Fishing!

So the boys got fishing poles for Easter, wasn't that cool.....don't they look neat hanging on the wall......

So yeah.....we did finally take them fishing..... Here Brent walks Jayden and Max through casting.


You are very lucky to have any pictures for this post. My inclination was to stay home and avoid the whole scene of five boys and five poles all with sharp hooks on the end! I did cave in the end and go, the boys wanted me there after all. Then I even managed to not cover my eyes or hide in the car!!

Here Jayden throws out his line.

He was a happy camper to be fishing finally!

Here is a wide shot of the pond they fished in. We went to our great friend's home and fished out of their pond.

Max shows off his technique. And look I even managed to keep my eyes open again! He stops my heart when he has a fishing pole in his hands!

And of course he was one of the only two who caught a fish that night! Boy was he thrilled! Although Daddy had to take it off the hook and throw it back in, Max wasn't going to touch it!

At the end of the night, Brent got to fish in peace and quiet as the boys all got cold and went indoors.

Mother's Day Gift

Ain't sha a beauuuttty!!! Yes, this is really what I got for Mother's Day. And yes I really wanted it!

And here's proof that I can use it and that I do use it!


We won't mention that it's just as finicky as every other machine I touch and regularly refuses to work for me......even though it is MINE.

We'll just focus on the nice picture of it running and finally cleaning up the apple tree that went down TWO winters ago.

Brent was supposed to get a large waffle iron for Father's Day, but instead I super suprised him with a new cordless drill. Ours bit the dust and Dad's needs a new battery.

So I decided to get Brent a new one for the farm and then we're supposed to get Dad's a new battery, hasn't happened yet......But then it'll stay at the cabin.

Having two places is lots of fun to juggle, really....don't you believe me.......

Max's b-day

Here's another post that was hiding in the list. We had another pink b-day, but not quite like the one that we had the year before.

Than was right there, willing to help him open and read his cards.

And use his pocket knife to pry out the My Little Ponies that got added to the herd.

Lee too was happy to help, since it involved using a pocket knife!

Grandma and Max work on Max's Lego set "themselves". Every one else was shooed away so that Grandma and Max could work without the help of eager hands and voices. And they did just fine, thank you very much!

Jayden and Nebby

So then of course like any good respecting younger brother, Jayden wanted to ride Nebby.


He does a pretty good job with her.

Collin and I riding Nebby and Leo

These are from April. I was going through the list of my posts and discovered that I had uploaded some pictures, but never posted them! So here is one set of them.


Collin and I are riding Nebby and Leo and there is a tractor heading towards us. Nebby doesn't like tractors. Collin doesn't like it when Nebby acts up, he's come off her one to many times. So I suggested that we turn off into the dirt field and ride away from the tractor. Which Leo thought was a fine idea.




He's pretty easy going once you get on him. Getting on him is a whole nother story, due to the abuse he's been through in the past.

Nebby on the other hand not only doesn't like tractors, she doesn't like it when the ground changes color under foot.


I was really proud of Collin, he calmly kept working with her and didn't panic.


And she finally took that first step that told her the ground really wasn't going to eat her,

This was a really big step for Collin and I was very proud of him for staying calm and working through it with her and with himself and his fears.

Projects

Here is our little truck LOADED down with our supplies for various projects! It has many sheets of plywood and lots of 2x4s as the base, then five rolls of 5 ft "field" fencing, 2 or 3 rolls of garden fencing, 30 garden posts (short) and 60 6 ft "t" posts, 5 or 6 "hog" panels, and I'm sure I'm forgetting what all else. It was a lot!! Poor truck.
Then the boys got to help us unload it all!
Than coached both Lee and Max while they unloaded, helping them find the best method for carrying boards several times their height. He's such a good big brother, mostly......

Max is always proud to help!

My Handsome Guys

The boys decided that they wanted to wear suits to church consistantly. I've had a couple of suits hanging in the closet, one was waiting for Than to get big enough to wear it. Well, it seems I missed that stage! His wrists stuck out a mile when he tried it on! So Collin is wearing it. Mom still had a couple of Dad's suits and had Than try one one. We were both suprised that they fit! Lee and Jayden also have suits, but they weren't in them when I took this picture. So here are Than and Collin.



And then Brent with Than and Collin.

This picture really shows how tall Than is getting. Of course he's taller than me now, and looks like he's going to be as tall or taller than his Dad when he's done growing.

bzzzzzzzz

I have really fond memories of growing up with my Grandfather (my Mom's Dad) and my Dad having bees. My Grandfather had bees for as long as I can remember, up until he passed away. I can remember attending the Oregon State Fair, where he was exhibiting his bees and honey and trying to locate the queen in his display. I can also remember extracting honey with my Dad and can remember the scent of wax and honey when we did that.

So I mentioned to my Mom about some hives down the road and how they looked as if they hadn't been attended in bit. So she asked the farmer across from the field whose hives they were. And from there we ended up purchasing two hives and two packages of bees from "the Honey Lady". She sells her honey at the local Farmer's Markets.

The bees showed up on Sunday, so I picked up the hives and the bees Sunday afternoon. And then I got to apply theory to action. I have great memories of honey bees as a child, and no experience as an adult!

The bees are shipped in a wire cage, with a can of sugar solution that acts as the stopper to their cage too. The queen is also in the cage, but she's in her own little wire cage, within the main cage.

Aren't they beautiful!!

I originally had Than with me when I picked up the bees, but found out that Than is not real fond of bees. So I swapped kids on the way back and Collin joined me to help put the hives together and install the bees. Here we're unloading the supers.



We set them up on a pallet under a crab apple tree that I remodeled on Sat. (see Mom's blog)

Collin was a great help.

Here he's putting grass in the entrance, this slows the bees down the first 24 hrs so that they don't all just fly away as soon as I put them in the hive!

The hives are used, the lady's bees disappeared for some unknown reason. So she sold me two hives with frames. Here we're checking the frames to see what all is one them. She gave me several frames loaded with honey, so I don't have to worry about feeding them supplemental sugar water while they're getting established.

This is one of the frames loaded with honey.

And now it's time to put theory in action.....you spray the bees while they're in the package with sugar water, which keeps them from flying when you put them in the hive.

So guys are your ready? Hmmmm......I think they look wet enough........here goes.......

Here I'm pulling the can out so I can dump the bees into the hive.

The lady said that you can really spray them down and really bang on the cage to get them out. Sounds easy doesn't it? Yeah, not so much. Here I'm trying to get last ones out...

It didn't go so well.....but the good news is that they eventually left on their own later. Here I'm sliding the queen's cage out of the package.

Here's a close up of the queen's cage. The workers chew their way through a candy cork and release her, once they're installed in the hive. I hang the cage inside the hive and they take it from there. I hope....

One down, one to go.....

Here are the bees, installed in the hive, before I add the last frames to close up the hive.

One last look.....

And we're done. For the moment. Tomorrow I get to open up the hive and see if all went as planned and the queen is out of her cage and the bees are doing OK. Then every ten days, if all is going well, I get to check on them for the next month or so.

Then the end plan is that we'll be able to pull some honey this fall and enjoy it this winter. I'll keep you posted.

swim party