Bee Update

This morning I called a local bee keeper in our area. He said he would come right over and collect the bees.

The first thing he did was set this "bee house" on the ground by the tree.

Then he blew some smoke on them.

And the next step I missed with the camera. I didn't know what he was doing so I missed the shot. He tied that rope around the tree and gave it a big yank and the bees all fell into the box and on the ground. Notice there are no more bees on the tree.

He was checking for the Queen Bee at this time. He said if she went in the box the rest would all go in there.

Then he watched.

Some of the bees were going back up onto the tree and as I was taking this shot he yanked that darn rope again. That scared the begeezes out of me!

He kept telling me I could go closer because "them there bees aint gonna hurt you none."

I politely told him I was plenty close.

This is what it looked like when I left it. He said in about an hour they would all be inside the box. We'll see.....

All I Can Say is..........EEEEEWWWWWW

Last night I got a text from Casey with this picture on it. She said to check out all the "flies" on this dead little tree. I thought it was so bizarre that I went right over there to check it out. I walked up and took a picture then stepped closer to look at it.  

It is bees!

We quickly stepped back away from the tree. Casey told me she was going to "shake" them off when she first found them. So glad she didn't try that!

A Broken Sole

The weather has been beautiful (in between all the gushing rain) so we took advantage of it and went for another ride. I love to take pictures while we are going down the road but I can't believe any of them ever turn out since it is so windy and bumpy on the back of a bike.

At one of our stops along the way the sole of Brian's shoe totally broke right off. It was pretty funny to the rest of us, but he didn't think so. We took off again but he was complaining that it was hard to shift the bike with his shoe hanging like that.

We drove into Merrill to have lunch and take another break. The construction was everywhere. We couldn't get to Dairy Queen because we kept taking wrong turns.

We went back through the construction and hit a dead end and turned into a driveway to turn around. What was at the end of that driveway?????

A Factory Shoe Outlet store.......

What's the chances of that? I guess God didn't want him driving the bike and trying to shift with that darn broken shoe.

A new pair of shoes and we were on our way....

Chillaxin at the Pool

Jack-man

The Birthday Princess

Here is the Birthday Princess sporting her crown.

Waiting patiently while everyone sings Happy Birthday.

And before we could finish......she decides to test the cake.

One more Happy Birthday to Papa and Felicity.

A Double Birthday

Today is a pretty big day around here. It is Brian and Felicity's birthday. Yep, she was born on her Papa's birthday! We think it is pretty cool.

So today is filled with lots of food, family, and fun!

Here are a few shots from her birthday photo shoot.

I couldn't decide which ones to use so I put lots of them here.

Precious.

It's so fun to be 2.

Happy Birthday to Brian and Felicity!

Flashback Friday

My Dad. 1953.

Sporting the Red, White, and Blue

Do You Want Fries With That?

A few weeks ago we got this little gardening shed. It was all white and you know me, I don't really like white. I had to Julify it up a bit. I picked one of the hottest days to paint it. I painted, and sweated, and swatted at bugs all afternoon. When I finished I stepped back and went......."Oh no....Do you want fries with that?"

I thought it looked like McDonalds.

The yellow was all wrong. I took that can of paint right back into the store and had them change it up a bit into what I was really visioning.

Then I repainted it. Much better. I don't know if you can really tell from these pictures but there is a huge difference in the color. Now I really like it. I have my own space to put all my gardening tools, flower pots, and all my "prettys" for my yard that I have to store all those cold winter months.

Here's a shot of my little garden. We have downsized dramatically since it is just the two of us around here. It is the perfect size and produces just enough for us.

Flashback Friday

Family Picture 19??

Can someone help me with the year on this one? My hair is pretty big and permed so I am thinking early nineties.....

One question.....how come no one noticed the huge wreath coming out of Dean's head?

More Time For Fun

Some of you have heard me talk about all the mowing we do around here. I know I have complained talked about it a few times here on my blog.

Not any more.

Brian surprised me the other day with this beauty. The first hour or so of driving it was quite a circus. Has anyone else had to learn how to drive one of these? I only mowed off one little tree so far. It cut my mowing time from 4 hours down to 2. That may not excite many of you, but it sure leaves more time for fun in my summer. 

Of course Jack had to help me with the picture.

And Papa had to give him a little ride.

An Awesome Ride

We finally took a bike ride on Saturday. 

The weather was perfect, an awesome 85 degrees.

Is it dangerous to take pictures of ourselves while going down the highway? He only has to look away from the road for a second, I promise.

We went to a 4th of July party that we've been trying to get to every year. It seems there is always some reason why we can't make it.  But this year we finally got to experience for ourselves "The Cherry Street Parade." This is a big deal for this group. The only problem is everyone that lives on this road is in "the parade" so there aren't many spectators....

Here we are going up the long driveway to the road.

It's a good thing there is no traffic on Cherry Street. This "parade" just drives up and down the road, taking up both sides, weaving in and out with each other. There must not be any police patrolling Cherry St. 

There was actually one neighbor sitting on their porch for us to wave at.

This was the most unique entry this year. An actual stuffed moose! 

This little boy rode up on that moose. That's nuts!

What an awesome day!