We have honey, but how to harvest it?

We have this huge maple tree that is being cut down due to the fact that it is in a terrible location, between two houses, and hollow in the core. It has been the home of a busy beehive for who knows how long. Today I went up to take closer pictures and noticed that there appears to be honey on the outside of the tree. The bees may have filled the tree full of honey, which I would like to harvest. Also, how can I get the bees to move from the tree to a beehive that we purchased? Ah, that is the question. Anyway here are the pictures that I took.

The bees were quite active this afternoon. They must be happy that the rain has ended.

Back to the front porch

Columns are now starting to go up, as if they could do it on their own. It is a slow process but I like the look.

Chris on the job

After a quick lesson my wife has become a boom operator, actually a very good boom operator.

It's amazing what a little paint will do:

Trees are not always a good thing...

especially when they are growing close to one or two houses. Oh, and are hollow also. So Brother Miller started to cut down the old Maple tree, I acting as ground crew. I'm glad he has had years of experience with tree cutting because one slip could have been disastrous. So without any further ado here are the action shots:

Afterwards I ventured up the lift to inspect the chimney. Oh great, now I need to tuck point the chimney. 118 years of weather has washed out most of the mortar, so you can see what I mean by "so much to do and so little time". Better to take care of it now before bricks start falling.

By this was really cool. A honey bee hive up close. I'll have to take pictures when they are more active.

So much to do and so little time!

Anyway that is how I feel sometimes. Winter is fast approaching and we need to take care of several things. For instance, the front porch. It was falling apart, rotten wood and improperly installed causing water to run off the deck and onto the tower bricks which resulted in mortar being washed away and bricks falling off the tower. Those bricks have been repaired but now the deck needs to be repaired. Soooo, we started to take the old decking off.

 

 

But we did take time to take a break

The Bay Window

Brother Miller and I worked on the bay window roof on Friday. I needed to get if fixed properly before winter to prevent water damage to the dining room ceiling and heat loss. The roof area is 3 feet wide at the widest point, 6 inches wide at the two outer edges and 180 inches long against the brick wall of the house. Imagine two adult males pulling up the tin roof while standing on it. (It would have been easier if we would have had a lift or at least scaffolding that would reach 15-20 feet.) On one of my trips onto the roof my foot caught on the window sill and I dove head first through the open window. Fortunately I caught my balance, otherwise I would have done a 20 foot, head first dive off the roof. It's not the fall that I was concerned with, it's the sudden stop at the bottom.

This experience reminded me of my teenage years when I use to jump off the roof of my parents house. Now you may ask yourself why would someone jump off the roof of a single story house, in particular make a 10-15 foot jump onto solid ground? Well, that is a good question. It could be that I was a little like Napoleon Dynamite when he asked Pedro if Pedro dared him to go and talk to a girl who was in the cafeteria. I don't remember being dared to jump, I just did it. Why do boys do such things? It makes no sense to me. I guess it's because we can, not that we should, but we can.

Anyway, we were able to remove the old tin, remove some of the subroofing (which made the area we were standing on even smaller), insulate the dining room ceiling, replace the subroofing and then pitch and install a new roof before Brother Miller had to leave. I am grateful that we got all that completed without any accidents, except for the cut on my finger. Why don't I just wear my gloves?

Now for the action shots!!!

The new roof is sealed and weatherproof enough for now. Eventually we will put metal back on the roof. Thanks Chris for the photos.

Have you ever gone to a bed race?

Last saturday we attended the bed races. It was a first for me. Each team was responsible for making their own bed for the race. It seems like some of the teams have this down to a science, such as when to brake and reverse direction. There were about eight teams in all. The team on the right won the championship. What will they think of next???