Wednesday, May 29th - it's pretty quiet around our house these days

It's a chilly 5' this morning but the sun is just coming up and there's virtually no wind so it's really quite nice out. We should reach a high of 18' later with even more sun so bring it on!

I've been fighting a cold the past few days and frankly not winning but I think I have it beat now. I'm feeling much better this morning. Good thing too because if I don't get out there soon to finish mowing the lawn I'm going to need a hay mower. I'd forgotten just how fast the grass grows when you get sunny days followed by wet ones.

Because I've not been doing anything except coming home from work and eating a bit of supper and then going straight to bed, I really have nothing to write about so I'll share the bee experience so far - even though I haven't actually been part of it.

Over the winter Lloyd spent countless hours reading up about the keeping of bees. I guess he wants to make our first livestock really tiny! As he read and researched more and more, he found a place in Moncton that he could purchase beehives and all the assorted paraphenalia that goes with them.

During the winter he also discovered the PEI Beekeepers Assocation and went off to his first meeting. There he met all kinds of beekeepers and made many contacts.  From this meeting came the ordering of the bees.

Fast forward to the beginning of May and we see him anxiously awaiting the arrival of what he affectionately refers to as "his girls".  Finally one evening he got the call - they are here. Meet someone at the Irving in Mount Stewart for the delivery.

It was dark when he got back so it wasn't until morning that I could see two cardboard boxes sitting on top of the hives at the bottom of the yard, down near the road. They had to be left alone to settle down after their long trip. (I know nothing about bees so you're getting the condensed version of what I'm being told along the way).

After a couple of days relaxing, it was time to move said bees into their new digs! I wasn't home for that process but both Brenda and Berne came over and Brenda was kind enough to photograph the whole process. It went something like this:

First you have to make sure you're properly suited up

The smoke making device must be lit (sorry but I don't know what it's called) 

The boxes the bees arrived in

The frames are carefully removed 

And inserted into the hives

"Is this our new dad?"

The whole process actually went rather smoothly with there being only one stinging and that was Bernie. But then he didn't have all the fancy protective gear. 

Now we just wait for them to do their work and we should be rewarded with lots of honey.  The blueberry fields out back will be a great place for them to do their pollinating work as well as the apple trees right beside them.