It’s hard to believe today is the last day of November. We’re having a rainy, windy day that is quite warm but on the other side of this is a cold front, so we’ll soon have chilly days and even colder nights. Fitting for the season, though, and conducive to thinking of decorating for Christmas. We got a live tree yesterday at a very near to us Christmas tree farm, and it’s up in our living room with about 3/4 of the lights put on. We’ll continue working on it today. I replaced my fall season gate wreaths with the winter season ones yesterday, and we’ll begin the annual tradition of bringing up bins with decorations tonight.
Yesterday while it was still dry I made candy boards for the honey bees and we removed the syrup in advance of the colder weather. Did I mention here that two of my hives robbed the third hive and they left? I suspect I triggered this by disposing of some old syrup near the hive, which is a big no-no, but I simply forgot that it was a very bad idea.
I hope that colony has found themselves a place to be for the winter. It’s not likely they’ll make it given they will have no honey stores. It’s also likely they were not a very strong hive if they weren’t able to defend against robbing, so from that perspective they have culled themselves from my apiary genetics. A hard truth.
The two remaining hives are very strong and okay. I hope to be able to catch a swarm off the very strong hive, as they seem to be thriving and I’d love to replace the lost hive with their genetics in the new year.
In the barn, I’m happy that the semi-annual barn cleaning got done, and I’m still making my way through the feed/tack room. The horses are good. Keil has had several weeks of being super good and now has had a few days of holding a hind leg out again. We’re in the final week of the second month of Marquis treatment, and I feel we need to go a third month. I’ve read that many horses need a 90-day treatment. I’m checking in with the vet today and we’ll figure it out.
This month our barn roof is scheduled to get some updating done - actually it is being repaired along the edges which unbeknownst to us were never properly finished by the guy who installed the roof three years ago. I’m annoyed, and when we first noticed a seeping issue coming in from one edge, I tried to get him over here to fix it, but he didn’t respond to my messages until I mentioned it on a FB group based in the town where he lives (big horse community that we’re a part of from way back) - once I said in that forum that I was trying to get a response from him, it was only a half hour until he reached out to me. By that time I had waited several months and already had someone else lined up. I hope this is it for the roof. We love it, but obviously things need to be installed properly to work!
Next week my farm helper and his friend will be replacing the railings on our back deck, and widening the steps so the three dogs can more easily go up and down without a logjam occurring. I’m also installing a ramp for Bear! We had planned to put a full back porch on in place of the deck, but after sitting with that plan I realized the roofline would interfere with several upstairs windows, some pipes along the back of the house, and the existing roofline and gutters. Visually I’m not sure how it could be integrated so that it looked like it was meant to be that way. For now, we’re repairing what needs to be fixed, creating something that works better (the wider steps plus ramp), and an area for the cats to have near their cat tunnel entrance that is secure from the dogs, who like to run over there and interfere with comings and goings. My desire for a covered space may be able to be met a different way - we’ll see. In the past I’ve considered enclosing the square deck area to make a sun room/den area and maybe that’s a better way to go. I guess part of the fun of living in a place is plotting how one would make it better. Certainly that’s true for me!
Right now I’m in my garret and the clouds are blowing away to reveal blue sky and some sunshine, so it’s nice to have gotten some rain and nicer still to have it move on through so the horses aren’t in the barn too long.
December! I love the solstice time of year and it’s sweeter this year thanks to election results and also the vaccines that will start being distributed to those who need it most.
2 comments:
We had some horrendous rain and wind yesterday but today it's back to normal. In the 50's so a little warmer than usual.
Last week we had two of the run in sheds re-roofed and new cupolas put on since the wood ones were rotted. Cleaned the gutters etc. Cleaned out the feed shed and rearranged some barn things. Getting a hay delivery Thursday. So it sounds like we're all getting ready for winter.
I need to start getting the Christmas stuff up starting tomorrow. Sounds like you're way ahead of me.
Keil might need another dose of the Marquis. I guess the vet will know. I don't know enough about it to have an opinion.
As for the bees, J thought her bees had left or died last year but they miraculously came back to the hives. I don't know where they wintered but they're back in their hives again. Good luck with them.
You’re getting so much done! That’s amazing that J’s bees came back - where did they winter? Though if you read Tom Seeley out of Cornell’s research/work, he says there are many wild colonies in NY (outside Ithaca) so maybe they joined some of their wild relatives and then came back “home.” :)
Keil is starting another month on Marquis at the end of the week when he finishes this one. It’s interesting because when he moves forward he is organized but when he stops and stands still, that’s when his hind legs get in wonky stances. Then he’ll shift to normal. I had an idea today of walking him in the arena and stopping to do things like lift one leg, clean a hoof, walk some more, etc. to see if I can stimulate the process of knowing over and over again where each leg lands and stays.
Tonight I put his new blanket on - he hasn’t worn a blanket in several years, and never seemed to need one, but with our temps tonight in the 20s and it’s also windy, I didn’t want him getting cold. At first he was not sure what to think but then he settled and it was like, oh, wow - blanket! He looked quite handsome in it and it’s warm but not heavy. One of the new Rambo vari-loft ones. I would have him in the living room if I had any sense at all that he would be at ease there. (And the floor would hold him!)
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