Our newest vocalist, final packing, a quick freeze, honey

Becky sent Mama a video of her and Bridgette singing a special in church yesterday morning. On the song they sang together, Becky sang the verses and Bridgette sang the chorus with her. Bridgette did a great job on the song and sang out with confidence. The recording was not the best, so I had trouble distinguishing the words to the song, but it was clear Bridgette enjoyed herself as she sang with her mama. Pray for Becky and Mike as they are in the process of attempting to adopt a child that is being fostered by the pastor of the church they are attending. That process looked fairly certain until a week ago, now things are getting complicated as other potential adoptive families have expressed a strong interest in the child. We will know in the next few days what the judge decides concerning the welfare of the child, but it is stressing Becky a good deal.

Saturday evening Mama and I took Mr. Plumley over to Grandma and Grandpa’s. I helped Norman get some junk – literally – out of the very full trailer and set it up for the sale that would begin Sunday morning. Grandpa gave Mr. Plumley a few small tools for which Mr. Plumley was extremely grateful. I do not know if Mr. Plumley will ever use the tools, but he is elated to have them – and for free. Mama and I brought home a few items but left the majority of the junk there for Norman to sell. By the time we called to check on the progress of the sale Sunday afternoon, they had sold almost everything, and Norman was looking for us to contribute more items for them to continue the sale. We have nothing to add on short notice, so I am not sure if the sale will continue through Tuesday as planned, but that is all for the best as far as getting the final packing for the move to Florida done.

Mama will spend the majority of the day with Grandma and Grandpa as they examine what they have left to get rid of in order to empty the little house. Whatever is not sold will be hauled off to the dump tomorrow and they will begin their trek to Florida Wednesday morning. I will go to say my goodbyes tomorrow evening. Their plans have been set and their choices have been made. Over the next few months, we will see how things turn out. I certainly wish them well and will be praying for them, but I am still unconvinced that this is a good move for Grandma and Grandpa at this point in their lives.

Tomorrow night the temperatures are forecast to be below freezing. That freeze will only last a few hours, but it has the potential to cause a lot of damage to our plants and trees. Mama and I will move the pots in which we have vegetables growing into the garage for the night. We will cover as best we can the peach and nectarine trees. Both those trees are loaded with fruit and we want to preserve that crop of fruit if we can.  We will cover the raised bed to help protect the vegetable plants there from getting frostbitten. Then we will hope for the best. We were told by one of our friends at church that what they do in these situations is to get up before dawn and rinse the frost off the plants before the sun comes up. The water coming out of the well is about 45°, well above the temperature of the frost on the plants. Getting the plants above freezing before the sun warms the frozen leaves of the plants limits the damage greatly. So, will be up early Wednesday morning to see if that works. Providing I have a hose that is not frozen.

Saturday I took the time to look into the new hive we created a couple weeks ago and found the busy bees filling in the frames – drawing them out, in beekeeper speak – but the syrup feeder I placed in the hive that weekend was bone dry. I had expected that to be the case, so I filled it back up with some freshly made syrup. That should last the bees a week or more. I will find out for sure this coming Saturday. At that time, I will also open the other hives to see how the bees are progressing on the new hive bodies I installed a week ago and I will add the honey supers to those three hives. The new hive will not be ready for a honey super this year. If we get three full honey supers, we will have plenty of honey to process. Potentially well over one hundred pounds. Time will tell.

I will be teaching a class tomorrow.