Back in the office, bee work, diet

Yesterday was the first day our group was to be back in the office on our, now routine, Tuesday and Thursday report-to-the-office schedule. The other three days of the work week are still to be done from home. I had a class yesterday morning from the HQ house, so I was not in the office in the morning. When I finished with the half-day class, I lingered at the house for while eating my lunch, then I reported to the office. It was nice to see everyone interacting in person. It was obvious that all those who were in the office yesterday were glad to be back together. There are very few assigned desks in the new office layout, but most everyone reported to the area in which they had been grouped in the past – just with very different workspaces. I finished out the day from the office making it possible for me to get all the administrative work done for the follow up of the class I had just taught, while visiting with various coworkers whom I had not seen in person for over a year. All in all, the new arrangement worked out well enough. We will see how things go after the excitement wears off.

When I got home, I helped Mama feed and we ate a quick dinner. It was a little weird getting home at the old normal time – when we worked in the office until 4 pm every day. After dinner I got all the honey supers, the queen excluders and other tools moved to the apiary before I got my bee suit on. Once dressed for it, I started working on the hives. I opened each hive in turn, checking progress in the comb being drawn out in the new brood boxes I had added to three of the hives over a week ago. I was amazed by how far the colonies have come in less than two weeks. On one hive, I had added a honey super last year and had been advised to leave it over the winter – which I did.

I had to pull out each frame in the honey super to make sure the queen was not in the box before I put on the queen excluder below it and replaced that super – half full of honey already – back on the hive. The queen excluder is a panel that has hundreds of slits in the panel. The slits are sized so that the queen cannot fit through the openings. That way she cannot lay any eggs in the boxes above the excluder. It will be used for honey only. All the work inspecting and outfitting the honey supers on the hives that got them, took less than an hour. On the hive we started a few weeks ago, I did not add a honey super. It has a way to go before that colony is strong enough to produce excess honey for us. Saturday I will open that hive and take out the syrup feeder, replacing the two frames taken out to provide room for the feeder. I plan on having Mama with me for that inspection so she can see the hives up close. I will wear the cheap bee suit and give her the good one for the time. Once that is done, I will monitor the progress in the first brood box to determine whether I need to add another brood box or try a honey super on that hive. The bees will let me know what action is most appropriate.

I am in the office this morning to work with a coworker as he does a mock presentation of a class that will be taught next week. It is one of the two classes that I do not teach because there are a lot of other candidates to present that class. If my coworker does well presenting the class to me, he will teach the class next week and enter the rotation for teaching the class on a monthly basis. Meanwhile, I am onboarding two other candidates for the class I am teaching twice per week. It will be nice to expand that training pool, but I am not overly concerned about backup at the moment, since Mama and I have no vacation or other time off planned for this year. I can squeeze a day or two into the schedule while maintaining availability for the training schedule set for the year. Providing my health is not affected in any extreme way in the near future.

Speaking of health, Mama called Ruben Yoder yesterday. He is our primary herbal contact since his father Jonas, got us involved in herbs many years ago. Based on his assessment, Mama and I are going to try a two-month special eating regimen to curtail the effects that an overgrowth of Candida in our bodies is causing for each of us – Mama more so than me. It is not an onerous diet, but it will require some discipline and a strict adherence to the diet. I am told that something that you force yourself to do for a month or more can become a habit. That would not be a bad outcome and if we can abate the symptoms of this “infection”. So much the better. We have needed to change our eating habits for a long time, especially as we age. It will be a good change with a healthy outcome for us both. Long overdue.

I will be teaching an all-day class tomorrow. Hopefully, working from home Friday.