my mocha this

Ready to bake.

morning), some cheese, a bit of mayo and sour cream (used up the last of each container), some onions, mushrooms and a couple small peppers, plus some cumin and chili powder, salt and pepper. It turned out quite delicious.

The longer days are wonderful, and I’m looking forward to spring. Equinox is just three weeks away – yay!!

Class season

Skylight art. This is not one of the ones that’s leaking, thankfully! (Because this one is right over my bed!)

It’s February already, and we’re into the New Year well and good.  I’m mostly remembering to write 2013 now, not 2012.  The weather is back to normal: rain, rain, and more rain.  In fact, so much rain that I’ve sprung a leak, and found the skylight in my loft dripping again this past week.  Last year when it leaked it was blamed on the snow pack build up and melt (it’s on an area of a very steep roof pitch).  The guys came out to patch it up (more caulking around the flashing) and I thought that was that.  But, alas, no snow this time, and it’s leaking again. Unfortunately another skylight is also leaking.  I checked to see if there was some sort of debris build up – a pile of wet leaves on the uphill side could potentially cause some back up saturation, but nothing.  It’s a bummer, since the roof and skylights are still pretty new (June 2010 complete reroof/installation), but hopefully the damage to the ceiling isn’t too bad.  It seems to be a very slow leak; when I discovered it there were just drips on the floor, with mild damage/swelling to the wood floor (I’m keeping a bucket there now, until I can get someone out to fix this once and for all).  Thankfully the other three skylights seem fine – I have five total – though there is some suspicious mold spotting in a third…hmm.  

It’s class season again, with nearly every weekend filled with interesting things to learn.  I’m not signing up for many this year, though, and the one I did sign up for conflicts with another I reeeeally want to take, but c’est la vie and I’ll have to wait for next year’s version.  I did go to Country Living Expo & Cattleman’s Winterschool again this year (and it caused a conflict with my other class, so missed one of those), but I think it will be the last year I do Winterschool for a while, unless something I absolutely can’t resist comes up next year.  I had a class at last year’s Winterschool that was a major disappointment, and this year there were two that were total wastes, two disappointing “meh” and two that were okay and worth going to.  Unfortunately the two okay classes were the first and last of the six sessions, with a lot of frustration in between (sheep shearing class without a sheep!, and the instructor didn’t even turn the shearers on!).  The two “waste of time” classes were primarily due to instructor substitutes at the last minute, and while I understand things happen, I would rather have sat in on another class session than wasted a whole hour getting frustrated.  It seems there should be some contingency for that, to allow people to choose something different instead.  Oh well. 

The class that I missed that day for the Winterschool classes was my second Nose Work class with Daisy.  This weekend was our third class session

The only thing I’m really growing right now – wool.

and I’m not missing any more!  Even though there’s a class with the Snohomish WSU Extension that looks great but would cause me to miss two more of Daisy’s classes, plus another class/day long seminar that coincides with both.  The one, Women In Agriculture, is one I attended last year.  It was a great day, but not really a fit for me, since I’m not growing anything commercially (yet!).    The Growing Groceries class is on four Saturdays – normally perfect for me, but conflict with two more NoseWork classes.  It’s so frustrating, because the WSU classes normally tend to be on weeknights, at 6:30 p.m., in a city 25 miles north of here (meaning: impossible for me to do, with my work and home schedules).  Dang, because Growing Groceries (learning how and sharing that knowledge via community service) is exactly what I want to be doing – encouraging people to grow their own food – but again, it will have to wait until next year.  And I tell myself it might not be “all that” anyway (witness my excitement for Winterschool this year, which turned out to be frustrating disappointment).  One of the disclaimers you have to sign for GG says something about towing the line and not espousing personal beliefs when it comes to pesticide control, etc.  I guess they may use non-organic practices when needed, and you have to be good with that, and not disagree.  All in all, though, the WSU Extension (and especially the Snohomish County chapter) absolutely rocks!   

Daisy, looking serious.

But back to K9 Nose Work.  I went to the first class on the 19th, not knowing quite what to expect.  I’d had more than one person recommend it to me, including a friend with a reactive Scottish Terrier, who knows the struggles I’ve had with my outta-control-in-public wild thing, Daisy.  Within minutes of being at the class, I knew we were in the right place.  As soon as the in structor, Marilyn, said “no obedience allowed!” in Nosework training, I relaxed a bit.  Daisy is easily overstimulated, and a trip out in public means we spend a lot of time pulling on each other.  She’s wildly enthusiastic and gets positively hyper when she sees another person or dog.  I blame myself, but know she’s not a mean dog, and just wants to meet people, sure she’s meeting her new best friend each time.  No obedience in class meant we wouldn’t be spending the whole hour trying to get her contained, and feeling embarrassed, exasperated and discouraged in the end anyway.  

It’s fun to see her work with her nose, even through her ADD overstimulation, and trying to get

A more typical pastime – playing with the garden hose and having tons of fun!

her back on track can be a challenge sometimes.  She’s happy and excited, and really likes the many treats she gets.  We practice out in the garage on weeknights, and the 10 minutes we spend is just enough.  I don’t seem to have an attention span much longer than hers, and I can see her falling off right at about 10 minutes.  I have another friend who’s been doing it for a little while with her Rottweiler and really likes it too (though she’s a three hour drive north, so we don’t get to practice together).  I’m looking forward to seeing where this leads us.  

Today was a quiet day.  I overindulged a bit on Friday night, out with some gal pals for our modern day salon – meeting once a month to chat, meditate, and set intentions.  We didn’t eat dinner until nearly midnight, noshing on veggies and dip all evening, but the wine was flowing freely all night.  I never felt tipsy, and didn’t have a hangover on Saturday, but my body was definitely processing all weekend, and I never had the vim and vigor I needed to do my outside chores (beyond the absolute minimum).  Of course the weather probably had something to do with that.  It was supposed to be nicer than it was, according to the weather reports, with predictions of 50 degrees and sunshine.  It wasn’t 50 degrees, and there was zero sun.  And the cloudy chill just didn’t inspire me much. 

 Maybe next weekend.

Inversion blues

It’s been a week of cold weather now, and while I’m really enjoying the lack of mud (sa-weeeet!), I am getting sorely tired of the fog.  Of course on the weekend, when I’m home, it’s foggy all day here too.  

We’ve been experiencing a week of cold fog throughout the Seattle area, though until Saturday, the fog has been absent in my little town.  Which is amazing, since Foggy Bottom could be an alternate name for my town in this fertile river valley.  It’s known for frequent fogs, and mid-morning fog on the nicest of summer days is common.  But this past week, as I’ve jetted off to the day job, it’s been mostly clear and beautiful, and I only hit the fog once I got five or so miles away.  And at the office (about 18 miles away) it’s socked-in foggy and cold, and a wee bit creepy, honestly, all day long.  It reminds me of a Stephen King novel (The Mist being the most obvious, but he has others that have creepy fog, too).  I check the area traffic cams throughout the day, and see bright sunshine in my home turf while my office (well, the floor my cubicle is located on, anyway) is sunk deep in icy fog for the entire day.  It makes me yearn to be at home, for yet another reason.  My office cube is on the 11th floor of a high rise, and the fog didn’t lift at all, where normally it would burn off (sort of) by 2 or 3 o’clock at the latest.  Not this week.  A run out for lunch was a lesson in layering – brrr!  A scarf was a minimal extra to the January parka, and gloves or mittens a necessity as well (though this germophobe wears gloves for as many months as she can get away with it).  This week I’ve added a hat.  I often wear a cap (something with a bill), to keep the rain off of my glasses, but this week a beanie was the better option.  Plus a hood!  

After a week of freezing temps, everything’s coated with fog frost.

It’s barely getting above freezing during the day, and dips a few degrees below freezing every night, so the ground vegetation is frozen, and after a week the trees are beginning to look like it’s snowed, especially those on a northern exposure.  A drive out on Saturday was pretty (what I could see, anyway) with the trees looking like a Christmas card in areas where the day’s sun didn’t reach, and the overwintering Trumpeter swans in the fields by the road looking dreamlike in the mist.  But.  As much as I like the lack of rain (and it’s not even the lack of rain so much as the lack of mud that makes the difference), I’m getting tired of this.  I don’t mind cold weather, but this damp fog and cold is getting tedious.  Normally when we get temperatures this cold we also have either snow (yay!), however fleeting that may be, and/or clear skies – big YAY!  Not seeing the sky due to fog is different than missing it due to overcast skies.  I’m not liking this thick, endless fog so much.  If it’s going to be this cold and rain-free, how about some sunshine to go with?  The local weather guru tells us that just a few hundred feet up, above the fog, it’s a balmy 60+ degrees (and sunny!), and that the inversion is supposed to last another half week.   

So far, though, I’m just counting my blessings.  Since it’s hovering around freezing, the issue of frozen pipes and no running water is also hovering.  It’s not dropping too low at night, and daytime temps are getting above freezing (even on my

The frost covered spider webs look like tiny jeweled nets – like something the faeries would leave.

north-facing hillside) so I’ve been okay so far.  Still, it’s created an underlying anxiety.  In my experience here, it’s two or three days of 20’s or below at night, with daytime temps not getting above freezing, that cause the pipes to solidify (at the well head, from what I can tell).  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the next few days (weather is predicted to hold for another three or four days) will stay the same.  In the meantime I’m holding off on laundry and dishwasher use, so I don’t inadvertently use up the tank water.  Drinking water for me and the critters is more important than running the dishwasher, and right now I’d rather be able to flush the toilet than reduce the hamper’s volume.  

I have yard work to do, and cleaning out the sheep shed, but may not get to it this weekend.  As delicious as last weekend’s cold, clear weather was, this weekend’s cold, damp fog cuts to the bone.  I need to haul at least a couple wheelbarrows of “strhay” out of there, so I can open the gate to get in and feed them every day.  Water has been a trip with a warm bucket or container of warm (hot water) every morning.  It adds a few minutes to the morning routine, but it’s not too terrible in that it’s not freezing during the day as well. 

 Foggy bottom Sunday

 The fog is thick again today, with the chill that won’t let go.  No little cat feet here; this stuff is cat silent, yes, but more like a Siberian tiger than a

The scene later, after the fog rolled in (and the sheep were out).

wee pussycat.  There was some sort of kerfuffle on the road this morning, with emergency units – aid car and police – and, later, a tow truck.  It seems the black ice claimed another.  I didn’t go down to inspect; it looked like there was plenty of help, and the dogs would have been idiots with the people and vehicles on “their” road (and to leave them in the house would have caused a kerfuffle in here!).  The vehicular dustup was on the northwest corner of my property, and looked like the vehicle (a white SUV) went into the ditch by my neighbor’s driveway.  And that was before the fog really rolled in.  It’s thick now, and very Twilight-esque looking out there.  

I worked outside for a bit, my hands becoming painful with the cold (wearing gloves) and my thighs blocks of ice.  I thought blubber was supposed to be insulating, but my thighs have never gotten the message, and even with long underwear get very cold.  There wasn’t much I could do, being so cold, but I managed to fill the yard waste bin with some downed limbs.  I also did some scooping, with some of the, um, product, frozen to the ground.  Poopsicles, if Cutter were still with us.  I came back in to make some hot drinks, some baked eggs for a bit of brunch, and take care of last night’s carrot soup.  It’s another yummy batch, this time with homemade chicken broth (normally I use homemade vegetable broth).  I’ll have some for lunch this week,

Spicy carrot and onion soup, almost done.

and put some in the freezer as well.  I have enough carrots to make at least four more double batches, and judging

And finished – blended and garnished with parsley and sour cream. Mmmm.

from the condition of the carrots I used last night, I need to keep up on this, so will make another vat tonight or tomorrow night.  The smaller ones were getting a little rubbery, and there was some moldiness on the tops, plus fine white root growth on the ones that weren’t getting rubbery.  Not bad, in truth – I harvested these back in October, so they kept fairly well in the ensuing three months.  The ones I harvested in late December are still fine, and waiting their turn for soup.  

The sheep are enjoying their day out, as are the chickens.  The fog is a double edged sword for the chickens.  It keeps the raptors flying low, but also keeps them from the broad view, so they have to be flying right over to see the chickens, and are then of course very visible to the chickens, too.  As I sit here, looking out the window at the hens industriously working in the grass and underbrush, I wonder if I’ll ever get tired of this view, or if the thrill I feel when I see the sheep flock strolling by as one will ever get old.  It almost looks brighter out there now, so maybe today’s fog will burn off.  With three more hours of daylight left, I suppose it’s possible.  In the meantime I just need to bite the bullet and go clean out the sheep shed so I can get the gate open for a few days this week.  [Update: Five wheelbarrow loads out of there today - kept me warm in the foggy chill (it never did clear).]