1. National Bunny Cake Day
2. Do not groan
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Maybe someone will go sailing and report back to us.
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     National Bunny Cake Day, which started about 20 years ago, was celebrated this year at Sandbur Acres.  At that time we had a German exchange student living with us and she was not as attuned to the Easter Bunny as American kids. She showed me a picture of a round cake decorated as a bunny face and wanted to know about it. So, “Judy,” plus the world’s first cutest grandkid and I built that first Bunny Cake following the directions from the magazine. It turned out so well that Granddaughter One and Two built one the next year. This went on for a number of years, adding people as people came along and it became a tradition. 

      It seemed a natural progression to have the Bunny Cake Day celebration at the cabin this year as there is lots of outdoors where kids can run, yell, whoop and holler and acres of room to hide eggs. I had gathered up four kites, one pair of stilts and a croquet set for games to play/use after the cake building. Now, keep all these things in mind as this unfolds.

      The first major “decision” revolved around whether the bunny should be a boy or girl. One year grandkid      2 decided enough was enough. The cake had always been boy so...  She even showed us how to “just do this and change that” and -voila-we went from Peter Rabbit to Patsy Rabbit.  This year, since the boys outnumbered the girls, after a discussion “we” decided we would have a girl rabbit. Imagine that.

      You may guess that my culinary forte is not cake baking. Even with, at times, 10 or 12 helpful hands it took a while to get the cake mixed up. Yes, you are giggling that taking a mix from a box to a bowl is child’s play. That was one of the problems; the children wanted to play. There were the little fingers that kept attempting to sample the mix after the beaters were turned off. 

      The mixed batter was carefully placed in the pre-heated oven and because of my past life as a band director, I was able to get it in the oven with no injuries to any helpful participant. Band director (?), you may ask. During marching season I had to give instructions at times further than half a football field distance away, That skill came in handy last Sunday.

      When the cake was in the oven the kids disappeared to do kid things, none of which had anything to do with my planned activities. I wanted them outside but, this being the 21st Century, they were inside playing electronic games. So I started cleaning the kitchen. As I turned around to place some items in the sink, I discovered a container of eggs on the counter. Nice, fat, clean and very fresh eggs for the cake which was merrily baking away in the oven. Yes, the words “UH OH” did go through my mind. But sometimes silence is golden so I decided I would be gold. However, it is hard to hide a wire egg basket.

      OK, the cake finished baking and the decoration started. The term Chinese Fire Drill comes to mind. I do not know who all those alien children were who invaded my cabin but they definitely could not have been mine. They all had ideas of their own and their suggestions were couched in a manner expecting immediate results.  First off, the licorice rope candy used to make various parts, was being consumed by copious amounts none of which were going toward the bunny.

      The cake was a sodden mess and it was almost impossible to cut the pieces. One tall boy person kept wanting to eat the frosting rather than spreading. The littlest one got to place the nose. Others all got to do some major thing and finally, we had a Bunny Cake. Probably the worst looking one I have ever done. We did get to take pictures before it disappeared into mouths. They even got to decide which part of the cake they wanted to have as their piece. 

      Then we had egg hunts, confetti eggs, and general hilarity and good feelings because we are young, the sun is out, we can holler and run and we got to eat lots of sugar. The cake didn’t work as I wanted, my schedule was backwards and I was dead tired, the wind prevented kites from being flown, no other game got played and yes, it sounds like a really bad day. 

     We loved it. I can hardly wait until next year.

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2. Do Not Groan
Q. What do Easter Bunny (cake) helpers get for making a basket?
A. Two points, just like anyone else on the team.
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Today is just the opposite of the last post. I think one or more of the hives is dead and I had a nice day today, sunny but very cool, and did nothing. I am not sure the temp got above 50F so I didn't open anything. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

OK, the Blogspot page has changed and it has taken me a long while to get this far. IF you are reading this then I did something correct  --  which may be the only time so far today. I needed to check my bee hives as I have been gone so much lately. I had previously checked the Redbud hive and all is not well. Today I had hoped to check two more.
Wrong!
I started on the east hive because I just felt "something" about that hive. Man was I ever surprised. They came out in droves and attacked and attacked and kept on for a very long while. Instead of calming them, as I have been told, have read, and was taught, the smoke seemed to excite them to a frantic level.
Being attacked by thousands of angry females slowed down the whole process. Also the frames are not drawn out and I saw no larvae nor eggs in the top body. I did see five or six hive beetles which probably means I have an infestation.
The beetles were in a frame of just wax with some cells. They ran quickly and I couldn't get them without destroying the frame. I probably should have done that.
Finally I got down into the lower hive body which, I believe, is called the brood chamber.  I saw one larvae and no eggs and no honey. Oh, there was a tiny amount of honey in the upper body. So, I suppose i should start feeding again as it looks as though they are not bring in food. I did see bees with pollen.
When I finally got through with my amateurish inspection, I put everything back together and they still attacked me. More than a dozen stayed with me for a very long time. I even went as far as the shed and they came in there. That is when I started killing the little ... bugs. When I got them dow to two or three i went back over and sat on the patio.
Another group came and joined the two that had followed me that far. I started killing again and now there are many dead bee bodies on the patio rug.
I finally got inside and had lunch. Wow, what a morning.
Later I went back out to put on my boots again so I could continue work on setting new fence posts. That immediately drew a crowd of bees who immediately began trying to attack me. I walked off and they only followed about half way to the fence.
I got one post set with concrete and the other is 85% ready. I can take the post hole diggers home tomorrow. I am not sure this will completely fix the problem but I cannot afford a new fence.
No, I did not check any other hive. I hope to do that on Sunday.
Maybe I could take up mall walking again.

Back to "The Army" working again

Returning from Australia was an easy trip but not so easy in the way of adjusting from the extreme temperature difference. Then our old friend jet lag played a part in not sleeping for a few nights.
I finally went over to "The Army" to find that almost all of the hundreds of books I left had been "sold." The shelves in the back room were almost empty of all paperbacks and most hard backs. I find it amazing that the store could sell more books in a month than the entire year previous to that. But it is not mine to question why, just mine to look and cry.
So I was in good shape to start rearranging. I am now on my third/fourth day of working and have made great strides. I may have made a big mistake in trying to switch the paperback shelves in back for the hard back place. So far it is working but today we got in a large box of papers. They were almost all just what we needed; thrillers of various genres. Wish I read faster as all the major authors had some new books in the mix.
I started a new shelf of over sized adventure/thrillers. I think I shall call all spy, conspiracy, murder, and any other of that type a thriller. Doesn't quite get what I want to say but it will be easier to type one word rather than an explanation each time.  Now I finally am getting the shelves the way I want them and the way I had them before i went to Oz a year ago. This time i knew what to do so I just did it. I took out shelves of books and replaced them with my choice. We are leaving again next week for eight days so things will be in a mess again.
That is O K as now I know what I need to do and I know I can do it.
Yep, it is good to be home with my books and my bees again. Just think, not another major trip in sight until January.
Oh well......................

Bee spotting

I was told there were no bee keepers in Broken Hill, NSW, Australia. BUT!! whilst walking home this evening from town I spotted a honey bee on the sidewalk. It looked all tuckered out and appeared as tho it couldn't fly --  but it was a honey bee.
It is possible the man at the Chamber of Commerce didn't know what the hell he was talking about and I have wasted three weeks without making contact.
YAAAEEEIIII
C  of  C's should be banned.

Wellsir, Good Intentions and All That

It has been more than a month since I last posted and a lot has happened. My volunteer job at Salvos (Aussie-talk for Salvation Army and a good short hand) went very well except-- the couple of weeks before I left we were getting in so many books I could not come close to keeping up. So, I had to increase my time and increase my amount of work. I almost got everything straightened out but... just before I left there were probably 10 more large boxes of books stacked with the ones I was still trying to work on. It came time for me to leave so I did.
I am in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia and it is cold here. I have been here three weeks with one more week and two days to go. I leave here on the 10th and get home on the 10th. I fly out of Sydney at 1:25 PM and land in Dallas at 1:50 PM. Now you expect me to explain how a monstrously big airliner can go almost 10,000 miles from Sydney to Dallas in 25 minutes.  Wellsir, it is magic and I don't mess around trying to get wizards, fairies and pixies angry with me so you will have to do it yourself.
I brought four books to read and have finished three of them which I shall donate to the local Salvos store. I wanted to download an ebook and thought I had made all the preparations but there is something stopping me. Yessir, I believe it is called technology. I jumped through the techno hoops and bowed to the nology gods and sacrificed 90% of my nerves and 99% of my patience but to no avail.
At first I couldn't find an ebook I wanted so after looking at several looks I settled for second best. Then that one would not fly through cyber space and land in this laptop. I have the silly program with its ugly icon on the desktop but nooo, it just sits there staring back at me and the book is probably gasping to death somewhere in the far cosmos.
That means that if my last book is not good I shall be forced to read one of the intelligent books my sis-in-law left me. Wow! Being on holiday means you don't have to think. Why would I want to dig deep into something that worked my brain muscles and caused me to exercise my brain cells. I won't stoop to bodice ripping romance books but "A Fatal Conjunction" might just be a tad heavy.
Yes, I have been getting all the weather reports from back in Oklahoma. I worry about my bees as they do not have air conditioning in their houses. After they earn their keep we can negotiate that service but they haven't provided a profit yet. Now that it is so bloody hot back there the bees may never be able to make enough honey to pay for their keep.
Each hive has its own water container so they can always have a drink. Some bees are so stupid they think they can swim and they go twirling around in their drinking water. I have lifted them out before but I have yet to administer artificial respiration. If they are that dumb they can go ahead and choke and cough.
I have tried to find beekeepers here in Broken Hill but it appears there aren't any or they are well hidden. The man at the Chamber of Commerce said they had all left because of the drought. I went to another's house and his neighbor said he had moved to Queensland as it was too cold here. I agree.
This year has been particularly wet so maybe they left or quit too soon. I would like to talk to a beek (NEOBA talk for beekeeper) here to see how much things are the same and different fom back home.
One week to go, I think I'll make it.

Where has the world gone

It has been more than eleventyteen days since I last blogged so I shall start.  Actually, I have an ear appointment in a few minutes so I shall not complete anything today. I may try doing better later.
The book "job" is getting more intense and the bees are growing. I learned about varroaa mite last night and suspect that helped kill the colony Ilost.
More later