Preparing for Bees....

I am so so so very excited to be getting bees this year. And so so so very excited to cross #2 on my list off for the year.

I mentioned that I had like a 1 in 4 chance of getting a cost share - AND I DID!! Whoopee!!! The list of things they give you is long so I won't list it here.... suffice it to say that I really just need protective gear, a smoker, and a bee brush. And so many people have come out of the woodwork to give me old equipment they found or no longer use, or whathaveyou. Which means I have to find a bee brush and some leg bags and possibly an old white shirt.... and then I'm good. Everything else has been supplied through the Farm Bureau's cost share, or friends. AMAZING. Thank you thank you thank you!!

I don't know yet who my mentor will be, but I know a lot of the members that live near me, so very excited. A bunch of really cool people.

OOOH. And one of the women working in the county planning and inspections office put this little map together that shows all the locations of beekeepers in the county with a one mile radius around them, emulating the bees' range. SO COOL. I grew up in a household with maps in the bathroom, and now that I am going to have 2 GINORMOUS bathrooms, I ordered a 38 x 48 copy.

Starting on hive bodies!

Finished hive bodies!

SO. MANY. EYELETS.

25 done. 15 to go....

Couldn't resist getting started on these. Such a yummy yummy smell.

House Update

No. We're not in it yet, but goodness we've made progress. The Redneck would argue that it's quite slow, and with forcasts of snow this coming week I'd be happy to agree with him, but considering all involved we've done quite well. Thankyouverymuch.

Or rather HE'S done quite well. I just leave him stuck with Ze Bebe and go off to work.  Thanks again dear Redneck (who does not reads this blog as he gets the email subscription but has a general 'ignore all emails from the potamus' policy, so...) for all you do.

Those will soon carry water all over the house!

My super pricey bathtub we got for like 60% off. Woot!

And we have a shower in the upstairs bathroom...

Septic tank. In the ground. BOOYA!

Next up: electrical! Yay!

Holy Crap...

...where did August go? Seriously! I turned around and the yawning expanse of summer before me is now behind me - just a small blip in the road behind me. Hot damn where did the time go?

My parents were up for most of the summer (they left today) to get the exterior of the house finished. And it *just about* is. Woohoo! Three years of living in the woods in an Airstream, and the end goal is in sight.

Kinda.

My parents and the Redneck have spent the summer toiling away against the weather to get us a finished shell. And it shows. Our (future) house is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. White pine siding, metal roof, porch, idyllic setting...

We have had some losses this summer - most notably my beloved grandfather passed. While it was a long time coming, it was still a very sad time for us. The brighter side is that everyone - everyone - went to the funeral. We had a nice little fast family reunion. I got to meet my amazing 9 month old niece for the first time. We stopped by to see my godmother on the way back, fresh out of surgery and looking amazing (and her sister. SO GLAD to have gotten to see her, too!). We found out that 3 days in the back of an F250 is rougher on me than on the Mr Snarkles (who had NO problems riding, minus one 20-minute stretch of gas-induced screaming). We got to see my godfather who drove up to upstate NY from CT for the funeral. MY sisters, my cousins, my aunts, my distant aunts, my distant cousins.... It was great.

The Acorn spent most of the summer away and his grandmother's - and boy oh boy has he grown! Wow! I missed so much...

I'm not a church goer, or the most religious of people, but the way I'm feeling about my life right now - and this may just be the exhaustion, post birthday let down, and impending cold talking - can only be described as blessed.

He hangs out during the day during construction...

Getting there!

Framing inside has begun!

This will be my new view coming down the driveway... yay!

Dexter, supervising.

The Redneck and the Mr Snarkles

Mr Snarkles Snuggles

More Space!

So here's *part* of the reason why I've been MIA... we've been adding some space to stretch out in. Yay!

If you're friends with me on FB, you've seen these pictures, but here they are in their expanded and expounded upon glory nonetheless.

Manfriend had done some research on our best options for expanded space for this winter. Really we can't afford to build a house (by like a LOT), but my beloved Melvin would be a bit crammed with the 3 of us... so basically we need just one more room to get through the winter and not kill each other. I think we found a happy medium between what we can afford and what we need. I drove down and finalized everything, and gave them delivery instructions.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

 Our materials and blueprints were delivered the next day.

Chicken approved worksite.

Manfriend recruited a buddy, and the two of them started working on it Sunday evening. They got the toughest (in my non-participating humble opinion) part done that day - placement and squaring and leveling the bottom of the whole thing.

When you look at it this way, it looks huge. Wait. It kind of is.

 The boys did well amongst the chickens and the puppy.

Early the next morning, they had the floor finished.

 The next morning, as the boys finished the floor, the chickens and the dog had found a new favorite cool place to hang out.

Zora is helping.

Wall #1!

 Yes. At this point I hid. I had tears in my eyes. When wall number one went up is when it all kind of sunk in - that I will soon get my manfriend here all the time, and that he and I can start figuring out what to do/where to go (metaphorically speaking, thankyouverymuch) from here.

(Thankfully Mike never reads this blog - otherwise I will NEVER hear the end of it for that one)

The other walls went up rather quickly.

 By the time I got home from work on the second day, They had ROOF RAFTERS on. It was awesome. It reminded me of the first time I drove home to the property and saw Melvin gleaming off in the distance... a first glimpse on what will soon be my normal "almost home" view from the car in the dark.

Heat makes you loopy.

Those two boys did the good work. OMG. Yesterday they got a bit of a respite, but day number 1 and day number 3 (today) was blazing hot. BLAZING. Day number 1 more so, but today they had the distinct luxury of being up on the roof in full sun with roofing felt and asphalt shingles...

I felt guilty not helping, but there wasn't anything I could have done. Mike's buddy is SO efficient and good at construction, combined with Mike's renaissance man quality (and previous dabblings in various construction projects himself), they needed no help from me. Except for the occasional run to town for ice, nails, and gyros :)

Taking shape...

As Mike and co really needed to get back to their neck of the woods, they got the roof done, and the key pieces of siding on. Mike'll be back at the end of the week and we'll start knocking out the rest. I will finally get to help - by holding up siding while he nails and by trying to stay out of the way...

Yet another way in which a redneck further hooks a hippie.