movie

Last night I went to see the movie Soul Surfer. The movie is based on the true and inspiring story of Bethany Hamilton, the young Hawaiian surfer who lost her left arm in a shark attack. It is a MUST SEE movie that made me laugh, cry, pray, dream and believe!

I was so glad to sit amongst great company, my teenager and mama. Her story spoke to each of our hearts. She will inspire you to move mountains!! You CAN do it!
What a beautiful courageous gal, check her out!

http://bethanyhamilton.com/

And, SEE the movie.
Take your gal pals, take your mama, take your sisters and your brothers, take your kids and take your kids' pals.
This IS the movie that your kids SHOULD be watching over and over and over and over and over.

what exactly IS a sugar shower?

In the short 14 days that I've been a beekeeper I've experimented with 3 different ways to feed my bees. All bee colonies need to have a sugar syrup available to them in the spring before the nectar flow comes on. The sugar syrup provides the hard working bees with food, when their food stores are diminished from eating on through the winter. This sugar syrup mixture can also be used to medicate the bees if necessary.

Upon arrival home with my three infant bee colonies I used:
1) a gallon ziplock baggie, laid flat, with an inch slit cut in the top.
2) a quart mason jar with 3 teeny, tiny holes punctured in the lid, inverted, set directly over the bees, implementing the law of physics....invert the mason jar, liquid runs to the bottom, air goes to the top and ta-dah.....your syrup stops leaking.
3)a 2 gallon bucket with a purchased "beekeeping" plug screen, implying the same law of physics.

I believe you can have success with each of these methods if done correctly. You can also kill 10,000 or more bees in a split second if done incorrectly.....which was my fate.

First mistake, after seeing how well the bees were getting along with the baggie, and one slit, I thought more is better! Slit, slit, slit..... Lets allow these ladies to drink.

Days later: Hmmmmm...a few drowned bees which is one of the noted cons of the baggie feeding method. Mistake 2: I think I'll throw out the over slit baggie and place in the new "beekeeping bucket".

Now imagine standing in the pouring down rain, on a blistery cold 50* day. Actually, imagine standing out in a pouring down rain storm, a few thumps of hail, and the wind blowing 40+ miles per hour making it hard for you to stand up.....boo, hoo, hoo. That was the fate of my little ladies. When I inverted the 2 gallon bucket, half full of sugar syrup, the vacum theory didn't take affect. Unbeknownst to me the ladies were being doused in a sugar shower with no where to go, no where to hide....

That my dear friends is a sugar shower...a deadly, please try to avoid if you're a new bee keeper, sugar downpour. Perhaps my sugar syrup was too watery, perhaps I had equipment failure, perhaps that law of physics just doesn't really work....?

Regardless, I have resorted back to using the gallon baggie method, with 1, uno, a single, inch slit in the top of the baggie.

Sugar showers

Unfortunately, as a novice beekeeping hobbyist, I've already sent thousands of little hard working honey bees up into the big blue sky....boo, hoo, hoo.

Week 1
I encountered a rather sluggish colony on Thursday, 1 week to the day after hiving my 3 colonies, and immediately started blaming the no good queen. What was a thriving colony, only 2 days earlier, was now nothing more than a huddled clump of sticky bees. My beginner beekeeping brain understood the huddle to be a survival skill for the bee family to keep warm during these cool spring days but the stickiness threw me? Perhaps they produce a goop when huddled?

Saturday, after making yet another inspection, I found even less bees huddled together, no comb activity and dead bees laying at the bottom of the hive. NOT good! I decided to call my bee keeping mentor and see how to replace this no good queen. It was the queen, right?

During my phone conversation, after explaining my observations, I shuddered to discover his hunch was that I was the no good queen. Boo, hoo, hoo! My spring feeding method was killing this colony causing them a slow death. My little bees were coated in sugar syrup, causing the sticky goop between the bees and slicking back their wings prohibiting them from flying. Could it be???I'm THE Terrible Queen?

I returned to my hive Sunday afternoon, only to discover fewer "sticky" live bees. I picked up numerous gooey little burgers, placed them on the tip of my finger and brought them to the tip of my nose to see all to clearly what had happened. I had doused these poor bees with a sugar shower. Their wings were slicked back, plastered to their thorax, resembling the hairdo of Danny and the T-Bird gang in the movie Grease. They couldn't fly, they couldn't buzz, they couldn't work, they had microscopic sugar clumps stuck to their legs, they were doomed! My mentors assumptions were true.

Lesson Learned:Sugar showers kill bees, especially heavy sugar showers.

Albino deer

Last fall, Dan and his father spotted this unknown creature in a hay field behind our machine shed. It was first thought that one of the goats had escaped her premises. Upon a closer look they discovered it to be an albino deer, a protected albino deer. It is illegal to shoot him. A few in the neighborhood have been tracking his move. This winter, with the mass amounts of snow, he was harder to spot. However, this spring, as the grass has grown green, this unique fella is easy to see as he sticks out like a sore thumb. Dex did a little editing of this photo, taken by one of the neighbors mounted motion cameras here on the farm. I thought I would share.

Easter Success

Again this year the bunny stopped by the Davis house.
The boys had to awaken in the wee hours of the morning to hunt the 89 eggs throughout the house. This Easter bunny is serious with her eggs...the cracked empty egg shell symbolic of finding Jesus tomb empty Easter morning.
I giggled as my 13 year old was the first to come from his bedroom, ready to hunt with his game face on. He's still such a kid at heart. DW was next, he made his way to his Easter basket grumbling the entire time about going back to bed. Which didn't happen, imagine? Jax found his way to the couch with his eyes still closed. There he flopped down, slouched back, gave a few groans and moans as he willed his eyes to open.

• Although a couple were slow to start, the hunt was a success. Eggs were All accounted for, which is good when 18 of the eggs were the real deal and had the potential to cause quit a stench if left hidden too long.



• Sunrise Service at Troy Methodist was a success with pews full of people.



• The breakfast following was a success with delicious breakfast casseroles and fellowship.



• Easter dinner at Dads was a success.



• BB target competitions were a success with father and daughter shooting bulls eye...sorry to show you up dear Hubby....



• The day turned out with blue sunny skies, warm temps and NO rain, success!

Facelift

Dear Davis Herd Followers,

I apologize for my lack of & sloppy blogging lately. As I sit and reread I see gigantic spacing issues, misspelled words, lack of words, words in rambled, no meaningful, order. So sorry. I also realize my blog is in dear need of a face left....for cryin' out loud I'm still sporting a Valentine theme:( Someday I do hope to address these issues...that deeply disturb me....but for now I must truck on with other chores. Like washin' dirty, rotten, filthy, muddy laundry and removing the cinnamon rolls from the buzzing oven.

Yes, cinnamon rolls this morning. Why, because I love to spoil when the boys have friends over. Today I'm not outnumbered 4:1 but rather 6:1. No worries, I know what growing boys like, I know what melts their beating hearts....homecookin'. I love whipping up a big breakfast for those growing men.....breakfast pizzas, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, homemade waffles, cinnamon rolls and occasionally homemade doughnuts. So, off I go to join these loud, rambunctious preteens as the table. I will sit amongst bed head, sleep crusted eyes, morning breath yawns and watch them devour food like boys do.

Until there's time....please put up with my blogging short comings....

The Wrangler

Easter Nests

Today I whipped up a batch of Easter Nests. They are always a hit with the Davis Herd. It used to be that the little fingers in the house would assist in the preparation of this scrumptious treat but my boys are growing up...and had better things today this morning.

Like, play basketball and help Dad with fencing.....SeRiOuSlY!
Anyway, I went ahead and prepared the festive goodies and think they look superb if I do say so.

Although there are many variations of this recipe, below is the one that we use.

2 bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips

4 TB creamy peanut butter

1.5-2 bags of chow mein noodles

speckled Runt Easter egg candy(this year)

Melt choc late chip and pb. Stir in chow mein noodles. Scoop onto cookie sheets lined with wax paper. I use a scoop the size of school mashed potatoes. Make a dent in the center of your noodles shaping into a birds nest. Add egg candy of your choice and refrigerate until firm.

Sooo simple chocolate chip-oat cookies

When I'm in a real pinch for a sweet treat or need something quick to bake and take, I always turn to this so simple chocolate-chip cookie recipe. And, the bonus, they REALLY are good! I decided to whip a batch up for this evening..or an after school treat and I guarantee they won't last long. Unless, I stuff a few in a freezer bag and shove them to the back of the freezer, behind the bags of frozen veggies.

1 package yellow cake mix

I've found some real steals on cake mixes lately....the one I used today was $0.69.

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup old fashioned oats

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Stir together cake mix and baking powder in large bowl. Add oil, eggs and vanilla; beat by hand until well blended. Stir in oats and chocolate chips. Drop by slightly rounded tablespoons, 2 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes or until golden. Do not overbake.

BEE-LEAVE- IT

BEE-LEAVE-IT

The bees have arrived. Neighbor Guy to the north decided to join in my new eccentric hobby. After setting equipment we invited me hubby to come with and assist in the pick up our new farm friends. Hubby wasn't rrrreal sure he wanted to make the trip. But he did. Traveling in the cab of a pickup amongst honey bees didn't seem like the brightest of ideas.

Below is a picture of my new farm friends as they were transported to their new home.

NG is suiting up to assist in hiving my bees.

Here I sit with my new friends, who are hopefully liking their new homes:)

teenager!

Today, April 8, Dex turns 13!

It is unbelievable to me that 13 years have passed so quickly.He has grown from a 8 week early, 5 lb preemie

to a kind-hearted, energetic, wise, 70+lb tractor drivin' farm boy.

Thirteen years with Dexter have been full of:

first ponies, first fevers, first catches; calf and fish, first friends, first babysitters, first buckles, first motorized wheels, first days of schools, first dances and first holes in the wall(that was just a matter of time with 3 boys)

It's exciting to think about the years ahead:

first days of high school, first dates, first official drivers license, first pickup trucks, and first boy attending college.

O.K. maybe THAT LAST ONE honestly DOES NOT excite me?