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Latest News
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Written by Gordon Cunningham
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Saturday, 01 March 2008 |
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Well, I've been very remiss in updating this site. Of course, we've been very busy with the band, work, and life in general just trying to stay alive. We ran out of oil last night and I've got the kerosene heater going. $95 emergency delivery charge. Sheesh! I hope they decide they can get into the driveway this time. Last time the driver was squeemish and wouldn't go through the plow shoulder - in a big oil truck!
Let's see... since last I wrote I joined a part-time rock band - The Custodians of Rock n Roll. I'm playing lead guitar and singing. It's a lot of fun as the guys are like me: good-natured, only in it part-time for fun and to see how good we can become, and about the same age so we have a lot in common. Check out the web site for our next gig!
We haven't been feeding the local birds as much this year. I think it's not so much we haven't had time or seed as it is the snow is deep! Yeah, lots of snow this year. Of course, we've got the chickens and they are doing ok. I say "ok", but really they're not all ok. The black giants are losing feathers. We've treated for mites and such, but they are all still losing their feathers. However, the golden comets are fine. Go figure! Most are still laying. We just don't know why the black giants are losing feathers. I guess we'll have to get them checked.
On the health front, I'm still having issues with my throat closing up - or uvula swelling till it gags me. Joyce is having issues with her knees and arthritis. My back is also hurting from arthritis and the occasional over-doing it. Guess we both have to get in better shape or take it easier.
Friends and family are doing ok. We lost my uncle Lewis the first of February. His celebration of life was great, though, something I'm sure he enjoyed from up there.
I 'm getting a couple more packages of bees this spring, so I'm trying to gear up for that. The current hive is doing ok, but I'm thinking I'm going to have to start feeding them shortly.
I guess I'll say bye for now. I'll write again after I take my nap - just call me Rumpelstiltskin!
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 May 2008 )
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Latest News
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Written by Gordon Cunningham
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Sunday, 08 July 2007 |
Well, it's way past time to update you on the happens much here. Joyce is updating her site, too, putting up pics and writing about some of the stuff she's been through here, so check her site out, too:
Lots has been happening! The bees are doing quite well (I think) for the first hive we've ever had. Since the initial hiving into a medium hive body in April, we've added two more medium hive bodies as the hive grew. They have drawn out the comb and are capping off the honey in the top. I've ordered more equipment to be able to take advantage of the coming flows like goldenrod and late summer/autumn blooms around here. We should get some honey this year, though I've been told I won't by many beekeepers. The hive is very strong, probably because we started early and they grew steadily. We've also had no serious setbacks. As I write this, the bees are really flying and collecting today! Fingers crossed!
Bee patient - the bee video file above is pretty large and may take a minute to download.
The chickens have grown faster than the weeds. We have 3 golden comets and 3 black giants. We got them as day-old chicks from the local Paris Farmers Union store in mid-May. The giants came in a few days later due to an ordering mix-up, so they are a bit behind the comets, but they are doing well, too. The coop and run is mostly done, but we do want to put a new roof on it, and later finish insulating it for winter. Pics are in the gallery.
For you home automation (HA) enthusiasts, we have the coop wired for some automation. The lights go on in the evening to coax the chickens in for the day, and we have a 250 watt heat lamp that kicks on if the outside temps go below 60 degrees F or so. We also have a wireless camera out there, and just got our incoming Internet connections working at the house, so maybe in the coming weeks we'll get the camera online for viewing.
Oh, the link to the HA stuff at the house is http://gord.no-ip.biz:8084/ . For the HA login, use "guest" and password is "guest" (no quotes).
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Last Updated ( Friday, 17 August 2007 )
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Latest News
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Written by Gordon Cunningham
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Saturday, 14 April 2007 |
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The honey bees are in! We went down to Bowdoinham this morning and picked up a 3 lb package, and the suppliers also had many hives set up to have their bee school pupils put a packge into a hive. We watched them put a package in and then we came home. It's a cool day, about 45 degrees up here, and the bees were pretty subdued. The sun was out down south (overcast here), and that warmed them up a bit. As the car warmed up, however, they started getting more active and you could hear the buzzing building!
I made up the sugar water necessary to feed them till the flowers open and nectar is flowing, set the hive up in the spot we chose, and got my tools and things together. The hardest part was keeping the smoker lit! I used newspaper and leaves, but I guess I need to experiment with other fuels.
Joyce set up the video camera and taped the whole thing, about 20 minutes start to end, and she also took a bunch of stills which you'll see in the gallery soon. I'll try to get her to edit up a video file to put up here, too.
The other difficult part was getting the bees to go down into the hive. The smoke is supposed to drive them down, but they didn't move very quickly. At the demo, they went down right away. Not sure why they hung out up top, but I did finally put the inner cover on gently and they moved.
So now we wait and check in a few days to see if the queen made it out of her cage ok and things are moving along in the colony setting up housekeeping in the hive. I'm sure we'll be reporting our progress and findings every couple weeks or so, so stayed tuned!
PS. Joyce says I look like a natural beekeeper in this pic.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 15 April 2007 )
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Latest News
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Written by Gordon Cunningham
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Saturday, 13 May 2006 |
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I've added weather from the weather station system I am running at the house. There are several pages - clicking on the link at left will open the current main graphics page and show you three other links to other detail pages. The main graphics are updated approx. every 10 minutes, the others are updated hourly.
Once I get a webcam going again, I may add that to the site, too. |
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Music Pics, Critter Sightings Posted |
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Latest News
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Written by Gordon Cunningham
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Monday, 08 May 2006 |
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I added a music section to the image gallery. Some of my gear and other stuff are there now, and more will be coming as I try to put a band together.
I'm also going to start keeping a blog of critter sightings... I'll post a few of the past ones and try to keep it up to date as I see new noteworthy "critters'! You can see them under the new "Critter Blog" menu item. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 21 May 2006 )
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