boo hiss to usc

usc announced today that they're shortening the hours at the blatt pe center. they're no longer going to be open on weekends and they're cutting out the morning classes so they can open up later in the morning to save money. so this means that they will no longer be offering the cycle class that i've been attending all summer.

i'm so, so bummed about this. this is the first time i've exercised consistently in i don't know how long. i was just starting to feel really good and more in-shape! urgh!

what happened with the bees? and the honey?

as you can see from the video in my last post, we did catch the bees. and there was a queen in there. so we (i say "we" but it was mostly the hubby who did the catching. what a sweetie!) scooped up the bees and put them in a box. and there they've sat for almost a week now. does anyone have a need for a few honey bees and a queen? we've been feeding them with sugar water so they're still alive. but they won't really be much use if they continue to sit in there for too much longer. we also checked our hives and they both have queens and are doing fine.

so, what are we doing with the honey?

putting it in jars, ya big dumb dumb!


sticky process!


look how pretty it is.

also, we've gotten a lot of questions on the DSS stuff. we're, of course, waiting for them to do the LAST step in the certification process! we finished our classes almost 3 weeks ago and they told us that the last thing we had to do was schedule with an outside agency to do a "home assessment." that's where they come in, look at the baby room and ask us a few questions to determine if we're really ready to get a kid. so i've been waiting and waiting for them to call us to schedule that. i've emailed and called my case worker so many times she's stopped answering me. so i don't know what the holdup is there. BUT, once we're done that step, we'll be completely certified. so we've been working on the baby room. it's pretty much done. check it out:





they sell these stick-on things that we put on the wall and on the toy box. it instantaneously transforms a room with so much ease. totally cool! and how cute are those safari animals? very cute!

bees are a--holes

btw

i mentioned my parents were in town. we've been very busy over the weekend and have been having a great time.

in addition to slinging honey we have done many other cool things. the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. so we went blueberry picking on sunday afternoon. (more pictures to come.)



we've eaten ice cream at rosewood dairy bar several times.



in fact, we've done a lot of eating. and yet the fridge at my house is still completely full!

we've also done a lot of shopping. world market. goodwill. piggly wiggly. kroger. lowes.

and i think i've successfully tuckered them out.

liquid gold!

after 2 years of beekeeping and lots of time and money spent on this hobby, today i finally got to reap some of the rewards.* my parents were luck enough to be in town to share in the experience, which was exciting. unfortunately, the hubby had to go to work so he missed the fun.

this morning we went to my beekeeper friend's house and extracted honey from hive 2. it's all we'll get this year, but it was enough to satisfy us. we got 33 lbs! check out some pictures and video.


uncapping the capped honey.


the wax cappings, which frank keeps and collects to trade in to the bee supplier.


the rest of the frames awaiting scraping and extraction.


the frames going around in the extractor.


honey dripping from the extractor and being strained for wax and other particles.




a final straining to get out even smaller particles. this is 33 pounds of honey. yippee!

full flickr set and another video here.

*there are some rewards in just raising the bees and watching them. but the real rewards come with getting honey, i think.

oh snap!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I Trailer