Holly Bees

We had a little excitement this week-end. A swarm of bees made a temporary home in my newly planted Holly tree.

I had been working in the yard for several hours when Larry came home from playing Handball. He came out to visit me. A couple Carpenter Bees had been hanging around me quite a bit during the day - even zooming. quite loudly. around my head; I believe, trying to intimidate me. But, I have grown accustomed to their presence and don't view them as a threat. While Larry and I were talking I was aware of their buzzing.

Well, as it turns out, it wasn't their buzzing I was hearing. Larry had noticed this cloud in our yard and said, "What's That!". I turned and looked and said, "I'm getting out of here!". With my hula hoe in hand I ran and said "I'm going to the front door!" and Larry, who was heading for the back door says, "Me too!", does a 180 and follows me. The route to the front door from where we were is the steepest slope in our yard so we're not quick. We're just hoping the swarm isn't following us.

We get safely inside and go to the kitchen window to watch. The swarm engulfs the whole back yard. At first we wondered if they were flys or bees. We finally decided it was bees. They were flying in swirls, more chaotic as first and then with a bit more precision. We watched for several minutes when Larry noticed that that they were especially circling our small Holly tree. As we watched the cloud became smaller and smaller and formed more of a tornado-like shape. That's when I noticed a dark core in the Holly. Can you see it in the photo? I took this photo from the kitchen window. I wish I would have gotten closer but I didn't dare.


Well, now what? We decide that leaving the bees there is probably not a good idea. So, I get the phone book and look up bees in the yellow pages. There are advertisement for bee removal but before I call I ask Larry how much he's willing to spend to get rid of the bees. He said "Nothing." So, I decided to look online to see what to expect from these bees. It turns out this is a normal occurrence this time of year. A hive will raise a new queen and the old queen will take 1/3 or more of the bees and go find a new home.

Upon further search I found a site that listed beekeepers by state and found several local people who would come get the bees for free if it didn't require cutting into a house or climbing up high in a tree. We're fortunate they were only 4' off the ground. Before calling Larry and I talked briefly about keeping the bees; not in the Holly but in a hive. It didn't take long to decide that I didn't need another project and Larry admitted he wouldn't help. So, I called until I got a live person on the phone and he said he's be there within the hour.

I expected he would smoke them or douse them with sugar water/syrup but he did none of that. He simply put on his bee clothes, grabbed his 5 gallon bucket and, while holding the bucket up next the tree, he gave the tree a sharp shake and more than half the hive dropped into the bucket. He quickly put the lid on and waited for the remaining bees to settle down a bit. The photo below is the moment he shook the tree.


At this point he didn't yet know if he had the queen so he got a screened box and proceeded to sweep bees into the opening. Yes, sweep them... with a brush. You can see the bees flying around pretty well in the photo below. Imagine the whole backyard looking like that! I think the photo will enlarge if you click or double click on it.


It didn't take too long to figure out where the queen bee was because the loose bees really wanted to get at her. They gathered on the lid of the bucket trying to be close to her. The beekeeper said they could smell her.

Here's the drill for the next several minutes. Wait patiently while the bees gather on the bucket. Brush the bees on the sides up to the top of the lid.

When there are lots of bees on the lid, lift the bucket and lid together and give it a sharp tap on the ground.

Then, quickly lift the lid, turn it on his edge and thump it on the bucket to drop the bees into the bucket and just as quickly, put the lid back on. This was repeated until he felt he might be loosing more bees than he was gaining.

During the patiently waiting parts we talked. Larry and I asked lots of questions and learned a great deal about bee behaviors. It was very interesting. I told him we thought about keeping them and he said that was a practical option and there was a local bee club I could join. Again, I had to think about all the things I'm doing and decide again that I just couldn't add a new hobby to my list. He finally was ready to go and said the remaining bees would either die or go back to their original hive.

They hung around for hours. I continued to work in the yard. Unfortunately, the area I was working on was fairly close to the tree. I was trying to plant wildflower seeds. They had no problem with me as long as I was at least 10 - 15' away. But if I edge closer one bee would come and fly around me. If I didn't leave, two bees or more would come. That was enough to convince me to back off. I finally did get my project done and took one more photo of the remaining bees as sundown was approaching. It's just a small remnant of that original group so he did a pretty good job.

All across the country today - April 15th... Tax Day... were Tea Party's. I heard there were anywhere from 350 to 600 Tea Parties across the nation. The purpose was to voice our protest of outrageous spending by our Federal Government and the subsequent tax burden on our citizens. While it was organized by supporters of those who are pointing out the problem, it was supported by proponents of the Fair Tax who have a solution to the problem. This was a great opportunity to get the word out about the Fair Tax.

Larry has been involved with the local Fair Tax group here in Chattanooga for a few months now. He even hosted a web-site for this local group. If you want to know more about the Fair Tax check out either http://fairtaxchatt.com/ or http://www.fairtaxnation.com/.

Even Abi came to show her support (with her parents who didn't end up in the photo). That's Tim in the back ground. He is in our small group. 4 out of our 5 couples came out to rally together. Sarah Palin came too! Not really - she was a local gal who looked an awful lot like her. I didn't get a picture of that - sorry.

Egg Deco with Small Group gals

It was planned at the last moment. 4 of the 5 of gals from small group got together to do some egg art. We had a lot of fun and turned out some pretty nice eggs for beginners!

There's Debbie on the far left, then Rosemary, Beth and me. We're missing Rhonda.

Next year we'll have to plan ahead more so we can actually have finished eggs by Easter. These still need several coats of varnish and some still need to be emptied.

Oh my, has it really been since January?

Wasn't there a post in February? Where did it go?

Okay, so do you want to hear my excuses? Probably not but here are just a few anyway.

1) I became the President of the Chattanooga Chapter of the American Payroll Association. The month of January was very busy as I worked to book speakers for our monthly meetings and kind of get things revved up.

2) My computer died and it's taken a while to get everything going again. My new computer has Vista. It's already been in the "shop" for repairs since then.

3) Even in the Winter I spend every possible moment outside. There is always work to be done in the yard.

Just a couple days ago I finally got my photos to download - though the videos still won't work. That's a bummer because the photos show what Abi is doing now so much better.

Speaking of Abi - she has accomplished so much in the last two months! She's fully crawling, pulling herself up onto anything vertical and walking with two finger support. Still photos just don't tell the story but that's all you're going to get for now.

Let's see, what else can I tell you about the last two months? Larry is working now. He started at the first of January and has been in training in Insurance Premium Auditing. It's a complex and difficult job. He has started doing audits of his own while studying and will gradually work up to a full load. He's happy for the work seeing as the unemployment rate continues to climb.

My job is going well. I made a trip to CT to learn more about our operations from the people who have been doing it a lot longer. Alstom continues to grow and built even through this economy. I'm loving my job.

I was invited to join the advisory board of Goodwill's new Assistance Dog Academy program. This is very exciting to see an assistance dog program come to Chattanooga!

Do you remember the greenhouse that Larry made for me last fall? It's serving it's purpose. In there right now are 9 Hosta's , 22 strawberries, a dozen Sweet Peas, and seedling trays for veggies and flowers. It's great!

Those are the highlights. Thanks for being patient.

Trip to CA

Right after Christmas I took a trip to CA to see my parents. My niece, Sarah, was there for a visit too. The four of us went to the Monterey Aquarium one day. These two photos (courtesy of Sarah) are from there.

Another day, Sarah and Dad (of course, she calls him Grandfather) went for a hike in Big Sur and another day (after I left) in Big Basin (in the Santa Cruz Mountains). My trip was 5 days but two were travel days, leaving only 3 full days in Salinas. They went by fast.

The trip was possible because my new employee was closed from Christmas Eve and until after New Years and because I had a free airline ticket with SW Airlines. Usually, in my field (payroll), there is no such thing as vacation at the end of the year so this was real treat.

Vacation is done now. Tomorrow I go back to a regular work schedule and Larry starts his new job tomorrow. He's very excited to be working again.

Merry Christmas

For an animated version of this card click the link below:
http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=1709951249578&source=jl999

Turbines

It's been almost two months since I started my new job with Alstom Power Turbomachines Group. I am enjoying it very much. The HR Director (my boss) is a great manager and he has put together a great team. We're super busy and working well together. I can't yet explain to you what this is a picture of but someday I expect I will. Right now, my best guess is this is the interior part of a turbine in the process of being built.

Part of our responsibility is to learn what our company, and specifically, our division actually does. We'll take info from wherever we can get it. One of those sources is from the National Geographic channel. Since it's available online I thought some of you might like to see a glimpse (along with me) my world at work (sort of). This episode of the "World's Toughest Fixes" (in the link below) highlights the replacement of a turbine in a nuclear facility. The new turbine they put in is one kind of turbine that we'll be making.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/worlds-toughest-fixes/3342/Overview#tab-Videos/05748_00

I don't expect everyone to watch this... only those really interested. Here's a cut-away of a turbine. The photo below gives it perspective.

Precious Rain water!

Larry has been very busy lately.

For a long time now I've been looking at water barrels. Rain water is good for the garden. The plants like chlorine free water. Also, rain water is free! We can go weeks without rain sometimes and the garden gets very thirsty. I don't like to water because our sewer bill is based upon water usage, so if I use a bunch of water in August, I may pay all year long in higher sewer bills.

So, when I saw 250 gallon water tanks for sale on Craigs List for only $40 I showed it to Larry. To make a long story short - he purchased three of these tanks and installed them on the north side of our house - a side that has no windows and no appeal visually. It's also a side that's on a slope which elevates the tanks over the garden which will create a little water pressure for watering. All good stuff.

So... he gets them installed and that night it rains. It doesn't just rain a little... it rains over 2 1/2 inches! The tanks were full the next morning. Sadly, we got 2 inches the next night and I wasn't able to capture any of that. If it were practical I would like to install a whole bunch more! The good news is, our rain is spread out through out the year - more or less - so I'll have a good bit of water to put to use.

Here are some photos. They're worth a thousand words. I'll be planting something around and over them to help obscure them. Right now they stick out like sore thumbs!

Bathroom remodel update

Back in May (you can look back if you want) Larry started our master bath remodel. I am happy to say it is all done. I'm also happy to say that Larry did a wonderful job. It took a long time due to financial constraints but it is done! In the May blog entry I said I didn't have any before photos. Well... I was wrong. I remembered that I had taken photos of the house before escrow closed - back in 2006. Therefore - here are some before and afters.

The before shot, on the left, is looking through the bedroom door into the master bath "dressing area". Now - as shown in the photo on the right - the dressing area and closet are gone as is the wall that was separating this space from the bathroom. Now, there is no dressing area and the bathroom is one bigger room.

We took some square footage away from our extra large bedroom and Larry added closets with more space than we had before. I didn't take photos of that yet because they're waiting for doors and door jams. We'll save that for another entry (maybe).

The old combo tub/shower has been replaced by a whirlpool tub. See where the window is in the before and after photos? The window is above the tub, next to a wall ,because on the other side of this new wall, Larry put in a new laundry area. So - in essence, the new tub is where the toilet used to be and the washer and dryer are where the old tub had been.


The vanity used to be on the same wall as the tub/shower. Now, in that place is our toilet. See the cabinet above it? That passes through to the laundry area so I can wash & dry the towels, then fold them and put them on the shelf (from the laundry side) and wa-lah!, there are towels ready to go in the bathroom.

And finally, here's the dining room difference.

Before.., just a wall. Now, a laundry area. Sorry; I took the photo from a different vantage point. The fireplace hearth which you see in the before photo is just out of sight to my left in the after photo. Where the towels go is a can of paint so it's not 100% functional yet but that's a small thing. There are bi-fold doors there that are hard to see so the washer and dryer can be hidden from sight.

One more really great thing is a laundry "chute" from the bedroom to the laundry hamper. Isn't Larry clever?

Two weeks of catching up to do

The posts have been infrequent lately. Sorry about that. Now... all of a sudden I have some catching up to do.

First of all we just want to brag a bit about Chattanooga. As you know, the Tennessee River runs right through town. This week-end there was a big rowing competition centered at the downtown area. There is a great public gathering area right on the Riverfront.

Downtown has lots of fun things to do and great restaurants to boot. There is a walking bridge across the river which takes you to the North Chatt area with more restaurants and fun shopping. Coolidge Park is on the North shore.

There is a Merry-Go-Round there next to a kid-friendly fountain area. It's a great place to hang out. The kids love to cool off there in the summer. Bigger kids (like adults) use the big grass areas to play Frisbee or volleyball. There's also a small, steep hill just right for kids to sled down on cardboard sleds. What a great city we live in!

Two weeks ago, our friends (Carl and Karen)came for a visit. Since the fall weather is so nice we spent a good deal of time outside. We played Bocce in the back yard and then went to try our hand at Disc Golf.

Larry and I had recently discovered a course not far from home that is free!! Yes, we did spent a couple bucks on four discs but that's all it took to get us started. If you've never heard of Disc Golf it's a game similar to golf but instead of clubs and golf balls you toss a Frisbee type disc. Here the old guys are posing by "The Old Guys" sign by the 3 Hole (we just couldn't resist). You can see the shape of the course curving off to the left. There are distance and mid-range drivers as well as putters. This course is in the woods (as you can see from the photos). We've since visited another course and it was more in open. Either is fun. You can't quite see it (in the photo on the left) but the "hole" is an elevated basket (maybe if you click the photo it will give you a larger version and you'll be able to see the basket) with vertical chains around it to catch the disc.

Now, I can't go too long before making mention of Abi. She is 5 months old now and getting cuter every day. And we thought she was already a cutie pie!

Here's a short video as well. (When I get some photos from Laura of Abi playing in a pile of leaves I'll add that too.)




Finally (more bragging on the part of the country we live in) we visited Cloudland Canyon in GA, about 35 minutes from our house where we caught some great vistas. Enjoy.






Dogwood Tree

Shirley's new job

On Monday, I started a new job with Alstom Power as Human Resource/Payroll Coordinator. Alstom Power is a huge company, with 76,000 employees around the world. My little division is called Turbomachines Group and has 30 people in it right now. Eventually we'll have a few hundred employees who will build the largest turbo machines in the world. Can you imagine that? The construction for the manufacturing is under way and I had the priviledge to tour the grounds. They're converting a previous manufacturing facility with 4 huge bays, taking it down to the "bones" and then rebuilding from the ground up.

As with most new jobs, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with all there is to learn but I'm sure I'll do fine. It is very interesting as many employees have come from Europe and many others from outside Chattanooga. Instead of Southern accents I'm hearing French accents - and even French conversations! It's a big change.

Abi laughing

Is there anything more delightful than a baby's laugh? Click the play arrow to enjoy.

Abi is such a joy. I'm sorry for all her relatives who are not close enough to watch her grow. How blessed Larry and I are to have Ben, Laura and Abi here.

Videos of Abi

If pictures say a thousand words then perhaps videos say 10 thousand. Therefore, here are a couple videos of Abi. In the first video (very short) she's making little noises as her first means of communication. In the second video she's enjoy her style of a thrill ride (we think she's going to like theme parks).

August

Mind you, this is only our second August here in Chattanooga so it's hard to say, but this seems like a cooler than usual Month for an August. We've had very nice weather. For the last 10 days or so our highs have been in the upper 80's and lower 90's. Humidity has been low for the most part (not counting some days with a little storm activity).

Larry has taken this opportunity to build a greenhouse for me. We saw a show on TV where someone made a greenhouse out of used windows and I said "I like that!". That's all it took. Well, that and a window company very close to us that puts out the old windows that they remove when replacing old windows with new. Yes... he asked first if he could have them.

So, here's Larry working on the frame.

And... here's the structure with the windows and doors installed - all free. Eventually it will have a slanted roof. The two center windows at the back are hinged so they can be opened in the summer. It's about 8' x 12'. If you can, use your imagination with me and see it with greenery all around, even with a vine growing upon onto the roof. Not Ivy! Think something daintier with pretty flowers.

July - A big month for Abi

Isn't she cute?

She turned two months old on July 24th.

Ed & JoAnn were here for 3 full days last week, over the week-end. Together the 4 of us managed to spoil Abi fully. I believe she was held her every waking moment.

Last Sunday, an article about home births ran in our local paper. Abi and her parents were featured in the cover photo! Abi was quite proud of this as you can tell from the photo. :-)

She is beginning to respond to our attempts to engage her. Larry has been sticking his tongue out at her and she's gotten pretty good at sticking her tongue out in return. Here, Laura is playing the game with her.