Seasonal Management

The season is coming to a close - the honey is off, flowers have stopped blossoming and preparation for over-wintering the bees begins. I have noticed a large number of drones sitting outside the hive on the landing pad, and an uncomfortable number of wasps hanging around eating them. The drones get kicked out of the hive to die at this time of year - they have served their purpose and become unnecessary.

I treated the hives for varroa mites and nosema, and am feeding pollen patties and sugar syrup again. I left a fair amount of honey in the hives for the bees to eat over the winter. I could have taken it off, but I would rather they eat honey than syrup.

I found that the Belle hive had a HUGE number of dead mites drop onto the bottom board after the varroa treatment. However, I couldn't find any on the Sophia hive - good news. I'll keep an eye on them though, as they had a rough summer.

Introducing Molly Hoang Minh Sanh Jones

Edited note - I had pictures of Molly posted, but my agency asked that I not post her image on the internet until after the adoption is final. Therefore, her pictures have been removed.


Here she is - my daughter! She is 3 months old, and is living in in Vung Tau 3, an orphanage in the south of Vietnam. I don't know when I'll be able to go get her yet, but I expect I might be spending Christmas in Vietnam this year.

I spent most of the morning talking on the phone with another adopting mom who received her proposal at the same time. We have become close friends in these last couple of years, so it was really good to be able to share this day with her. I was on the phone with her when I opened the pictures and saw my baby for the first time. My computer was working very slowly this morning - the picture opened one line at a time. I saw a little fist, then the hair (!) and then her adorable little face! She's so sweet.

I love the hair that stands straight up! It's just like a friend's daughter when she was born - it took 5 months for her hair to grow long enough for it to lay flat.

I have spent the rest of the day talking on the phone and emailing pictures out to everyone. I had to re-charge both phones and my ear is sore, but I'm so happy!

Bottling the Liquid Gold

We took the honey off the Belle hive on the weekend! I had a couple of friends come over to help - a big thanks to both of them, as it turned out to be a bigger job than I expected.

We first had to brush the bees off each frame that contained capped honey. These frames are heavy, the bees do not want to leave, and we only had one bee brush. It took much longer than we thought it would. I was pulling frames out of the hive, passing them to one friend to brush the bees off, then she passed the frame of to my other friend over the fence, who put them in my kitchen. When we were done, I had 11 frames of honey to extract. There were bees flying all over the yard, trying to get into my kitchen to find their honey!

I set the extractor up in the middle of my kitchen. It was a two frame extractor that was spun by hand. Again, one friend took the cappings off, another friend took pictures, and I spun the extractor. The neighbors from next door came over to watch for a while - it was hot and stuffy, as we had to keep the door and windows closed to keep the bees out. However, a couple of tiring hours later, I had about 40 pounds of honey.

I spent the next couple of evenings straining the honey and putting it into jars. We are still working on the labels, but my plan is to label the large and medium size jars and sell them. I'll keep the small jars to give away as Christmas gifts, and have kept a couple of kgs for myself and the neighbors.

Summer holidays

I spent a week with my family on Quadra Island, which is my favorite place in the world. We camped (rather luxuriously) at Taku Resort, a beautiful spot on the edge of the water. We spent time beachcombing various beaches, cycling, exploring, relaxing and eating.

I took some of my family members kayaking out to the Breton Islands to show them the seals. We got all the way out there, and I couldn't find any! There should have been hundreds - sunning themselves on the rocks and bobbing in the water, keeping an eye on us. I almost cried! Then we paddled around the back of the large island, and I spotted a few on another small rock-island nearby. We drifted close and scared some into the water. But my niece and her husband continued to drift around, and watched a mother and baby climb back onto the rocks. The baby started nursing, and they were close enough to hear it suckle! So the kayaking trip was successful after all.

I took my family to Rebecca Spit Park, to Tsa-Kwa-Luten Lodge, to the Museum on the Native reserve lands, and the guys rented bikes one afternoon to cycle to Village Bay Lakes. My poor brother was riding my bike - wasn't used to the toe cages, and took a tumble into the ditch! He was fine, but wouldn't ride it back to camp.

I had a chance to visit with friends I haven't seen for quite a while, met another adopting mom who lives in the area, and visted Quadra's resident beekeeper. It was wonderful to spend a whole week there, showing my family why I love Quadra so much. However, a week just doesn't feel like enough time - I would like to live there one day with my daughter. I dream about her running around our property with pet dogs, baby lambs and chickens. Maybe one day...

View of Taku from the dock

Beachcombing

Setting up camp

Looking towards the Breton Islands from Taku

Can you spot the seals?

Kayaking back to camp

The beach at Tsa-Kwa-Luten on a stormy day

This beach is on the southern tip of Quadra Island

A Totem pole near the Native band's museum

Bee pictures

I thought I'd post some pictures of the bees:

This picture shows how much bigger the male 'drone' bees are, compared to the female 'worker' bees.

This picture is courtesy of another beekeeper. It is a mason bee on his wisteria blossom.

This is a bee drinking nectar from a borage blossom in my garden.



On the hottest days of the summer, the young nurse bees clear out of the hive to regulate the interior temperature. Some bees will stay inside to flap their little wings to create an air flow. The rest hang out on the face of the hive. They cannot fly yet, so they just crawl out and form a 'beard' on the front. Notice that they do not cover the sides - they stay near the doorway so they can find their way back in during the night.

Girls Weekend!

I just got back from a couple of days at Yellow Point Lodge, a rustic resort on Vancouver Island. A friend of mine books a few days every year, and I got the invitation to join her last year, then again this year.

We stay in the barracks, a line of rooms with 3 walls and a curtain. This is my view from the room, every morning:

Here are a few more pictures of the same view - and one of the barracks, from the beach looking back:




The Lodge is built on a point beside the ocean. They built a gorgeous 50 meter salt-water pool into the natural rock on one side of the beach:

We went swimming, cycling, kayaking, ate a lot, and relaxed on the porch with a good book one afternoon. Saturday night there was a dance with a fantastic live band, plus a freak summer thunderstorm at the same time. The thunder and lightning lasted about 2 hours. A bunch of us ended up dancing on the patio outside in the rain to watch the lightning.

There is a lot of wildlife in the resort property, rabbits, quail and deer:

A very large tree:



And all good things must come to an end eventually. Here is an incredibly beautiful shot at sunset on our last evening:

Woo- hoo!!!

There's been another proposal!

Family #4 got a proposal of a 2-month old baby girl! I talked on the phone with the new Mom for over an hour this morning - she emailed pictures of the baby while we spoke. The baby is beautiful! Bright eyed and strong, like she might have quite the personality! All of a sudden, I'm realizing how big this is! So many questions, worries, so much faith we have to trust in. Wow.

I had an email this week saying that I would receive a proposal in August or September, but in April, I was told I'd have a proposal in 3 months. In May, they told me 2 -3 months. Now, they are saying in 2-3 months. This is what international adoption is like.

Then someone close to you gets their proposal or comes home with their baby, and I yo-yo between doubt, frustration and elation!

So I should be next - I'm family #5. However, another family asked for either gender, while I'm waiting for a girl. If a boy becomes available first, family #6 might get proposed before me. We will see what happens next.