Happy Halloween.

When Ava was about 14 months old, I taught her the punch line to a joke. Sometimes she'd deliver it, sometimes not. Inspired by my request for performance, a friend taught her to say, "No treats, no tricks" which very sweetly sounded like, "noteat notick" out of her little mouth. Of course today, four months later, we've been working on, "Trick or Treat" in light of tonight's Halloween outing. For most of the morning, she just looked at me convinced I had it wrong and said, rolling the "r's" that she's begun to master, "notrrreeat notrrrrick"). Then this afternoon, before her nap, she picked up Cookie Monster and said to him, "Kor Treat" and grinned like she did for me in this picture, taken last Halloween (her first Halloween). She got it. And she even knows who to go to (I didn't teach her that).

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I've been feeling a little restless lately and I can't exactly pinpoint the source. I was thinking maybe it had to do with some domestic disorganization, but I'm slowly getting that in order and need to update my list a bit. After more than a year of non-stop working 8-10 hour days while Ava slept, caring for her exclusively while she was awake, and still managing to keep clean sheets on the beds (largely thanks to Pete) and sticking to our "one night of take out a week" commitment, work is finally beginning to feel a little manageable--so I don't think it's work overload. The marathon is over and I'm back to cross-training (which I love) and Hot Yoga (which I don't but could)--so I'm sure it's not boredom. I just don't know.

But I do know that when I get restless, it usually means a change is going to come. I'm no different than anyone else in how I feel about change--but I've lived through a number of them (many at once) and am here to say that it's usually better on the other side. I'll keep you posted.

Splurge-worthy Wednesday:

• I've yet to make it to the bookstore to check out this journal, Listography: Your Life in Lists that Jenny of LobotoMe posted on her blog. But I'll keep you posted. Can't wait to check it out and get us all listin'!

• A new liptint (with SPF 15) that I actually wear. It's from Aveda and it's called "Coco Plum".

My house is a mess (and my face is so dry)...but I had a great day.

Here are the top five things that made it great:

5. I broke a lot of rules with my daughter:

• We stayed in our pajamas too long
• Didn't clean the breakfast dishes till there were dinner dishes to join them
• Ate an afternoon snack (bananas and peanut butter) in front of the TV (Ellen)
• Slid down the slide with just our socks on
• Took out every tupperware lid we could find and chased each other around the house with them, shouting "boo"

4. I got in 8 hours of work for my consulting business because my daughter is such a great sleeper

3. I mailed three old fashioned letters to three great friends

2. I lit our two jack o' lantern's and then watched Ava's face light up brighter than either of them

And by far, the number one reason it was a great day:

1. When we were looking at pictures today, I pointed to me at my wedding and asked Ava, "Who's that?" Her reply, "Princess." Just like that, "Princess."

Sigh....

And here's are the top five reasons why my house is a mess:

1. I made three batches of punkin cookies for my husband's office and for our terrific neighbors and (as a friend wrote me once) "got fatter by the minute eating all the broken ones."

2. Didn't clean the breakfast dishes till there were dinner dishes to join them (reason it was a great day #5e)

3. Ava and I took out every tupperware lid we could find and chased each other around the house with them, shouting "boo" (reason it was a great day #5b)

4. I ate peanut butter and bananas in front of the TV with 18-month old Ava who's as tactile as she is mobile (translation: everything in our house had peanut butter and banana for a snack this afternoon) (reason it was a great day #5c)

4. When my daughter referred to my picture (therefore, me!) as a princess, I said to heck with the laundry, let's go slide with our socks on! (reason it was a great day #5d and #1)

In other words, it's a mess because it was a great day or because I'm a princess. (Isn't that the Law of Modus Tollens or something algebraic?)

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I have gotten some GREAT lists and splashes that I'll be posting in the morning (I really need to do something about the batter on my cupboards tonight)...Love them! Keep writing and then sending!

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Splurge worthy Tuesday:

• A friend sent me this fun splurge that she was trying out tonight: ordering pizza and eating it out of the box in bed while watching a movie with her hubby! On a Tuesday!

• Determined to get back to it again, I picked up a new knitting book and some yarn to make this adorable sweater for my darling.

Plentyoffish: 1-Man Company May Be Worth $1Billion: "PlentyOfFish.com, a leading online dating site that is run by a single person and is raking in money. Markus Frind is the singular force behind PlentyOfFish. At the time of our last review, June 2006, PlentyOfFish was earning $10,000 per day from Google Adsense (around $3.5 M per annum)."

Top bloggers reveal how to build traffic off-blog without spending a dime: "Simple question – “If you had 2-hours a day to devote to no-cost, off-blog (even off-line) marketing for your blog, what would you do?” I posed this very question to a collection of some of the world’s top bloggers and social network marketers…and here’s what they revealed..."

On Friday I told you a little bit about the Saturday morning coffee shop that we've been going to for more than three years now (and that I practically look forward to going back to the moment we leave). Well, this Saturday was no different except we were able to introduce Ava's grandparents (who were visiting from out of town) to many of our friends.

On Sunday afternoon we decided to go back again, which we don't typically do. On the door was a sign that read, "Closed"--and judging by the vacant countertops, overturned chairs, and end-of-the-month-and-I'm-outta-here-look, they didn't just mean for the day.

That's right. The "shebop" with no warning, no indication, no good-bye, no see ya later, (nothing!) closed shop. I drove over this morning just to make sure. "Closed." (Update: Found out they closed because they couldn't find help--not due to an emergency, thankfully).

I emailed a few of our friends (we don't have contact information for others) and they were hearing it from me for the first time. I've always been a bit sentimental, but now that Ava's involved (she practically took her first steps there) the weight feels a little heavier. I hate to sound so dramatic about it, but I'm bummed. Not to mention the fact that I just wrote about it on Friday!

Onto other topics that don't require caffeine to get you jittery:

I've posted my Christmas Gift List template. It works for me, but I'm always up for hearing about how others get organized (that doesn't just go for Christmas, either). If you like it, then you should know:

• The amount column will automatically total at the bottom (and you don't have to include the dollar sign ($)--it will do it for you).

• When you have completed a person on your list, type in DONE in the Status column and it will automatically shade red (was I excited when I discovered THAT feature!).
  

And for the Splurge of the Day:

Eight more classes of Hot Yoga!

I've completed my second class and I'm still pathetic, but I kind of enjoy it. I realize I will never (trust me, in my case, never applies) be able to put my feet anywhere but in front of me (and a good ways in front of me) but I am actually okay with that. I think I'm supposed to learn more than flexibility from this, so open mind, open palms, and open wallet: Hot Yoga, I'm yours.

Welcome to Long Lane Honey Bee Farms Online Lessons! Remember that you can click on each image to enlarge them.

To refresh your memory, the frames hold the foundation within the deep hive body or honey super.

When starting out keeping bees, the beekeeper must decide what type of foundation is best to use. In the past, there was only one kind, plain beeswax formed into thin layers of foundation with embedded wire to hold them in the frame. This type of foundation is still widely used. An additional wire has to be added horizontally to give the foundation strength. Otherwise, the heat of the hive will cause the thin layer of wax to fall out of the frame.



A small strip of wood is nailed to the top of the frame, catching little hooks on the wax to help it hang. These are commonly referred to as split bottom and top wedge bar frames. This means that there is a top wedge bar of wood that must be nailed to hold the wax, and that the bottom of the frame has a split piece of wood in which the thin layer of wax fits into and then is nailed.



Additional side pins are used as well. Sound complex? It is.

For the hobbyist who has one or two hives, it can be fun, spending time putting together all the little frame pieces and embedding wire into your wax. But for many, this has become too time consuming.

In addition to the pure wax foundation, we now have various types of plastic foundations:

Duragilt, Plasticell, Pierco, Ritecell, Permacomb and the option of an empty frame with no foundation at all.

Duragilt is a sheet of very thin clear plastic that is coated with beeswax and has the hexagonal worker cells embedded in the wax. Some beekeepers enjoy using Duragilt and others do not like it. What's new :) I have tried Durgilt and it proved unsuccessful for me. The bees drew it out unevenly or in small pockets. Rarely can I get an even frame of comb off of Duragilt foundation.

I like pure wax foundation, but I don't like the complexity of the assembly and how venerable it is to mice and wax moths. So I've stopped using it. To reuse the frame means a lot of disassembly and cleaning, pulling out nails, and removing the wires.

Permacomb is fully drawn plastic foundation, not wax comb. In other words, it is a plastic version of a fully drawn wax comb. It sound great as it would allow a fresh package of bees the ability to immediately start storing honey. I've never tried it due to the fact that it is expensive.

Then, there is plastic foundation by various names: Ritecell, Pierco and Plasticell. This is my preference! This is a very thick piece of plastic, probably 1/8 inch think and has the hexagonal worker cells embedded in the plastic. I use only the beeswax coated sheets of plastic. I love plastic foundation in wooden frames. I'm not as impressed with the one piece plastic frame and foundation. But my bees like it just the same. In fact, my queens love deep frames that are solid one piece plastic.

Here are the reasons I have gone totally to plastic:


1) Bees love it and pull it fast. I often entice them by spraying each sheet with sugar water


2) It is VERY durable. You can scrap the comb off with a hive tool and never damage the cell.

3) Wax moths cannot destroy it.

4) Mice cannot destroy it.


5) It is very easy to spot eggs against the black brood sheets.

6) You can spin it in an extractor at any speed and never blow it out.

7) It doesn't droop in a hive or bow out.

8) It snaps into frames rather than having to use wire and nail in a wedge.

9) You can store it in any temperature.

10) It is much more cost effective than constantly replacing damaged foundation.

11) It can be shipped without damage in any temperature.

There can be challenges with plastic. When there is not a strong nectar flow, bees can be slow in drawing out the comb on plastic. However, this is true with all foundation. Bees need nectar to produce wax to draw comb. One side of a frame can be drawn out into the empty side of the frame next to it. However, I have also seen this with wax foundation and especially with Duragilt.


The plastic foundation that we sell is coated with real beeswax, helping the bees to take to it better.

Also, be aware that different foundation types require matching frames. You cannot use wax foundation in a frame built to hold plastic. A frame that holds plastic foundation is known as a 'top and bottom groove frame' with a solid bottom.

During heavy nectar flow, we take several strips of plastic foundation, usually about 2" wide and place two or three in a frame. The bees will use this as a guide, modeling the worker cell grid and quickly adding their own wax in the gaps. Last summer, my son cut plastic foundation in the shape of his girlfriend's name and placed it into a frame in the hive. The bees pulled out the entire sheet. When you hold that frame up to the sun, you can see the name because the plastic shades the sun. But if you look directly at it, it just looks like drawn comb.

Can you put empty frames in a hive? Yes, and during a heavy nectar flow, the bees will make their own comb in the frame. However, this is a bit risky, as they could make it into drone comb. In fact, they usually do this if you place it on the outside edges of the frames, next to the hive walls. Foundation already has the worker size cell embossed in the plastic, so they simply pull out that same size cell. You can experiment and see what you find. Also, it might take a few days longer, as they do have to engineer the perfect architectural design of the cells.

Drawing comb is so dependent upon the specific hive, the weather, and the nectar flow. So it is difficult to do a side by side test. But some claim that an empty frame is drawn out faster than a frame with foundation. I've never attempted a speed test.

A word or warning about intermixing frames. Don't mix plastic frames with wood frames within the same super. Keep all 10 frames the same.

Finally, regarding different types of foundation, we must consider the actual size of the individual cell. I like Plasticell because it has a 4.9mm cell size, which I believe gives me better mite control. It has been suggested that due to the smaller size, the brood cell is capped before the mite can get inside.

Natural cell size is between 4.6mm and 5.0mm. Pierco is 5.2mm. Ritecell is 5.4mm. PermaComb is 5.05. Bees from larger cells are larger bees and will keep building large cells. 'Regression' is a term referring to taking larger bees and regressing back to 4.9mm cell size. Below are three pictures each showing the different success I have with the different types of foundation. See you soon at the next lesson!

Now that the Red Sox have won the World Series, here is a discussion over God and baseball from couple of days back (you can substitute baseball with the game of your choosing - yes, even cricket :) ). Ok..so this is not exactly science & religion - but close enough. (thanks Neil for providing the link)

The $12.5 billion King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is moving ahead (see an earlier post about the university endowment here). From the New York Times:

The king has broken taboos, declaring that the Arabs have fallen critically behind much of the modern world in intellectual achievement and that his country depends too much on oil and not enough on creating wealth through innovation.

“There is a deep knowledge gap separating the Arab and Islamic nations from the process and progress of contemporary global civilization,” said Abdallah S. Jumah, the chief executive of Saudi Aramco. “We are no longer keeping pace with the advances of our era.”

Ok...this is a good starting point. So how is this university going to function in the ultra-conservative environment of Saudi Arabia:

Its planners say men and women will study side by side in an enclave walled off from the rest of Saudi society, the country’s notorious religious police will be barred and all religious and ethnic groups will be welcome in a push for academic freedom and international collaboration sure to test the kingdom’s cultural and religious limits.

This undertaking is directly at odds with the kingdom’s religious establishment, which severely limits women’s rights and rejects coeducation and robust liberal inquiry as unthinkable.

For the new institution, the king has cut his own education ministry out the loop, hiring the state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco to build the campus, create its curriculum and attract foreigners.

This is good for the university, but isn't it frustrating for the society? The King clearly knows (at least from this example) the value of academic freedom and a less oppressed environment for the development of a healthy intellectual environment. Why can't he apply at least some of these ideals to the society as a whole? Heck, he can start by at least allowing women to drive. And what lesson can we draw from the fact that the King had to cut his own education ministry out of the loop for the development of KAUST? The King must think there must be something wrong with the way the ministry uses its authority. And sure enough:

Traditional Saudi practice is on display at the biggest public universities, where the Islamic authorities vet the curriculum, medical researchers tread carefully around controversial subjects like evolution, and female and male students enter classrooms through separate doors and follow lectures while separated by partitions.

Furthermore, ideas simply don't come out of isolation. The society itself must also have some reasonable degree of freedom:

Even in Jidda, the kingdom’s most liberal city, a status rooted in its history as a trading outpost, change comes slowly. This month the governor allowed families to celebrate the post-Ramadan Id al-Fitr holiday in public, effectively allowing men and women to socialize publicly on the same streets for the first time.

The religious police were accused of beating a man to death because he was suspected of selling alcohol. Conservatives have fended off efforts by women to secure the right to drive or to run for office, although women have made considerable gains in access to segregated education and workplaces.

Hopefully, KAUST will have an impact on the larger society as a whole:

Supporters of what is to be called the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or Kaust, wonder whether the king is simply building another gated island to be dominated by foreigners, like the compounds for oil industry workers that have existed here for decades, or creating an institution that will have a real impact on Saudi society and the rest of the Arab world.

“There are two Saudi Arabias,” said Jamal Khashoggi, the editor of Al Watan, a newspaper. “The question is which Saudi Arabia will take over.”

Read the full story here. (thanks, Marina for providing the link to the story)

Read an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education about KAUST here.

When processing honey, the moisture level is important to consider. For most beekeepers, we simply let the bees tell us when the moisture level is around 17-18%. This is when the bees cap off the comb to prevent the honey from absorbing any moisture.

Some beekeepers get in too big of a hurry and take off the honey supers before the comb is completely sealed off. This means the honey can have a higher amount of moisture than 18%. Moisture above this level can cause some problems in the future, namely, allowing the honey to ferment. Of course, if you eat lots of honey, you'll consume it before it has a chance to ferment even when the moisture level is higher than it should be. But if customers buy it and keep it around for a while, then honey with a high moisture content can ferment.

If you pull off your honey after it has been capped then you know the moisture level is good to go. However, if you pull off the honey supers that are partially capped, the uncapped cells will begin to absorb any moisture in the air.

To safeguard my honey from drawing moisture while it is being processed, I monitor the humidity in my honey room. I keep it very dry by the use of a dehumidifier. I usually keep it around 45% in the room. If I cannot process my supers the same day I pull them off the hives, I will stack them in the honey room so that they are staggered. I leave the dehumidifier on maximum dry, and use a fan to circulate air in the room.

Honey from different nectar sources can have different moisture contents. Clover honey is around 23% and is perfectly good honey with this level of moisture. However, other honey will ferment at 23%. In fact, moisture levels higher than 21%, other than the honey where this is permissible, is not fit for sale. Honey is hygroscopic which means it can easily absorb moisture from the air around it. But, if the air is dry, then honey will lose moisture, thus improving its quality.

Some beekeepers use a refractormeter to check the moisture level in honey. We sell the Atago refractometer for $289.

The easiest way to ensure your honey is at the optimal moisture level is to wait until the bees seal off the comb. Then, try to process your honey in a dry room and bottle it as soon as possible.

Thanks for joining me today for another lesson in keeping bees.

David Burns

Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

www.honeybeesoneline

Some of you have been asking what I'm doing with my "List of Lists" that appears in the margin.

I couldn't provide a direct answer because I wasn't sure myself. And while I'm still not sure, I am going to do something that I rarely ever do: launch a public display of unfinished and uncertain.

I've been making lists since I was about 8 years old--but instead of "homekeeping" or "life" lists, they were "favorite animal" and "favorite subject" or "favorite salad dressing " lists. Bottom line: they organized me and made me much more efficient and much more sure of myself. And they were fun!

I've gotten away from lists over the years (well, I make them, just very haphazardly)--and it's time to get back to them. While I have lots of lists listed, I'm starting with the "homekeeping" list--little projects here and there that I've neglected for a long time but need to get to. I've color coded them by degree of difficulty or time requirement, included deadlines, identified people responsible, and a space for notes.

There are two multi-layered purposes for these lists and sharing them in the state they are in:

1. I do a great job of starting projects and finishing them in my working life, not so great in my personal life. So, I'm going to take some of the basic accountability principles I've used with staff and colleagues and apply them to my non-working life.

2. I think that people are the most interesting thing we've got going in this world and we need to find ways to learn about them and learn from them. You can learn a lot from a list--and that goes for how people organize their needs, wants, likes, dislikes and then how they go after them or what they do with them. The other major benefit is that people have a lot of experience--and list making is great way to tap into them. For example, you'll see in my homekeeping list that I'm looking for a new organizational method for my spice drawer (it's really a spice mess) and someone may have a really great solution for me that I never would have thought of on my own or picked up from HGTV!

Hopefully my public display of uncertain will inspire you to share some of your lists--they might be to-do lists, cleaning supplies list, running races list, favorite songs list, and so on--and send along tips, products, or solutions that are successful for you! Lists are fun because they're creative and their possibilities endless. So please, please, please: SEND THEM AND YOUR IDEAS ALONG.

There are a couple of ways to reach me:

a. Send me an email: splashesandsplurges@gmail.com (I will post comments anonymously unless otherwise specified)

b. Leave a comment on this post (check anonymous if you don't want your identity known, even by me!)

Don't worry about the format in which you send your lists or your suggestions--just send them and I'll format them for you if you'd like. Besides, seeing how the information comes will help me figure out where this is meant to go. I hope that what we end up with are lots of lists, lots of ideas for tackling them (or enhancing them) and lots of learning!

Please send them along and tell your friends to as well!

Splurge D'jour:

1. I had a great wine last night--a Cabernet Sauvignon from Honig Vineyard and Winery. It will cost you about $30, so it's not an everyday wine, but definitely worth the splurge.

A paper discussing the origin of life has been retracted after 52 years. Why? Its becoming a favorite for Creationists, who are taking some quotes out of context.

In January 1955, Homer Jacobson, a chemistry professor at Brooklyn College, published a paper called “Information, Reproduction and the Origin of Life” in American Scientist, the journal of Sigma Xi, the scientific honor society.

In it, Dr. Jacobson speculated on the chemical qualities of earth in Hadean time, billions of years ago when the planet was beginning to cool down to the point where, as Dr. Jacobson put it, “one could imagine a few hardy compounds could survive.”

Nobody paid much attention to the paper at the time, he said in a telephone interview from his home in Tarrytown, N.Y. But today it is winning Dr. Jacobson acclaim that he does not want — from creationists who cite it as proof that life could not have emerged on earth without divine intervention.

So after 52 years, he has retracted it.

The retraction came about when, on a whim, Dr. Jacobson ran a search for his name on Google. At age 84 and after 20 years of retirement, “I wanted to see, what have I done in all these many years?” he said. “It was vanity. What can I tell you?”

Actually its cool that Homer Jacobson was googling his name to see his impact. And if you can't be found on Google, did you ever really exist? Ok, that is a different issue. But which Creationists are really quoting him? Its our Muslim Creationist, Harun Yahya!

Darwinismrefuted.com, for example, says Dr. Jacobson’s paper “undermines the scenario that life could have come about by accident.” Another creationist site, Evolution-facts.org, says his findings mean that “within a few minutes, all the various parts of the living organism had to make themselves out of sloshing water,” an impossible feat without a supernatural hand.

“Ouch,” Dr. Jacobson said. “It was hideous.”

Actually, we shouldn't be too harsh on Harun Yahya. He has only now gotten to the scientific literature of the 1950s. Soon, he will learn about the importance of the RNA, the extremophiles living near volcanic vents, etc. May be then he will also gain some understanding of the science behind evolution.

Read the full story here.

We are David and Sheri Burns, sharing various aspects of our beekeeping business with you, like these online beekeeping lessons. So many people just drive out to our farm and visit, and many others call and ask questions. Many more email us. We are always happy to visit and to help others start keeping honeybees!

You can click on some of these pictures for a large size image.

Honey! Honey! Honey! This is why many people keep bees, to enjoy the honey. Winnie the Pooh said, "That buzzing-noise means something. If there's a buzzing noise, somebody's making a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you're a bee. .... And the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey....."

I'm asked all the time about honey! People ask me how the bees make it, how much honey can a hive produce and why honey can be a different color and have different tastes.

Here's the deal. Winnie was right...the only reason for being a bee is to make honey! Oh they do other things, but a beehive in general makes honey. It makes honey for its own existence. A hive stores honey for the present and for the future. Since bees are workers, they will store more honey than they need...lots more. This is the honey that we as beekeepers remove from the hive--the excess honey that they can spare.

After a couple of weeks of duties inside the hive, the female worker bee is recruited to begin foraging for nectar. We call her a forager. She waits until the first sign of daylight, then off she goes making many trips back and forth from the hive to the flower until it gets dark.

The nectar that she is gathering from flowers is high in water content. Nectar becomes honey once the bees bring it back to the hive and reduce the water content. When the foraging bee arrives at the hive, she often transfers her nectar load to another bee, called a house bee. A house bee is just a regular bee with household duties, but she too will one day earn her wings to gather nectar. The house bee will then transport the nectar to a cell where it will be placed so it can ripen.

Once the moisture level of nectar is reduced to 17% then it is called honey, and the bees will seal off each cell with a cap of wax. This is how we know the honey is complete and ready for harvest...the bees seal it off.

How do they reduce the moisture of the nectar? They fan their wings over the comb to dry out the moisture from the nectar. How do they know when it reaches 17%? I have no clue. I suppose they have a quality control bee that has the sole job of taste sampling the honey.

What makes honey different colors and gives it a different taste? The nectar source. My favorite honey is orange blossom honey. When I was in Israel in 2006, I bought some orange blossom honey and fell in love with it. I grew up on clover honey and I thought all honey tasted pretty much the same. But there is a big difference.

Here in Illinois, we have Spring honey and Fall honey. Spring honey is light in color and taste because our nectar source in the Spring is from flowers that produce light nectar, such as clover and locust trees. However, in the summer and early fall, our nectar source is darker and more robust in flavor as it comes from aster, golden rod and other summer and fall flowers.

An expensive and more difficult honey to produce is Tupelo honey, from the Tupelo tree, mainly found in Florida. There are many types of honey, from every nectar source you can image. This provides many different types of honey with different tastes and a different color.

Not only is there liquid honey, but there is also comb honey-honey that is sold still sealed in the beeswax comb. We have lots of customers who love comb honey. They love it so much we always sell out of comb honey early in the year.

Okay, so how does a beekeeper get honey from the hive into the bottle? Good question. Here's the simple way we do it. First, when the honey is ready, we head out to our bee yards to essentially steal all the extra honey the bees have made. We are able to drive our truck near the hives, and in the back of the truck are two important items. A generator and a 15 gallon air compressor. The air compressor is powered by the gas generator. We then stand a honey super on edge and with the air compressor we gently spray off all the bees. Then, we place the honey supers in the truck and drive them back to our honey room.

Once in the room, the individual frames are loaded into our automatic cowen uncapper which uncaps the sealed combs. Then, it is placed into our 33 frame extractor which spins at a high rate of speed, slinging the honey out of the comb. The honey then flows into a settling tank so that wax and other objects float to the top. A honey pump carries the honey from the bottom of the settling tank up to our 500 gallon holding tank.

To fill jars, we open up a value on the holding tank and the honey runs through micron filters. Normally we only run it through one 400 micron filter. Sometimes we use 200 micron filters.

Then, the honey is bottled after being filtered.

We never heat our honey. Honey never spoils and is the only food that has an indefinite shelf life. Most honey will become hard, known as crystallizing. This is normal and does not mean the honey is bad. It means it simply crystallized. This can be remedied simply by leaving a jar in warm water for a while.

If you are new to beekeeping, I recommend you start off processing your honey with one of our new hot knifes, that cuts the cappings off, opening up the comb so the honey can be drawn out. Then, it is best to use an extractor. You don't have to. You can let it drain out or press it out, but if you can afford to invest in a new hand crank extractor, it will make the job much easier.

We also sell micron filters that fit over a regular 5 gallon jug so that you can easily filter your honey, making a very nice product!

Then, it's off to the stand to sell your honey! I love getting out, selling the honey and meeting great people. Everyone always has great questions and are intrigued by bees. You'll love selling your honey too!

Well it has been good to be with you again, and I look forward to sharing the next lesson with you in the next few days.

Be sure to visit our website at: honeybeesonline.com
Or give us a call and help us set you up in keeping bees! 217-427-2678

David & Sheri

I love Saturday mornings. Even more, I love anticipating them, that's why I'm writing about Saturday morning on Friday morning.

Let me tell you why I love them.

When Pete and I first moved into our townhouse three years ago, we found this little coffee shop tucked away between an X-Ray joint and an animal clinic, "All Paws." We started going every Saturday morning and quickly became weekend regulars. What happens when you're a weekend regular (and just happen to be a guy that everyone loves, i.e. Pete) is that you start receiving unsolicited perks, for example: a pound of coffee beans when you only ask for a 1/2 pound; free refills before you realize you need one; strangers who quickly become friends; and strangers who remain strangers but in a friendly kind of way.

The morning went something like this:

I'd get up and go running before the sun was up and be home and showered as it came up. Pete would get dressed and we'd hop in the car, on our way for a fresh cup of coffee. There was always one other guy there, Joe, who we'd say hello to--and, who it turns out, attended University of Scranton (where Pete went) forty years earlier. Pete and I would spend some time just catching up on our week, talk about what we hoped to accomplish over the weekend, maybe the month, the year, five years, ten years.

When I became pregnant with Ava, Mr. Kahn (aka The Coffee Guy and owner) took extra special care of me. He had my favorite coffee available in decaf, he carried my coffee and my muffin to the table (even though I had just finished a short run and maybe even a weight lifting class) and he made us promise that we'd keep coming well after the baby was born.

After I had Ava, we loaded her up, four days old, and headed to the coffee shop (Ava calls it Shebop)--and we've been back every weekend since. The routine goes pretty much the same as it did before we had Ava, we've just added diapers, bibs, and books to the process. Her first (and very small) first birthday party was well attended by Shebop friends. Last weekend, she had nearly everyone in the place (including Joe) linked in a go of "ring around the rosy."

Mr. Kahn will tell you that people come every Saturday morning just to see Ava--and I can certainly see why that would be true. But I suspect they also come every Saturday morning because, like me, they've been looking forward to it ever since Friday morning.

Today's Splurge:

1. Find something that you look forward to and do it every week and look forward to it every day!

Want to share it with others (anonymously or not?)--leave a post or email me at: splashesandsplurges@gmail.com

There was a time when I could turn pulp into paper and scraps into stories.

And I know that self is somewhere buried beneath years of doing what became routine (e.g. working, working out, cooking for dummies-the cookbook not my husband- and escaping to thank-god-its-not-my-reality TV).

So when I saw this at www.designsponge.com...


I knew it was time to shed a few layers and get back to creativity. I'm planning to tackle my refrigerator this weekend somewhere between deadlines for work and play time with Ava. I could use some new magnets to display her drawings (hopefully you have some to hang as well after reading #7 in Clap Your Hands) and we've spent a lot of time picking up leaves lately. She'll be delighted that these are cheek rubbing soft!

The How To:

2 pieces of 9″ x 12″ felt ( Derek & Lauren at Design Sponge used gold and orange)
4 pieces of 5″ x 8″ adhesive magnet sheeting
Small piece of paper or cardboard for creating a template
Scissors

• Create a template by drawing and cutting out a leaf shape onto your paper or cardboard. You can trace around the template before you cut it, or simply hold it up to the felt and cut carefully around it with scissors.
  
• Repeat until you have enough leaves to cover the side of your refrigerator.
  
• Remove the backings from your magnet paper and place as many leaves onto each sheet as possible. (Derek & Lauren fit 5 per sheet)
  
• Cut around the leaves with scissors.
  
• Attach to fridge as decoration or put those magnets to use holding up your to-do list with style.

Splurge heaven:

A couple of months ago a friend needed help, so I helped her. It was nothing life-saving or extraordinary and I know she'd have done the same thing for me if the circumstances were reversed. As a thank you (the words would have more than sufficed) she gave me a gift certificate for a facial.

I cashed it in today.

Oh my gosh.

It was definitely one of those, "why haven't I done this before" experiences. I am convinced that it made my nose smaller. Don't ask me how--but I feel like if pregnancy can make my feet bigger (which it did) then a facial can certainly make my nose smaller.

You must get one if you haven't--or better yet, give one. Your friend will forever thank you.

This is quite funny (but you should also keep a barf bag nearby while watching this video). Yes, yes...when we run into a difficult problem, why can't we simply say "God did it" and go home? While Ben Stein can invoke Newton, Einstein, and Darwin for their beliefs, but had they really followed this "God did it" methodology, nobody would know their names today.

Yikes!!!

For the most part, Creationism (and its offspring, Intelligent Design) has been a headache for US schools. But now Europe is also experiencing the problem. Earlier this month Council of Europe passed a statement against the teaching of Creationism in science classrooms. Taking practical actions, Sweden has now banned the teaching of Creationism or Intelligent Design alongside evolution. However, religious education will remain in the curriculum:

Religious Education will remain on the curriculum and it will still be allowed to start the school day with prayers. But in classes teachers will be expected to stick to the curriculum.

"End-of-term services in school are great," he said, and added that religious education would remain a school subject. But all elements of religious worship would have to be completely separate from class teaching.

I'm assuming that these religious worship elements are optional and the default is not to have any worship.

Will these steps stem the spread of Creationism? It hasn't completely worked out in the US and we may have to devise a different strategy to address the problem. But banning Creationism from schools is a necessary first step.

Read the full story here.

The arrival of Christmas catalogs is typically my get-ready-for-Halloween trigger. Check out this really cool idea from www.curbly.com--a do it yourself home project website.

Ghost Toast:

1. Spread soft butter or margarine on a large slice of white bread.

2. Carefully cut or tear a ghostlike shape out of aluminum foil.

3. Press the foil shape on top of the buttered bread. Sprinkle the bread generously with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

4. Place the slices on a baking sheet and slip under a preheated broiler for about two or three minutes or until the butter is hot and bubbly.

5. Remove the foil template to unveil spooky toast.

Today's Splurge:

Aside from encouraging you (okay, urging you) to have toast as soon as you finish this post regardless of what time it is, I'm going to report on two things that are of splurge-worthy mention today (afterall, it's splashes and splurgES, not splashes and splurge):

1. This sweet postcard that I'll save for a special occasion or maybe frame and put somewhere fun in the house. ($5.50). I've always had a soft spot for birds and when Ava came along, the soft spot grew into a soft soul--and now I can't resist them!

2. And this less affordable 1940's telephone. Any ideas on what $325.00 would have bought in 1940? I won't splurge on this--but it's inspired me to haunt an old attic.

Happiness sure can't be bottled, but I've been paying some attention to the way a certain 18-month-old conducts business and I've learned a few things in the process. She's about the consistently happiest person I know and I can't help but think that if we engaged in just one of her activities each day, we might find ourselves just a little bit happier a lot more often:

1. Let "boo" be the first word out of your mouth. Every morning. Even if no one is there to hear you.

2. Call your milk "moo moo" and drink 16 ounces of it everyday.

3. Wear bright pink Crocs (that goes for you guys, too!).

4. Say hello to everything--not just everyone--everything. Your toothbrush, your pillow, your sock, the door, the playground, your oatmeal. Everything.

5. And then say goodbye.

6. Say hello to everyone and be completely accepting if they don't say hello back.

7. Draw something. Even if it is lines of all different colors, it doesn't matter, just draw.

8. Say the word "armpit" as many times as you can manage in a day. Here's a tutorial in case you're not sure how.


9. Wear comfortable pajamas with things like sleeping sheep and ice cream cones on them.

10. Read about pigs that sing and cows that "fyyyyy."

11. Listen for an airplane, jump up and down when you spot it, and then blow it a kiss as it passes overhead.

12. Say the word "funny" just for the heck of it and then burst out laughing.

13. Pray, even if you just start with the word "Amen."

14. Give someone an Eskimo kiss.

15. Go to the gaygound (playground) and hit the slide about 500 times. Heck, just say the word gaygound.

16. Say "excuse me" when you toot and "bless you" when I sneeze.

So, which one are you going to try today? Let me know how it works!

Today's Splurge:

A chocolate, banana, peanut butter, protein milkshake. It's incredible. I'm sure I'm not the first to invent it, but I haven't had it anywhere quite like this:

Throw into the blender (I'm a little obsessive, so I'd say in this order):

• 8 oz of chocolate soy milk (I use 8th Continent's Light Chocolate Soy Milk, click here for a $1 off coupon!)
• 1 frozen banana (I got this tip from my mother in law: cut up ripe bananas and throw them in the freezer, then you'll always have them).
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
  
• 1 TB of natural peanut butter
  
• 1 scoop (or two) of chocolate Whey Protein Powder
• 1 handful of ice-cubes (I use about five)

I have different speeds on my blender, so I put it on "Chop" for about 90 seconds just to cut the ice up, then I switch it to "Mix" for another couple of minutes.

The trick to frothy and thick is just the right amount of ice (too much and its icy, too little and it's not thick) and to blend it for a long time (3 and a half minutes feels a lot longer than it sounds!)

Enjoy!

As part of Hampshire College Lecture Series on Science & Religion, we will have Jennifer Michael Hecht on October 25th for a talk titled, Doubt - Where you'd least expect it. She is a historian of science and is the author Doubt: A History, The End of Soul and The Happiness Myth. She is also a poet and her poetry books include The Next Ancient World and Funny. I read Doubt last year, and its a very well-written book. Her chapter on Muslim and Jewish skeptics of the Middle ages is fascinating and I think she will be touching a bit on that in her talk at Hampshire College (Added: you can also listen to a podcast of her interview on Speaking of Faith - thanks to Nizam for the link). If you live in/near western Massachusetts, please join us at the lecture. As usual, we will also be recording the lecture and I will post the video when its available.

Here is the full announcement:

Hampshire College Lecture Series on Science & Religion Presents

Doubt - Where You'd Least Expect It
by
Jennifer Michael Hecht

Thursday, October 25, 2007
5:30p.m., Franklin Patterson Hall, Main Lecture Hall
Hampshire College

Abstract:

The recent "God wars" hide how long these issues have been around. On both the religious and the atheist side, no one seems to know the history of religious and philosophical doubt. Indeed, they think it doesn't exist. But in fact, there has been doubt throughout history. There are instances of complete and lasting rejection of the idea of God or an afterlife in the Hebrew Bible, in the medieval Moslem world, among Western scholars during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The idea of a past wherein people could not imagine a world without God is essentially wrong, a 20th century misunderstanding of the contribution of the Enlightenment. Doubt is older than most faiths and full of paragons of bravery, intellect, and character. Also, in history, doubters have a much better sense of humor than do today's famous atheists. Hecht will get us thinking, talking, and especially, laughing.

Jennifer Michael Hecht is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities and teaches in the Graduate Creative Writing Program at The New School, New York. She is the author of Doubt: A History, The End of Soul, and The Happiness Myth along with her poetry books, The Next Ancient World and Funny

Upcoming lectures:

• George Saliba, Thursday, March 6, 2008
• George V. Coyne, S.J., Friday, March 28, 2008

About the Hampshire College Science & Religion Lecture Series:
This is the second year of a three-year lecture series that aims to bring together philosophers, theologians, historians and scientists to discuss topics in science & religion. The themes for the lecture series are as follows:

2006-2007: Nature, Belief & the Supernatural
2007-2008: A History of Conflict & Cooperation
2008-2009: A Matter of Origins & the Meaning of Life

For more information on the Lecture Series, please visit http://scienceandreligion.hampshire.edu/

Sponsors:
The Hampshire College Integrated Science & Humanities Initiative
Hampshire College Office of the President
Hampshire College Office of the Dean of Faculty
The Schools of Cognitive Science, Natural Science, and Humanities, Arts & Cultural Studies

Keeping point with the last post on Music Theory, I've got another one to pass along. This one applies to all aspects of life: parenting, exercise, work, relationships, even student loan debt pay-off. I'm sure it's one that many of you have applied in one way or another--realizing it or not.

It sounds simple and easy enough to employ--Go Slow to Go Fast--and it is, if you can resist the finger-tip-access and instant gratification results that we are so accustomed to these days (and love, by the way. No longer need to wait for the next day's solution if you can't figure out 29 across on the crossword puzzle).

In fact, Go Slow to Go Fast is the complete opposite of anything instant. It requires you to accept that results might not appear the next minute, the next hour, the next day, or the next month--but if you plod along, once they do appear, they'll keep coming in ways grander than you could have expected.

Consider this light touch example:

If I owed $20,000 on my student loan (that's five digits)--four digits feels like an eternity away, three is borderline cruelty.

But if I plug away, minimum payments at first then a bit more as pay raises come along, I am all of a sudden paying way more on the principle and less on the interest. The smaller the principal, the further my payment goes. Instead of the 20-years I thought it would take to pay it off, we're looking at eight. (That's with a little extra effort, mind you).

Or this one:

Maybe I just ordered a new computer with lots of hook ups, extra features, and state-of-the-art graphics quality. I resist my impulse to just dive in, throw everything at the wall (figuratively speaking, of course) and see what sticks (thereby breaking something or even worse, giving up and never realizing the darn things' full potential). Or, I pay attention to the manual and do as it says. I might not realize its full potential right away (there's always Video Professor, right?) but at least I've positioned myself for the possibility. And what is more exciting than possibility?

If I put in the effort on the front end, then the work on the back end ought to go a lot more smoothly and a lot more...quickly.

These examples scratch the surface of Go Slow to Go Fast potential--it's really effective with the deeper aspects of life: a new relationship, house buying, weight loosing, job seeking, athletic training, soul searching, product launching, and the list goes on.

Going Slow to Go Fast doesn't require a whole lot of paper and pen planning (although that never hurts) it just requires a bit of consciousness, restraint, and patience. In many cases, it's about changing behaviors --even just a little behavior at first (saying hello to someone even if it looks like the last thing they want to hear)--and with the confidence or success that you build from that little change, moving on to other behaviors (or bigger ones) becomes almost fun.

Before you know it, small steps turn into bigger steps, bigger steps into strides.

Its not all bupkis. Somehow it all comes together in the video.
(thanks to Olga for the link)

Khwrazimic Science Society (KSS), in collaboration with Iqbal Academy Pakistan, is holding a symposium on Science and the Muslim Civilization on November 4th. This event is free and open to public. If you are in Lahore or in its vicinity, you should make an effort to attend it. Here is the introduction to the symposium:

The KSS feels that there is a growing need in the country to foment debate on fundamental discourses that sufficiently overlap with our national conscience and are also of far-reaching social and intellectual verve. The tradition prevailing in our science curricula is one of insulation with social and historical traditions. As a result, there is a pressing need to broaden a wider historical perspective in most of our intellectual exercises. Recently, there has been an upsurge of literature and international debate on any relation between Islamic civilization and modern sciences, ranging from extreme positions such as “Islamization of Science” to the “Marginalization of Islam”. Religion and culture are the two values deeply engrained in our society and as these values come face to face with modern science, deep questions need to be asked. One such question is the question of history and sociology. However, these discussions are mostly limited to academic circles and are awaiting a wider appreciation inside our country. In the same spirit, the KSS feels that it is important to organize a public symposium touching upon the historical crossroads between Islam, Muslim socities and science.

George Saliba has been invited from Columbia to speak at the conference. Interestingly, he will also be coming to Hampshire in March 2008, as part of our Science & Religion lecture series at Hampshire College.

You can find full details of the Lahore symposium here.

My husband has a theory and two solutions for the occasion when a song gets stuck in your head (see October 16 post, "Motion").

His theory on how it got stuck: You didn't hear the song all the way through. Maybe you arrived at your destination before it ended, maybe you got distracted, maybe you turned the station or advanced the disc or the playlist. Regardless, it was stopped short. And in its haunting and "rhythm is gonna get you" way it's stuck like the old days of a needle on a record.

His solution for un-sticking it: Listen to it all the way through--and if that isn't possible, sing "Horse with no name". It works every time. You should try it out, because chances are, "Rhythm is Gonna Get You" is stuck in your head now, like it is mine.

So, got any theories of your own?

Splurge of the day:

1. Oatmeal is boring by itself, but add some granola, dried cranberries, walnuts and a little brown sugar, it's like dessert. Well, sort of.

I don't need an expert to tell me that life is harder now (as opposed to then?), but I read the article anyway.

The first paragraph struck me for a couple of reasons:

1. It uses the word "splurging" in the first paragraph. Since this "blah" is titled "Splashes and Splurges"--I'm all for the mention, even though I'm trying to splurge in different ways these days (ways that either save money or avoid spending it altogether).

2. It pointed out that Americans are packing the shopping malls and crowding restaurants but spending less. I've been guilty of the former more so than the latter. In fact, there was a point not too long ago when a weekend wasn't a weekend if I didn't make a "quick trip" to the mall, you know, just to see if there were any good sales but mostly just to get out of the house.

Eventually, I started thinking good and hard about why getting out of the house was so important to me. Once I got to the bottom of that, I could start taking steps to make life a little...easier.

I think the rest of the article misses this point. It goes on to talk about how Americans are actually spending less (but being squeezed more). It focuses entirely on the financial aspects of a harder life, but doesn't all good research, common sense, and The Beatles tell us that money can't buy us love? Or internal ease? Wasn't the writer interested in why people are lapping the mall or slurping their Starbucks weekend after weekend to begin with? Especially since they aren't spending money?

For me, life felt harder, or feels harder, because I was making it harder. Rather than stay at home, cook the gourmet meal I had aspirations to cook when I bought all of those groceries earlier in the week, or go through my closet to weed out clothes I no longer wore, organize pictures that were stacked in nearly every corner of my house, or finally organize that drawer that collected everything without a home and the one next to it that was home to its overflow, I "went out":

• to the mall (to buy more things to add to the drawer),
  
• to the bookstore (to buy books on how to get rid of things), or
  
• to the coffee shop (to write about how I was going to spend more time at home getting rid of things).

Before I knew it, the weekend was over and I hadn't accomplished a single thing. I tortured myself for the next week, vowing to stay home and get straightened out. It never happened. I continued to feel the stress, the guilt, the noise of a cluttered mind caused by a disorder called Avoidance.

Until I just picked one thing and tackled it. I resisted the urge to "go out" just one time and while it was hard it definitely got easier.

My closets are still not color coded and my pantry is still not alphabetized. But I am down to one (okay, maybe two) trips to the grocery store each week (thanks to my FeedMe Planner), am spending lots more time actually reading books and articles rather than just collecting them, writing more rather than whining about not writing at all, and getting down in the dirt with my daughter.

Life is hard, there is no question about it. But it can also be so satisfying.

Today's Splurge:

While it seems completely contradictory (maybe even hypocritical) to highlight anything that involves money here, I'm going to anyway--because if there is one thing I love more than words, it's paper to write them on. Check out this great paper with pretty Japanese prints from Paper Source. I haven't bought any of it yet (mostly because I'm having such a hard time deciding) but just looking at it makes me want to "do something creative today."

Dumb But Profitable. 10 Million Dollar Ideas That Shouldn't Have Worked.: "1000000 pixels, charge a dollar per pixel – that’s perhaps the dumbest idea for online business anyone could have possible come up with. Still, Alex Tew, a 21-year-old who came up with the idea, is now a millionaire." Plus 9 more.

The first Malaysian astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, is now on International Space Station (ISS), and he will stay at ISS for 9 days. The (relatively) big news, however, was that he wanted to pray in space, and so the issue of finding Mecca's direction from 220 miles above the ground was brought up.

He's a devout Muslim and when he says his daily prayers he wants to face Mecca, specifically the Ka'aba, the holiest place in Islam ("Turn then thy face towards the Sacred Mosque: wherever ye are, turn your faces towards it .... " The Quran, Al-Baqarah, 2:149).

That's where the trouble comes in. From ISS, orbiting 220 miles above the surface of the Earth, the qibla (an Arabic word meaning the direction a Muslim should pray toward Mecca) changes from second to second. During some parts of the space station's orbit, the qibla can move nearly 180 degrees during the course of a single prayer. What's a devout Muslim to do?

Well...I guess a devout Muslim would not worry about the technicalities too much and more focus on the prayer. No, no, wait. Malaysian Space Agency actually worried about this problem, and convened a conference of 150 Islamic scientists and scholars last year to resort some of these issue (no..really). The resulting document was called "A Guideline of Performing Ibadah (worship) at the International Space Station (ISS)" and it got approval from Malaysia's Fatwa Council. I am curious what would have happened if the council had said "no". Would they have delayed the flight? (ok...must resist cynicism here..)

You can find the full document here (.doc file from Wired)
Here are some of the highlights. Regarding Praying:

The performance of the physical postures (such as standing, bowing and prostrating) is to suit the conditions in ISS, prioritizing as follows:

a. If upright standing is not possible, then any standing posture,
b. Sitting. Bowing is by bringing down the chin closer to the knee or the prostrating place,
c. Lying down on the right side with body facing the direction of Qibla,
d. Lying flat
e. Using the eye lid as an indicator of the changing of postures in prayer,
f. Imagining the sequence of prayer.

Regarding directions to Mecca (where Ka'aba is located):

Determining the Direction of Qibla
Qibla direction is based on what is possible, prioritizing as below:
i. The Ka’aba
ii. The projection of Ka’aba
iii. The Earth
iv. Wherever

Regarding prayer times:

Determining the Prayer Time
The daily five prayer times is defined in a 24 hour duration (equals to 1 Earth day) following the time zone at which port the astronaut is launched (in this case, Baikonur, Kazakhstan).

Actually a lot of this is quite reasonable (within religious context). I'm not sure if a conference of 150 scientists and scholars was needed for this...but it could have been worse. But, of no less importance, the document also has directions for dress code (please no space-suit burqa jokes):

Dress code
A Muslim astronaut need to cover his aurat where:
a. Aurat for male is from the navel to the knee.
b. Aurat for female is the entire body except for her face and hands below the wrist.

It almost seems as if space-suits were made for Muslims.

You can read about praying problems here.

This is all a distraction. The main story is that Malaysia has its first astronaut in space. And thats great.

Marathons give a whole new meaning to the concept of Mind-Body connection.

I'm not even going to attempt to describe what I think Mind-Body connection means in a New Age kind of way (remember, I've had one Pilates class and took my first yoga class on Monday) but I can describe what it means to me in a marathon kind of way: When it hurts, your mind knows it hurts and so doesn't your body.

Saturday's Baltimore Marathon was my second marathon. I finished in a respectable 3:51 minutes but not without some deep contemplation on life, liquids, and lactic acid.

I cruised through the first 21 miles of the course with my good friend, E (who by the way, just had a baby SIX MONTHS AGO!). I felt strong on the hills between miles 17 and 21, which I kept thinking had to end (what goes up MUST go down, right? Wrong.) At 21 miles, I got double whammied with Charlie horses in each quad that exceeded in pain any of the ones I experienced in pregnancy. (Labor pain is in a category unto itself; at least I knew I wasn't going to die from the marathon though the same could not be said when I gave birth.) Needless to say, the last five miles (still up hill, with a slight downhill the final 1/2 mile) were slower but I still made it within my goal time--it's just a little painful to know that I was on pace to achieve my dream time.

Other marathon notes:

• I should have known I was in trouble when we met up with a guy at mile 7 and ran with until mile 20 who belongs to a club called "Marathon Maniacs. " Not only had he run the Twin Cities marathon the week before, he was running the Atlantic City marathon THE NEXT DAY. He has a wife and three kids--one of whom is three months old. Wanna take bets on whether or not he still has a wife?
  

• Here's some Mind-Body connection for you: it's amazing I didn't strangle myself after the first 30 minutes Ava's breakfast-lunch-dinner-and-every-minute-in-between song was stuck in my head (miles 2 through 7). Who knows, maybe Marathon Maniac actually saved my life.
  

• There's something to be said about just plain, old, regular socks. I got two pairs of special socks for my birthday: special because they are fitted to the left and right foot and labeled "L" and "R"accordingly. But if you unknowingly put two "L's" on and then proceed to run 26.2 miles they are no longer special, they are sadistic. Every toe on my right foot is not just blistered, it's blood blistered.
  

And finally, I have two splurges to report for the day:

1. I played with my daughter for 45 minutes, uninterrupted, outside with the sidewalk chalk today. We drew a hopscotch board (love that game!), airplanes (aka "airpeens"), and clouds (aka "cowds"). You should definitely draw yourself a hopscotch board.

2. A good friend stopped by this morning for a surprise visit that felt better than a planned one ever could have. Surprise someone this week!

Hi! I'm David Burns with Long Lane Honey Bee Farms and it has been so fun putting together these lessons! And, wow! So many people have called, emailed, visited our shop and purchased hives and have told us they love these online lessons. Great! I welcome your questions, as it helps me know how to incorporate the answers in future lessons. So, feel free to email me your beekeeping questions.
Also, by all means, tell your friends and buddies about these lessons. Invite them to read them or subscribe to them, so that each time a new lesson is released you'll receive it in your Inbox in your mail program. Thanks so much!

In our last lesson, we approached the hive from the back, smoked it, and lifted off the outer cover and inner cover. Now, we are ready to inspect what is inside. Since this is a beginning lesson, we will assume that you have installed your bees, and now you are ready to inspect you hive.

How soon should you inspect your hive after installing your packaged bees? It is hard to wait, but you should wait 5 days. This will help the bees accept the queen. After 5 days, you'll want to open the hive and check to see if the queen has been released from her cage. To do this, the first thing you'll look for is the queen cage you installed between the frames. It is common for bees to be on the queen cage, and it is very common for the bees to build comb on the bottom of the cage too. When pulling up the queen cage be gentle as it is possible that your queen may be on the comb attached to the cage. Look to see if you see the queen, and if you do, brush her off onto a frame. Once there is no queen present on the cage or comb, shake off the bees and discard the queen cage and the comb. I save the comb that is attached to the queen cage and use it in my school talks. Kids love to hold bee comb and look at it up close.

Now, start by pulling out the frame that is closest to one of the sides. It is usually less populated with bees and has less honey, pollen and brood. Just set that frame temporarily on the ground, or you can purchase one of our frame holders that attaches to the side of your hive box where you can place your frames as you work. Once you pull out this frame, you now have more space to slide each frame back into that space. This helps you have the room you need to separate the frames that the bees have glued together with propolis. Using your hive tool, separate the frames and slide them apart.

Once the frames are free, you can choose which one to lift out and examine. It is best to start next to the wall of the hive body. If you start in the middle, you could risk injuring the queen or never finding her. Remember, GENTLE MOVEMENTS! No clanging and banging. Bees are alarmed by sudden vibration. Also, work with confidence. It is easy to lift out a frame with your hands, by loosening it first with your hive tool, then use your fingers to get a good grip on each end of the frame. DO NOT DROP A FRAME full of bees. Get a good grip. Then, slowly lift out the frame.

It might seem that you are smashing the bees or hurting them but they are used to being crowded together. You may also see them "holding hands," hanging on to each other and as you separate frames, it may appear that they will not let go of each other's legs. You might think you are going to hurt them, but they will finally let go. As you pull up the frame slowly, the bees will have time to move out of the way.

If you are uncomfortable using your hands to pull out a frame, you can also purchase frame pullers like the one in the picture. It is a spring loaded hand grip frame puller and does work well. The difference between a frame puller and using your bare hands is that with your bare hands you can feel the bees, so as not to smash any. With the frame puller, it is hard not to kill several. If I am not rushed, I use my bare hands. If I am in a hurry, I use frame pullers. These frame pullers that we sell are very durable and handy. You probably want to have a pair handy when you inspect your hives. Now here you are, holding a frame full of comb and bees! Good for you. If only your friends could see you now!

What do you do now. LOOK! Rely on what you see. You are actually looking to observe any abnormalities. Abnormalities are rare. Yet, most new beekeepers are a little suspicious of any and everything! Don't be. You're going to observe everything that is suppose to happen in a hive. It may look and appear unusual to you, but it will probably be a normal thing. Believe me, I answer beekeepers' questions everyday, and most of their concerns are no big deal. But, when I first started, I thought everything I saw was a problem.

On this frame, you are looking at sealed brood. This is what beekeepers call a "good brood pattern". It's pretty complete. We see a few dotted spots sprinkled throughout the frame, which could be caused from the queen not laying an egg in that spot or the bees have a strong hygienic trait, which caused them to pull out a larvae that has a mite inside the cell or maybe these bees recently hatched.

Some beekeepers ask how to tell the difference between brood and sealed honey comb. Color, texture and content. Color: Sealed brood is usually a tan brown color whereas sealed honey comb is light, sometimes very white or slightly yellow. The texture of sealed brood is more velvety while honey comb is more smooth. Finally, if you still can't tell the difference, you can open up a cell, and you immediately either see a developing bee and you'll know it is brood, or you will see honey, and you'll know it's honey comb.

Look for the queen. If you do not see her, do not panic. Many beekeepers have trouble finding the queen. She is much easier to find in a small hive, say within a week of installing your package. But, in two months, when there are 40,000 bees on 20 drawn comb, it is hard. You should have your queens marked with a dot of paint. Not only does this help you find her, but it also confirms the queen you are looking at is your original queen. Sometimes they replace her by raising their own.

If you cannot find your queen, look for eggs! Here's a picture of some larvae and a recently laid egg. When you find eggs, you know your queen is okay and was at least in your hive a couple of days ago. If you cannot find your queen, and see no eggs, then you must begin to see what is wrong. Either the queen is dead or she has stopped laying or is a defective queen and cannot lay.

When you are holding a frame for inspection, be sure to hold it over the hive. This is so that in case the queen should fall off, she would fall back into the hive rather than in your yard. If she falls into the grass away from her hive, she may not find her way back in. Also, when you have finished looking at a hive, place it back in the hive the same way you took it out.

In summary, here's what you are looking for when you inspect your hive:

*The presence of the queen, either seeing her or seeing evidence of her by observing freshly

laid eggs

*Sealed brood and honey

*Increase in bee population

*Ample supply of frames for the growing colony

*Any abnormalities

It is typical for a frame to have a rainbow shape of stored nectar, pollen and brood. Usually the brood will be toward the lower part of the rainbow, and next to the brood will be pollen, then the nectar will be stored on the outer or upper part of the rainbow shape. You can see this somewhat being started on this frame in the picture.

Pollen in a cell is usually orange or yellow in color but can be many different colors depending on the flower source. It can sometimes look like dry powder in a cell, but sometimes it seems moist.

Now that you've seen all that you need to see, place the hive back together and remember to place the inner cover and outer cover securely on the hive. Also, please place a heavy rock on top of the outer cover to help hold down the hive on windy and stormy days. Don't let your hive be blown over.

Thanks again for joining me for today's lesson. I've had a blast, and I hope you have learned a few things too!

Here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, we pride ourselves in making a high quality beehive and beekeeping equipment. Give us a call if you are ready to start keeping bees. We even supply the bees! Call us at 217-427-2678

See you next time!
David