Bzzing aBout

( Lawn Guy )

I'm gonna have him remove the weeds from the empty beds next week. I'll be able to put them to bed properly for once!

( Beez ) I'll wait for the Great Heat to return for hive-opening.

( Headcanon for Teen Wolf, urgh. )

Solid craftwork, solid grasp of characters, personalities, and psychology, no love for humiliation. Highly recommended. I'm still devouring.

So I went upstairs to check on the barn bees last week. it had been several days, and it had been cold and it had been warm, and I wanted to see how they were doing. I didn't hear any sound when I went upstairs, ( which was a trifle worrying. )

So last year I took a three-evening, 8-hour class on keeping bees, with emphasis on top-bar hives. This year I took my test, applied for the permit, and joined a beekeeping association.

I now have three pink beehives, Langstroff (wax-foundation) in nature, 2 set up at a horse ranch, and one now, me having passed my inspection, at my home. Mayyybee I'll be able to set up a second one later, depending on bee-availability.

I am, naturally, anxious about them. Those here are calm, and have gone out during sunny calm weather, but they are mostly still clumped up around the queen's cage, and are drinking up their syrup. I am considering moving them and checking on the queen later today.

Beeees!

My teacher comments:

wait for warmer weather... bees are working hard to keep their maternity ward warm and dry... first opening in temps below 60 might cause more harm than good.

So, I went shopping on Monday afternoon, picking up Storm Snacks, and found that several hundred other people were in this very small grocery for the same purpose. We were all polite and unworried, though.

Tuesday, I insisted on driving Margot in to work, so that I could pick her up - the blizzard was to hit at 3, and she leaves work at 4:45. I had my doubts about her little Cougar in any depth of snow. She laughed at me for being a worrywart, but let me do it. She was let go 15 minutes early - fortunately I was already waiting for her - and had been told not to come in today.

It wasn't really snowing yet. Just flurries. By then the wind was picking up a bit, but just blowing around the really dry stuff we already had on the ground.

Now, we'd already had snow on the ground from Monday and previous. I ran the Cougar up over the drift to get it closer to the east gate, and drove Carolyn's SUV up behind it. Then I took my van around to the north gate, and tried to get it in. The wind was so fierce that it kept closing half of it, and I finally had to drag a concrete block over to hold it open. Then I had the fun of flinging the van through the snow in the back, into the barn. (What, plow the back? Why on earth would I plow the back??) Got it in, closed the barn door, closed the north gate, and slogged my way in through the back door.

Panted at the table for a while, got a little to eat, had a little Irish Cream, and made sure the house was locked up. Carolyn got the dishes done, and had her own bite to eat. Margot tried to work on her glass in the basement, but decided it was too cold - even with the heater vent open - and came up to get some Drambuie. And then we took the animals and came upstairs.

The wind was fierce by this point, but we were still only seeing loose snow being cast about, as far as we could see. We watched tv (mostly saved stuff) and ate snacks, and drank booze. Because the windows here in the bedroom are unfinished, we were getting some wind in here. I'd covered the window behind the bed, but it tore a bit in a couple of places, and the whole sheet of plastic was belled out in a way it had never been. (At least we didn't have to worry about carbon dioxide buildup!) Margot hid under the covers - which meant I couldn't, or I'd block her view of the tv. I stayed on the computer, well-wrapped.

About 9:30 or so, the wind really started howling. About 11:30, we got thundersnow. The wind was blowing snow sideways, and visibility dropped from a couple blocks down to half a block. About 1:30 the roar of the wind was incredible.

We never did lose sight of the next building over, so - not as fast a snowfall as the 1979 blizzard; but still quite impressive.

This morning, our east and north sidewalks were scoured almost clean, but the drive and the back yard were drifted really well. We never lost power and, unlike some of our neighbors, we never lost cable. One of our neighbors cleaned the sidewalks for us and dug out the buried driveways; I shoveled the balcony.

We're good. We stayed off the roads (except for Carolyn but - you know. Hospital workers gots to go in.) We didn't overwork ourselves, and we shared the (admittedly notional) snowblower with the neighbors. We planned ahead, and we are fine.

Drifts elsewhere had defeated the DOT's first efforts, but now I hear that 90% of the roads are clear. The workers took their trucks and snowplows home with them last night, so they could start plowing from home and work their way out. There were people elsewhere who were on the roads - We as a society need for businesses to plan better to get people all the way home before blizzards next time. But apparently we only lost one person, an older guy, to shoveling. No stranded folks have been reported friz to death. No homeless people have been reported friz either. So we done good there.

How are you doing?

I rather think I blew them completely away, considering the smiles, nods, and surprised looks I kept getting to the questions I answered. I believe I set a bar the rest of the two weeks worth of candidates will have a hard time reaching.

Thank you all so very much for your good wishes. They helped.

I got my Effexor refill. My brain started working again.
I remembered to call to get my CPAP recalibrated to its proper, higher setting. I am now actually sleeping, and now waking up rested. My brain is clear.
My lady and I are speaking to proper effect. It's painful, and it ain't done yet, but I can see our way through this.
My HUD-approved counselor is confident she can help me keep from going into foreclosure.
All of our cars are operable, even if mine still is too cold.
I gave my lady an Official Weekend Off, and she actually physically relaxed, which hasn't happened in way too long.


I have an interview for an actual job in my field. In the area I first wanted to work in lo, these thirty years ago. At 2pm Chicago time.

Pray for me, light candles for me, surround me with light, whatever: I need this job. After a year and a half unemployed, I need this job.

I'm into the semester; grading to do already. My lady is back to half-days, and is sleeping - wiped out - the rest of the time. Oldest Daughter and Only Son are doing pretty well.

I wanna get my writing cap back.

There are some elements to being a part of an interracial lesbian Unitarian academic household with children that ... well.

Like the month that my wife got stopped, arrested, and handcuffed for driving my fucking van through a suburb that I myself got stopped and warned in, not a whole two fucking weeks later.

Warned.

The wife is a large woman. Cuffing her hands behind her back nearly dislocated her shoulder. And the cops apologized, and called it standard procedure.

Warned.

ETA: This was for driving with one headlight out. The blasted thing would blow everytime water would get in it - which was every time it rained. I have a new van now.

White privilege? Yeah, I got it. And my brothers get it. Sometimes - but not always - my mom gets it. Though her ex-mother-in-law always thought of her Greek ass as colored.

My kids? They don't get it. And there's this thing about being a mother, be it never so adoptive and not legally recognized:

I want my kids to have at least what I have, if not better.

I want them to assume they have white privilege. And I want the society around them to assume it as well.

My kids' public school is closed.
My eldest daughter's private school is closed.
The private college for which I work is closed.

We are happy, happy campers, here. The dog demanded some quality outside time, for which the fenced-in yard came in very handy. The moms slept in, which is always a good thing. The kids have been playing inside and outside, also a good thing.

We have blown away in passing the previous high-snow mark for this date in Milwaukee, and are approahing the previous high-snow mark for this month in southeast Wisconsin, which is arousing my competitive spirit. Also, we had thundersnow, a rare occurance, which make me punch the air and go yess!

Snow day! Friday! First my kids have ever ever had! And I didn't have to drive in it!

that two women can't get married in these here United States. But look what my beloved dreaddameagnes has to say about our recent trip to the mortgage broker's.

We are still knocking our heads together and snickering over it.