Bee update

Well, I'm not sure what is happening in our hive.  When we lifted the lid to check if the queen had been released, she was still in her cage.  There was a dead body of a worker bee (one of her attendants) in the cage with her, blocking the exit on the sugar side.  We removed the twig and put the cage back in so that she could join her loyal subjects.  We opened the hive three days later to see if she was out and working.  We inspected all of the frames, but did not see her.  We tried to search the wax cells that the workers had been busy drawing out for evidence of eggs, but we had poor light and the frames were so thick with worker bees that we could only see bits of peices of comb through them. 

Those blobs of wax comb were built out around the queen's cage.

Look at all them bees!

The good news was that they had been working hard, and there were several frames almost completely full of comb, and cells full of nectar and pollen were visible.  We watched them do their shaky-butt dance that means "I FOUND NECTAR!", watched them bury themselves headfirst in the cells, watched them touch each other and communicate.  It was fascinating... but I am concerned about the queen.  We'll check again next week and see what's up, hopefully when we have better light.

The ducks are getting bigger every day.  It's hard to tell by looking at them, because we only have their fellow ducklings to compare them to and they're all growing at the same rate.  But I can feel them getting heavier when I pick them up to pet their little squishy bellies and stroke them under the chin.  They sure are messy, though.  They want so badly to be in water, so they walk in the trough of their waterer, making a mess of the wood chip bedding AND of their drinking water at the same time.  Once they're feathered out we'll let them take a supervised swim in the bathtub and see how they do.... and then it's outside with them!  They're messy and stinky and I can't wait until they can live outdoors where they belong.... but they sure are cute!

I just finished my first week at the new job, and I feel like my brain is mush from being talked at in a classroom for 8 hours each day.  Next week is more of the same.  I understand the need to get us new folks up to speed on policy and procedure, but I can only absorb so much of that in one sitting. By 1230 my brain is out to lunch and I'm not retaining any of it, I'm certain. 

I'm a little blue, which is probably mostly due to the fact that I'm sleep deprived.  I simply can't make myself go to bed early, no matter how early I've gotten up that morning.  It just isn't natural to me.  So, I go to sleep much later than I should and wake up at 5am feeling like crap.  In addition, I feel a little lonely out here.  I've hardly seen my fiance this week, and starting work at a HUGE hospital where I am a total stranger is rough.  Everyone has been very kind and courteous... one of the staff nurses in the ER even took lunch with me the other day so I wouldn't eat alone, even though I was in class all day and she was on the floor.  But there's not that comfortable feeling of working with people who know you.  I'm sure it will come with time.

I miss my friends.  The trade-offs of moving out here are worth it, I know.  To have the space to be alone, to be quiet... it's something I really can enjoy.  But there is also something to be said for having two of your best friends living right next door, ready to share a cup of coffee or a glass of wine when you come home to an empty house.  It's not easy to connect with our friends in the city with everyone being so busy, ourselves included.  I'll see some folks this weekend, as we're driving that way for a friend's baby shower and a hoop workshop... I'm sure that will make me feel better.  It's just an adjustment of lifestyle, that's all.

How do you folks deal with loneliness?  What do you do to find community in your new rural area when the hotspot is the Beer Barn??