Murphy Bee Hive

Hal and I think it's so funny that here we are spending dollars to remove and be rid of bees while Julie is spend dollars to purchase and make a very nice home for bees.

Soon after we moved into our new home bees started buzzing around inside the house.  With the grand kids we felt we needed to determine what type of bees we had and how to make them go away.  We had Little Giant Beekeepers come out to assess the situation.  Jeff the bee man said they were just scouts and not to worry.  Well one evening this year when it first turned warm we had hundreds of bees swarming our front porch and several made their way into the house via the can lights.  After one of the bees stung Hal it was time to call Jeff back out.  Jeff found the dormant hive in just a few minutes.  No real problem as it is dormant but we must remove it soon as this is swarming season these  bees are trying to build a new hive.  They can remove it (for a fee) or a handy man can do the job.  Guess who got the job?

BE WARNED as some of these pictures are totally gross.

You can just barely see the honey seeping through on the bottom.

 Good news / bad news in that it was a cold wintry day.  Good news is that the bees were not swarming, bad news is that it was cold.  Hal was all suited up and ready to attack.

 Here come the dead bees.  Hundreds of them.

 The soffit (the piece of wood under the roof overhang).

  TaDa....the dormant hive.

 Oh no...there's more hive.

 AND MORE hive.

 After hours of scraping and scraping filling a huge contractor trash can full of dead bees, honey and the hive we are ready to power wash...Where is John Ingle when you need him?

 Power washed and sprayed with Clorox.  Now it must dry really well. 

 All dry and ready to insulate and put back together.

Looks just like new!  Good job babe!  That little project just saved us $1K

 

Houston Bee Hive

We made a quick trip to Houston to take a trailer of furniture to Blake and Camille's storage unit.  We made it to Houston before Friday afternoon traffic.  Had a lovely dinner at one of Julie and KW's favorite neighborhood restaurant, Jonathan's The Rub. It's a BYOB and the best food.  We highly recommend it.

Saturday we had a relaxing morning hanging around outside.  So unusual for Houston but the weather was beautiful.  Also so unusual for all of us to have a relaxing morning with all the To-Do's we have.

 Grace is one lucky and happy dog and spoiled.

 Saturday night we went to see the Rocket's play Detroit.  At first it seemed to be a run away game but by half time it became a close game.  The Rocket's won by a narrow margin.  KW & Julie had floor seats and it always makes the games extra special.  The players are huge!

Julie has a new hobby.  Bees.......

She received her bee kits and ready to assembly them.  She is making her dad proud.

 She has the location all staked out.

 Julie and KW have a beautiful home and yard.  Julie has worked very hard in this yard and you can tell. 

 The azaleas were just beginning to bloom.

 When Julie and KW attended the Country Music Awards this fall they had the opportunity to hear Vince Gill in a small intimate setting.  They received this guitar signed by Amy Grant and Vince Gill.  Pretty sweet!

As always we had a great weekend of relaxing, fabulous food and wine, great entertainment and some good quality time with Julie and KW.  Love you and thank you!

Play Date with Friends

I was feeling the need to be with our friends so we had a little dinner party.  Nothing big, just food, friends, beverages and a toy.  The difference between kids and adults play dates are the toys.  Chris and Melissa gave us a Seal-A-Meal for Christmas.  I have been a little intimidated to use it.  So I decided to bring it out and see who could teach me how to use it.  Kevin and Margaret have one so she jumped right in.  But realized we had the new and improved model.  It takes a village to seal a meal. Very funny to me.  Liz was the first to assist Margaret.

 Grandpa was enjoying the show.

 Now Susan joins the girls and we have the instruction booklet out.

 Here comes Mary and Harry to give their expert opinions.

 Success!!!!  Good Job!

 Oh no...Harry found the attachment.  What to do with it?  Starting over now.

Enjoy the play by play instructions on How to use your Seal a Meal while drinking.

Winter Wonderland

We have had an exceptionally cold winter.  Below are just a few pictures we took of ONE of the ice storms we had this year.

 The trees held up fairly well considering the amount of ice accumulation.

 This is the Pierce's tree.  Hope it makes it.

 Looks like a Christmas card to me.