It's Not Easy Being Grey

Our wild cherry tree situated about 20 feet from our deck is in full fruit these days and while we rarely get to enjoy the cherries, we do enjoy watching the birds who do eat them. the problem is that the lowest branches are at least 7 feet off the ground and it continues up to about 40 feet. The other day it was a cedar waxwing who showed up but most days it is the catbird. The catbird is a dull looking bird. There's no way around it- the grey and dark grey plumage can't compete with northern orioles or even cedar waxwings. But boy can they sing. Called the catbird because it can sometimes sound like a cat, it also can imitate all the other bird songs it hears. Catbirds repeat each song twice and run them together like a frenetic aria. It's really a welcome sound on a June afternoon.

Ode to a Hive Tool

Faced with the task of assembling new honey frames and inserting wax foundation, I was saved from despair (the directions were written for those who had already done this many times and knew what the parts of the frame were called) by the lowly hive tool. The directions said to use a sharp knife or a hive tool to take apart part of the frame. This made no sense. Why would they send you something (a rather fragile wooden something) that you had to take apart before assembling it. After reading it over and over and being assured that was really what I should do, I took my hive tool and pried the piece off. I don't have a sharp knife and wouldn't be that comfortable using one. The hive tool resembles a paint scraper with a bent part on one end.

The principal use is to pry the supers apart after the bees have glued them shut with propolis or bee glue. The hooked part is useful in separating the frames which are also glued together with propolis before taking them out to examine them. It proved the be the perfect tool for this task to because it broke off the part of the frame and also worked as a plane to take off any pieces of wood still remaining.I was so elated at figuring this task out that I thought here should be more things like hive tools. They would come to your aid whenever you were stuck on a task or perplexing problem.It would fit nicely into the loop of a belt so you could take it anywhere and when things got murky, you could just whip it out and solve the problem. And not just physical problems like prying off the paint can lid, but other problems as well. This magical something would silently let a co-worker know when he is being obnoxious; it would let the technician know what the computer glitch was really so he/she could fix it.It would make clear to the conservatives that no one should really care who marries who if they care for one another.I could go on and on. None of this will really happen but there is still the very versatile and useful hive tool.

New New Year

Okay forget that year. I am doing my best to and it happened to me so you shouldn't have any trouble forgetting it. It's May now, the merry month of and even with cloudy chilly days, it's easy to see why this month is so celebrated. The shrubs are scenting the yard and best of all the bees are going from dandelion to dandelion and ajuga to ajuga( small purple flower that grows in our lawn and which other people probably mow down. I don't mow that lawn until all the weeds have been pollinated. I feel that order has been restored which they are buzzing all around and working the blooms. They have a purpose that is so clear to them. It easier to see and carry out one's own.