Honey harvest, repairs, completion, Grandma’s scare

I took the time Monday, the 4^th of July, to take the full honey frames out of one hive. I was pleased to find four full frames in that hive while I did not find any frames of honey in the other two hives. The frames were so full, in fact that they were leaking honey into the box I placed them in all the time I was finishing up the work I needed to do on the hive before I could seal it back up. From those four frames we appear to have gotten at least a couple of quarts of honey, and it is very good honey.

The process of extracting the honey was straightforward and fairly easy, albeit messy – especially since I had the equipment required. Even though my timing was off, I was ready nonetheless. I have had the equipment sitting waiting on my bees for over a year now, but Mama, Norman, Tres, and I took our time to get the honey spun out of the frames. I had to let the honey sit in the extractor for a couple hours before so it could run down the sides of the extractor and accumulate in the bottom. Next, I drained the extractor, letting the honey pass through a couple sieves into a special bucket with a valve on the bottom from which we could fill jars. I brought the bucket containing the honey into the house and we filled a couple small jars so we could sample it. It looked beautiful! It tasted wonderful! The whole volume will not be much, but it is our first honey!

Early this afternoon, Mama and I spent over an hour with a computer technician who runs a repair shop in Decatur. He had worked on Mama’s MacBook to restore functionality after we inadvertently wiped the operating system from the computer in a vain attempt to change the iTunes account on the computer. The $100/hour the consultation cost me was well worth the money and now Mama has a properly functioning computer. A very clean computer in fact since any malware that had attached itself to the computer was wiped out as well in the reboot. Now, I just have to coach Mama on how to navigate on the computer without getting lost – or calling up something she does not want to deal with. But at least we have her computer back. The added bonus in the consultation was that in her conversations with the technician, Mama seems to have gained a little more confidence in working with her computer. We will see if that lasts, but it is a good start.

After teaching a class yesterday I worked as long as I could on the duck enclosure, but I was still not able to complete it. I have the inside complete but lack the wire attached to two sides and the access door hung to make the area complete. I just ran out of energy after only two hours working in the heat. I was completely soaked by the time I stopped my labors on the duck area, but I had no choice. On the bright side, I slept well last night. Since Mama and I are still learning about ducks, I am not willing to take the chance on giving them too much freedom to exit their little yard until we learn a lot more. We are scheduled to pick up the ducks tomorrow evening. We will see if we actually make that appointment.

Just after we got home from our meeting in town to get Mama’s computer, Mama got a frantic call from Grandma saying that she needed help right now because Grandpa was in bad shape and she could not help him, but before Mama could question her any further, Grandma hung up. So, as Mama frantically tried to reconnect with Grandma, we waited to see what was going on. Once connected again it took several minutes more conversation just trying to interpret Grandma’s meaning. She was hysterical and was not speaking in complete thoughts. Mama and I were able to understand that Grandpa could not get up from where he was sitting or lying, and he was virtually nonresponsive.

Fortunately, Norman, who had been working at the farm this morning passed us on our roadway headed back to Grandma and Grandpa as Mama and I were returning to the farm. He was onsite only a couple minutes after Mama that direction. Even still, by the time Grandpa was loaded into the Sequoia and raced to the hospital here in Decatur, almost an hour had elapsed from the time Grandma had discovered Grandpa’s condition. By some unknown superwoman ability, as Mama violated every speed limit in the county in her hurry to the Emergency room, she managed to called 911 to alert the hospital about the incoming patient. Because of that, the staff were able to help get Grandpa into the Emergency Room for diagnosis.

Your prayers would be much appreciated as we walk the path to a proper diagnosis and hopefully a recovery. If the damage from the stroke is permanent, we will have to rearrange everything in our lives and do so in short order in order to provide care for both Grandpa and Grandma.

Time will tell.