Newsworthy: Flowers, Baseball, and Flips

Rangers v. Astros Weds night

NCA Cheer Camp @ TCU

Pictures at the Botanic Gardens in Ft. Worth

Checking out the green screen at Uncle Joe's work at NBC 5 studios.

Future news anchors?

Kristen and Katelyn in Texas! Day Two

Kristen and Katelyn in the American Girls Store at the Galleria in Dallas. They each got a new American Girl book.

American Girls for sure!

After lunch they went ice skating in the Galleria.

They loved riding the escalators!

Sprinkles cupcakes to refuel after skating! Yum!

Kristen and Harry and Katelyn and Phoebe

Amateur Bee Removal Attempt #1 = Epic Fail

The first attempt the wrangle the swarm of bees who've decided to move into my attic was a bust. The amateur bee keeper told me to put a box (that I had to swipe from school at 9:30 pm) with a plateful of honey in it near the hive and it would attract the swarm. Day #2 and not one darn bee in that box! Plus, the man did not show up last night as he said he would. It was a silly plan.

On to Plan B.

I emailed a professional beekeeper initially but didn't hear back until yesterday afternoon. It seems he's going out of town this week but wants the bees and will call back when he returns. I feel a little better letting a pro handle the situation. He seems to know what he's talking about and has the equipment to remove and relocate the bees.

Even though I am pretty much terrified of flying, stinging insects, as much research as I've done on honey bees, I am now a little sad that we are ill- equipped to raise them ourselves. I guess I'll just stick to the grocery store for my honey supply.

Amateur Bee Removal Attempt #1

Well, it looks like the eaves of my home are fit for a queen. It appears as though the colony of bees has moved in with her. I posted several ads on Craigslist for a "free bee swarm" and had a couple of responses. One was a cautionary tale about how I needed to get those bees out NOW or it could end up costing me $2500. The other ended up being a man that is trying to get his own hive started.
Since the bees aren't all hanging out on the outside of the house anymore, the job of getting them out is going to be more difficult. He spoke with an experienced bee keeper who said to put a cardboard box with a plate of honey inside. The bees with be attracted and I guess the whole hive is supposed to follow. Crazy right? Well, it is the night before the man is supposed to come out and pick up the bees and the box'o honey is in place. The bees are supposed to go to the honey when they wake up in the morning...hopefully they beat the fire ants to it. This should be interesting...

Don't Worry...Bee Happy...

I decided to be a good wife today (I was riding the high of being completely finished with school) and save Joe from mowing the lawn. I even got really ambitious and trimmed the hedges. I noticed there were some bees buzzing around the area I needed to trim and immediately turned off the hedge trimmer.

The first thought that popped into my mind was, "Holy crap! The vibrations from the lawn mower and trimmer have stirred up a hive of killer bees!"

The next thought was, "OMG...I totally forgot what to do if I'm attacked... Was it stop drop and roll?..wait no...that's a fire.. Strip down naked and run, traversing, arms flailing at full speed? Run inside? I don't want bees in the house! I know that I should NOT jump in a pool, lake, river or stream, because they will wait for me."

I decided to err on the side of caution and go inside before I failed my own Worst Case Scenario quiz. From my initial observation, there did not appear to be a hive...the bees were just flying to and from the overhang and maybe into the rain gutter...and in my opinion they seemed disgruntled. I called Joe and told him about our guests and then had to talk him out of getting on the roof to check things out for himself. You can imagine the worst case scenarios involving Joe and killer bees that popped into my head then.

As rational thoughts came back to me I thought I shouldn't be so presumptuous as to assume that these bees were of the "killer" variety. That was so FOX News of me, I scolded myself. I started to look into bee relocation services. I could have sworn I'd seen local beekeepers on Craigslist offering to relocate bees at no cost. I must have been bored that day...

The last thing I want is to exterminate them. Who wants to carry around the weight of ending the world (even if just a little bit) on their shoulders? NOT ME!

After doing some research I found that when bees swarm, sometimes it is just for a day or two until they find the ideal location to settle and build their hive. I am crossing my fingers that we don't have squatters on our hands here figuratively and literally. That was bad...forgive me. I've decided to give them until Monday before I evict them. Gosh, I do love bees buzzing around being all busy...but they make me nervous en masse. I also found the correct answer to my Worst Case Scenario quiz. I was way off!

Joe came home from work this evening and said "they're not in the attic...they are just on the side of the house...I think I can spray them." Oh Joe..

Here they are... It seems they've come home to roost for the evening....not as angry looking as before. No, I am not crazy...this is a 300mm zoom lens!