Lawton trip, clean up, bee keeping workshop

Friday evening, Mama and I left right after I got off work to drive to Lawton. I was curious to see if any work had been done on either of the two houses in the week following my visit with Glenn. Also, Mama had not been able to see inside the Aberdeen house since we purchased it. Since I learned the proper code for the key box at the house, I was able to let her in so we could do a walkthrough. Sadly, nothing had been done through the week. I was disappointed. Perhaps more so since I had talked through the punch list with Glenn and he intimated that he would get right one it. Even to the point of asking the crew lead that paint crews be sent to the Aberdeen house that day. More talk than action. Oh, well. There is little Mama and I can do to help with the work. But we can pray. I am earnestly doing so; asking the Holy Spirit to show me how to pray about the situation and all those involved.

Mama and I had a good time together. We always do. We did not get home until al little after 10 pm. We stopped at Sam’s there before we headed home. We did not need much, but we wanted to make the most of the trip. They were about to close when we checked out. As we were loading our purchases into the Sequoia, I got a text from Glenn. I let him know that we were just leaving Sam’s in Lawton, so he was made aware that we had made the trip to look at the houses. Whether or not that was enough to inspire him to get busy on the properties this week or not is in the Lord’s hands. But I had prayed that there would be some contact, a divine appointment, during our trip to let Glenn know that we were involved to the point of making repeated trips to access the progress.

Saturday, I cleaned up around the farm. I started a fire in a burn pit we have on the back patio where I had accumulated a lot of wood over the course of several months. It was hard to get it going after the two plus inches of rain we had only a couple days ago, but I persisted and was able to get a good fire going. Everything I put on that fire was soaked, so I had to stack it carefully to allow the fire to dry the wood so it would burn  It burned slowly. Lots of smoke. That was okay with me. I managed to get one pile of wood and scraps from behind the shop reduced to ashes before Mama and I had to leave. It ultimately did not look like I had accomplished very much, but I could tell the difference – and it cleaned up the eye sore created by the branches and boards I had stacked in the burn pit on the patio. I was pleased with the results. It was something that kept me moving while I was dealing with a lot of abdominal pain.

Mama and I had both been looking forward to the bee keeping clinic. There were about fifteen people in attendance. The clinic started about 1 pm and lasted until a little after 4 pm. It was a huge help to me and Mama. I found out that we are on the right track to set up three to four hives – with just the hive boxes I have assembled so far. I also found out the advantages of having a top bar hive. I found one for sale on Craigslist last week but was not sure if Mama and I should buy it. Learning what we did about the advantages of that type of hive box, we called to see if it was still available. It was as of Saturday evening, but we would not be able to make the drive to get the hive until Friday evening. If it is still available, we will get it then. If not, we will keep looking, or I will build one. We also found a couple established hives for sale on Craigslist. I showed those listings to the president of our bee keeping club. He told me, from what he saw in the pictures, he would buy them himself. Mama called the seller as we left the workshop. No response yet. They are probable more money than we should spend right now.

The most important this we learned from the workshop is what equipment we need to purchase to get started. Mama and I will need a couple very good suits. Especially me. I am slightly allergic to bee stings. More so to wasp stings. I would like to avoid getting stung too often. Mama would like to avoid ever getting stung. We will see how either of those expectations play out. But we are both excited about getting started. I would like to have the opportunity to buy and move an established hive into our apiary. That would allow us to gather honey in our first year. But we are not ready for that yet. Financially or equipment wise.

Maybe next spring.