Photo of Innsbruck that I got off of the Innsbruck facebook page. A beautiful city in person also.

I am taking a short blogging break. Recharging batteries.

S1 will be going to

University of Hawaii!!

Yes, those photos are of Hawaii. The one island has quite an arid look to part of it. I was shocked as I always think of the area as lush and tropical. Who knew?

When I told my class where he was moving to one boy looked at me and said,
"Won't you miss him?"

Sigh. Out of the mouths of babes.

The bane of my existance is the

hive top feeder for my bees.

The premise is a simple one. This goes on top of the hive. It is filled with sugar water and you put the hive cover on top of this. The bees come up from the hive, go under the white area and sip out the sugar water, take it back to their hive and build comb.

Simple really. But I have never been able to get it to work.

So when I picked up the two containers of bees on Sunday I asked the bee expert. He told me that I was doing it wrong. I was putting sticks inside for them to land on like I do for a side feeder. No, no, no, the man answered. Just fill it with sugar water, let them come up from the hive and you won't have masses of bees die.

I did follow the directions with hive 1 (hive 2 and 3 have side feeders). I wanted to make sure that it would work before I got another top feeder going. Checked today and a mass of bees are dead. Growl, growl, growl.

There are still plenty left and I was able to free the queen from her little box so I am hopeful. Will let you know what happens.

It is not Arizona or Mars

But yes, astronauts trained in this area years ago when men landed and walked on the moon.

In the photo above there are quail around the tree in front of the building. (You may need to blow up the photo to see them.) S1 says that he did not see much wildlife. The quail and a lot of wild chickens (which woke him up in the morning).

Can you guess where S1 is going?

Happy Birthday

to my brother.

Pollen count is

is high here and my bees are enjoying it. Crocus are blooming in the yard and I have one more section of fence to put up to protect the front garden from the dogs. (Bella tends to unplant what I plant)

As I do not have any interesting photos at the moment I am post more of S1's. Enjoy.

Grad School #1

These are photos taken of S1 on his first adventure in choosing a grad school. Unfortunately he forgot his camera when he flew out for adventure number 2 this morning.

He did like the first city and other grad students pointed out the positive as well as the negative. 3 more trips to make counting today's and then he will have a decision.

Spring is here

 

and it is full of girls in pink dresses and baby animals.

To the Governor

of my fair state:

When husband and I moved to your state from Florida 16 years ago we were a bit disappointed. You see, politics in the Sunshine State is messy and therefore quite interesting. Many characters are involved. Some of them are in each election - trying to run for a different office each time. We still remember slogans "Down to business with A*** Johnson". (He was one who was looking for a job in politics - any job, so this slogan was always on the tv.)

And then husband and I brought our little family north - well as north as husband would go and still be south (something about not wanting to deal with the cold weather and snow - hahaha- but I digress). People here were civilized. They went to elections that were held in school cafeterias - not churches. Budgets were passed with nary a harsh word. Laws were made with hardly a ripple in the opinion page of the local newspaper. And life went on.

Then you were elected last fall. The nation's republicans called it the beginning of the end for the democrats in the 2010. That your election showed the Obama administration that the American public no longer liked them but wanted the other party in charge. (Not that having an opponent that was dull as dishwater had anything to do with it.)

Actually the fun started before the election - you resigned your post as Attorney General to campaign full time. We thought that was interesting. So when another person resigned her major post it didn't seem like that big a deal.

But now you are elected. We can now go 70 miles an hour on the interstate. (Have you ever ridden 81? The trucks were doing that already!) The closed rest areas will be reopened. (There was talk about using convict labor, as a source of cheap labor, to keep them open. Will the fact that a sheriff will be there with a gun watching over them or the fact that the convicts would be cleaning bathrooms and running around the area unnerve me more?)

And now we just finished the anti gay movement by your attorney general. Life has been exciting and you have only been in office since Jan 16th! We have more than 3 3/4 years left.

So again, thank you and your staff for making state politics interesting again. I will be watching - that is when the covers are not pulled over my head.

Sincerely,

Little Blue House.

Fields of Purple

exist on my route home from work. (I want to use one of the photos as a header but can't get that to work right now.) Each flower is a perfect purple with a little yellow center and the effect from thousands together is amazing.

**Aunt Amelia, did you get the test email that I sent?

The painting was

 

a recent purchase from a thrift store. I love it.

Today was absolutely

 

beautiful. High about 60. My bees were out. Tomorrow I will feed them sugar water.

Last night S2 left with his roommate to go on an archaeological dig. It sounds more glamorous that it really is. Nothing is expected to be found but the dig has to be done before building can begin.

S1 has left for the west coast to look at the first college on his list for grad school. The first time that I saw the same city I was in love. After going through harsh winter conditions we moved in the winter to an area where the flowers were blooming and we could go swimming. As we are coming off of a harsh winter here I'm interested to hear what his first impressions are.

(tree is located near the airport)

Goodbye Louise

When my uncle died a few years ago, his wife (my aunt) looked at me after the funeral and said "I will take you to the airport." My answer was no as there was a reception afterwards and she needed to be there. Nancy argued with me and said that she didn't have to be. She knew where my uncle was and that he was not at the reception. I insisted and got a ride with my parents. But I laughed about it also and told her that it would be our "Thelma and Louise" moment.

My aunt died yesterday of breast cancer that had travelled to the bone. I didn't know that someone could live so long in stage 4. But she did.

Goodbye Louise. You will be missed.

Taking Care of Me

The one thing that I have discovered in the past couple of weeks is that when I know that a stressful time is coming up I need to balance it with something good to me. Hence the toe nails getting done and todays massage. Yes, my noon hour did not disappointment in ugliness. Really, how can people stand to make grown people cry unnecessarily. (No, I did not cry.)

And as I knew that it was coming I made an appointment with the masseuse. The poor woman worked on me for 1/2 hour to get the knots out of my shoulders. And they were pretty bad. I am bruised but no longer feel like my shoulders are around my ears.

So now I am making gooey cookies for my youngest son's return home for break tomorrow. Actually both boys will be home as will the roommate of S2. The sun is up still - warm and bright. And I am putting in new shelf paper in the silverware drawer. Life is good.

Another meeting tomorrow. Maybe I will stop for a scone on the way in. . .

Happy Birthday Bella!!

Yes, she is still a lap dog (or thinks that she is).