Expansion?

Over the past few weeks I have been considering increasing my number of hives to six, or possibly a few more.

In the past, whilst working, I always said that "four is enough," but now I'm retired I have the time to care for more colonies. I already have the necessary equipment, AND I can take a snooze whenever I like too!

So, I'm thinking about expanding, in a very small way.

I make a reasonable amount of money from my hives, but nowhere near enough to live on. They provide a nice little trickle of cash that cover beekeeping costs, the occasional takeaway, and the odd day out clay pigeon shooting.  

Increasing the number of colonies, won't actually be much more effort, apart from that involved in extracting the honey crop. In real terms doubling my number of hives will probably only add an extra three or four days of effort each year.

So what is driving my thoughts on expansion? I seem to be selling an increased amount of honey from my little roadside stall, and there are a few other potential outlets for me to explore too. Honey also doesn't go off, so having a reserve supply would be a useful buffer if I suffer a poor harvest ... or if sales go crazy!*

On the subject of honey sales, a few weeks ago a lady, of Vietnamese origin, called by and purchased ten jars of honey over a three day period.  She called in again yesterday, asking for another ten jars! I advised that I was midway through bottling a batch and that more would be available today.  

At nine clock this morning she pulled up at the gate and took away ten jars. Her fiancé grinned a little sheepishly, and advised that she really loves my honey. Apparently a couple of jars will be heading over to Vietnam with her parents, when they return home later this month.

Mind you, that wasn't the last of it! By the end if the day I had sold another five jars,  making fifteen in total ... At this rate I'll be bottling again by Friday.

In other news, my main focus today was to set up a new water butt. 30% acquired a lovely little butt from an acquaintance in the village via Facebook. This morning I spent a happy hour constructing a lid from a few scraps of wood. I then headed in to Redditch to pick up a rainwater diverter kit.  It will come as no surprise that the afternoon was spent siting the butt, and fitting the diverter kit to a conveniently located down pipe. 

After a successful test, I can report that I have a good flow** in to the butt. All I need to do now is fit another couple of down pipe brackets and then declare the job completed.

---

* A reserve supply will also reduce the amount I buy in bulk from Beekeeper Pete. I still make a decent margin as a reseller of his stock, but I'd be daft not to make the best profit possible.

** At 61 any good flow is a welcome surprise!

They're heavy!

Once again I am down to my last three jars of honey,* so it is time to get another couple of batches liquified and bottled.

First task of the day was to set a 5lb batch of honey to warm in a water bath. It takes a couple of hours for the honey to liquify, so 30% and I headed out for a short walk with the dogs.

As we wandered alongside the ploughed fields, our eyes fell upon numerous rounded river stones** lying in and on the furrows.  We both thought that these would be fantastic in our, soon to be built, water feature.  

Basically the plan is to use our stone trough*** as a sump. A fountain pump will be installed in the trough, and we will then install a perforated shelf, just below the lip of the trough. The shelf will support a layer of these rounded stones, and a fountain jet will then bubble water over the them ... Well, that's the idea!

It's a great idea, but I wish that we had brought something suitable to carry a collection of large stones back to the house!

The honey bottling required my attention, on and off, throughout the day, so I filled my time with odd jobs. The most significant of these was to recharge the batteries in the security cameras.

So that was Saturday, replenishing the stall and stealing stones.

---

* One of those is a jar of set honey, so that will sit out on the stall, ignored, for weeks. 

** The soil around here is a rich red clay containing plenty of rounded river stones ranging from small pebbles to rocks larger than my fist.  It is clear that this is a soil that has its origins in a water course, as evidenced by the abundance of smooth round stones.  We are situated in the South West Midlands and it is possible that these soils were produced by glacial rivers at the end of the ice age.

*** Now tested, and found to be water tight.

Two esses

The title of today's Journal entry neatly sums up my main achievements for the day.

As a bit of a diversion, I'm not sure why I feel the need to do stuff each day. Is it a hangover from a working life, where I was mostly self-managed, and needed to ensure that my days were productive?* Is it an inbuilt personality trait? I'm not sure, but I do know that I do like to make stuff, and take immense satisfaction from a job well done.

For the sake of balance, I can also be a lazy sod, and will happily spend all day with my head in a book.

Now, back to the two esses.

The first of these was the production of yet another batch of tomato soup. The tomato plants are producing an amazing quantity of fruit at the moments, and I estimate that I am picking about 3 lbs every other day. 

Surprisingly, 30% has mentioned diverting a portion of the crop to make, and freeze batches of cooked tomatoes. I say "surprisingly" as she adores our homemade tomato soup, declaring this each time she eats it. 

So, with the soup made, I was hoping for an afternoon of gentle pottering. However, I had foolishly forgotten that 30%** had arranged for us to head out, to collect a load of horse manure for the veg patch. 

A consequence of this was that I needed to fit the tow ball to the car, before hitching up the trailer.  The muck heap was only about three miles from home, and it wasn't overly arduous to fill the trailer to the brim with shit. We were invited to come and collect further loads, provided that the fields do not get too wet.

So that was my day. I have in excess of two litres of tomato soup ready for freezing and a trailer full of shit ready to be spread over the veg patch ... two esses.

---

* That's time-critical complex deliverables for you.

** One of my wife's personality traits is that she can be a bit of a girl guide. This manifests it self as an uncontrollable desire to perform good deeds, whether they are wanted or not.  The dark side of this compulsion is that she can, on occasion be, shall we say, a little interfering.  

On this occasion she offered up surplus apples from our trees via Facebook. A local lady came and picked up a couple of bags as treats for her horses. The conversation go around to horse manure, and the rest, as they say, is history. I should state, for the record, that this is one occasion when my girl guide wife came up trumps.

Post Script: I must also record that we had our first decent rainfall today after more than thirteen weeks of drought. We still need weeks of rain to restore the land, but today's fall was very welcome.

Tales from the riverbank

 The weather forecasts in the preceding week have indicated that heavy showers were expected this week, as the remnants of a hurricane system came in across the Atlantic.  

There has been rain, but very little has fallen in our vicinity. We have had a couple of showers that have barely dampened down the dust, but nothing worth mentioning.

When watching the forecasts I was concerned that I would not find a gap in the weather to inspect my bees this week. I need not have worried. This morning was fine and dry. A little breezy perhaps, but fine and dry.

I prepared my smoker and was about to put on my bee suit when a delivery lorry pulled up at the gate. It was the stone trough that I had recently ordered. My plan is to use it as a cistern for a water feature I hope to construct in the next few weeks.  The trough was stored in the car port and I headed up to have a look at the hives. 

There is no need to go in to any great detail, as they all look pretty much as they did last week. 

I need to have a think about hives #1 and #3, as they don't seem to be taking honey out of the supers and storing it in the brood box. Perhaps I need to use an uncapping fork to open up the cells, and encourage them to take the honey down in to the hive? 

Hive #2 looks very much like it did last week. The bees do not seem to have redistributed the stored syrup to give the queen more space to lay. Perhaps the relocation has disturbed her laying? All I can do is continue with the frame change and hope that matters right themselves in the next couple of weeks.

As I finished the inspection of the last hive I felt a couple of drops of rain fall. My timing had been perfect, as the drops had become a downpour by the time I as unzipping my bee suit in the shelter of the store room.  Unfortunately the rain only lasted for a few minutes, and the ground was soon dry again.

The title of today's Journal entry refers to this evening's fishing on the Avon at Barton. 

We didn't have a huge amount of luck this evening, although the one catch I did have might explain a lot ... 

... Fairly early in the evening I had a bite and I struck. I could tell that I had a fish on my hook, and I started to reel it in. Bubbles grabbed the landing net and clambered down to the water's edge, while I played the fish. By this time the tip of my rod was curved right over and what seemed to be a large fish was struggling to escape. As I reeled the fish in, Bubbles started to laugh and asked if I was sure I needed a landing net.

I looked down to see a small flash of silver. The fish was a tiny chublet, perhaps six or seven inches in length. As I lifted the fish from the water we suddenly realised why I had thought I had caught a monster. The small chub had a huge open slice in one side of it. Basically it had been attacked by a pike as I was in the process of reeling it in. The weight and struggling had been the pike, rather than the small chub.

So, I may not have caught the biggest fish in my life, but this was certainly one of the more unusual catches. And, with a pike in the vicinity, perhaps the other fish were staying well away?

Let's have another go

 I was reasonably pleased with my first attempt at making crabapple jelly. I think that the jelly could have had a firmer set,* but, as I said, I'm pretty pleased with it.

I still had plenty of crabapples left over, so I decided to give the recipe another go. I used exactly the same recipe, except for the fact that I replaced the cloves with four or five lengths of cinnamon bark, each about ten centimetres in length.

When it came to boiling the jelly mixture, I boiled it as vigorously as I could. I tested it after boiling for nine minutes and it was nowhere near the setting point (105 ℃)**. The consistency*** at that point was just a thick syrup.

I returned the mixture to the heat, and brought it back to a very fast, almost frothing boil, while testing the temperature. After a minute, or so, of boiling the temperature increased to a little over 103 ℃, but again refused to climb any higher. I retested the consistency and there was little difference.

After two or three more attempts, the temperature finally exceeded the magic number, and the consistency test produced a liquid that crinkled when pushed with a finger tip.

I soon had the jelly bottled and left it to set.

The date on the blue label should read "27 Aug '25"

I can report that I am even more delighted with this second attempt. The jelly has set beautifully and the hint of cinnamon, combined with the sweet apple flavour, is fabulous.

---

* The jelly has definitely set. If a spoonful is taken from the jar, the depression remains visible in the surface of the jelly a day later. I definitely count that as being set. I just feel that it could be slightly firmer.

** it was somewhere around 102 ℃

*** Jam/Jelly consistency test: Chill a saucer in the freezer. Pour a couple of teaspoons of the jelly on to the saucer, and return it to the freezer. Let it cool for a few minutes and then push the sample with a finger tip. If the jelly has reached its setting point, the surface should hold together and crinkle just in front of the finger tip.

I quite like "SOUPY" as my starting word in Wordle

There are no great achievements to report for today.

A walk was taken with the dogs in the morning, and we seem to have settled on a route that is sufficient to take the edge off the dogs, and not be too extreme for 30%.*  

Our walk takes us out of the house and up to the top of the hill. There, we leave the lane and turn left on to the footpath that runs along the ridge of the hill. The walk allows us to look back towards home and the church tower is visible in the distance. After about a quarter of a mile we cut through the hedge, and then retrace our steps, although on the other side of the hedge. This gives us a completely different view to the one on the outward leg of this short wander.  We soon reach the lane again, and are back home within a few minutes.

After the walk, I headed out to the garden and made sure that the crops in the greenhouse and veg patch were watered.  Apparently rain is forecast to come in for the next few days, so I am hoping that the ground will soon get a good drenching.

Having watered the fruit and veg,** I picked over the ripest fruit from the tomato vines and returned to the kitchen with about three pounds of tomatoes, ripened to perfection. I will admit to stuffing a few cherry toms in my mouth, as I wandered back to the house.

With yet another glut of tomatoes, my agenda was set for the day.  I prepared another batch of cream of tomato soup, which was added to the cache in the freezer, as soon as it had cooled sufficiently.

---

* She is currently having mobility problems, that are under investigation. She can get around, but now prefers to use a stick, and tries to avoid over exerting herself.

** 30% takes care of the pots and the ornamentals.

A culinary first

 My experience of making preserves is limited to a single batch of Beetroot Chutney. I made a batch after last September's Horticultural Show, and 30% declared it a great success.  I was not so enthused. It's perfectly acceptable, but I'm not an avid eater of pickles and relishes. I'll have the odd smear of Branston in a cheese sandwich, and TP's Lime Pickle is lovely with a curry. I even enjoy a spoonful of onion relish with a portion of pâté or terrine.

The more I think about this, the more I realise that I quite like pickles and chutneys. I just don't eat them very often.

Anyway, apologies, I headed off on a bit of tangent there. Back to the subject of today's Journal entry; I have made a single batch of chutney previously, but today I attempted jam making for the first time.

A friend the village gave us a jar of Crabapple Jelly last year and it was lovely. I was perfect with roast pork, and I have no doubt that it would be lovely added to deserts or breakfast yoghurt. 

Anyway, the jar has, long since, been emptied, so I decided to try my hand at making a batch. 30% managed to acquire the recipe, and she also managed other blag a large bag of crabapples from an acquaintance. I therefore had everything I needed, and set aside today to make my first attempt at jam, or more precisely, jelly making.

The first thing I did was to abandon the recipe I had been given. It needed a pound of rose hips, and I really could not be arsed with fighting my way through the local hedgerows to find sufficient ripe hips. Instead, I used the BBC Food website to provide a recipe.

Ingredients and materials

• 1kg crabapples
• 6 cloves
• 1.25 litres of water
• 600 - 800 g of granulated sugar
• 8 x 8oz jars with lids, sterilised

Method

1. Prepare the apples by washing, removing the stalks and any other damaged areas. Roughly chop them in to small chunks
2. Place the apples in a large pan with the water and the cloves.
3. Bring the mixture to the boil, cover and then simmer for about 45 minutes. The lower the simmer the better the flavour and colour of the jelly will be.
4. After simmering, remove from the heat and separate the pulp from the liquor using muslin or a jelly bag. Do not squeeze the pulp. Just let it drip slowly in to a bowl for a few hours, or overnight.
5. Measure out the crabapple liquor to determine the quality of sugar required. 600g of sugar is needed for each litre of liquor. This recipe, allegedly, produces 1 litre of liquid. I ended up with 1.35 litres and needed 810g of sugar.
6. Pour the liquid in to a clean saucepan and bring up to a simmer. Add the sugar, one third a time, stirring to dissolve, before adding the next third.
7. Once all the sugar has been dissolved, bring the mixture to a fast boil for about 8 minutes, or until the setting point has been reached (105 ℃).*  
8. Remove it from the heat and let it rest for a few minutes, before decanting in to a jug. Then pour in to the sterilised jars and put on the lids immediately. Note: At this stage the jelly will still be a liquid, and will stay so for a good while. I found that it set overnight in to lovely soft jelly that holds its form.

I still have sufficient crabapples to make another batch. I think I may replace the cloves with some cinnamon bark for my next attempt.

---

* As a jelly making novice, I can report that this was the most challenging part of the recipe and a jam thermometer or digital temperature probe is a must. I had to return the mixture to the heat three or four times before it reached the setting point. I tested the setting point by placing a teaspoon of the mixture on a saucer, and placing it in the freezer for a few minutes.  When the cooled jelly is pushed with a finger, the surface of the jelly crinkles in front of the finger tip.

Mostly horticultural

 After our recent work on improving the herbaceous border at the rear of the cottage, I made an impulse purchase.  I decided that a few Cranesbill plants would be the perfect addition to the border, providing a long lasting display of colour at the edge against the path.

Three plugs of the geranium Azure Rush were purchased from eBay, and they arrived with yesterday's post. This morning I headed out to the potting shed and soon had them potted on and watered. The plants are tiny, with barely a couple of leaves showing above the soil surface, and I felt that they would benefit from a few weeks in a pot before being transplanted to the border.

Next job was to water my leeks, and then replenish the water in the butts and tanks.

In the afternoon I finally got around to planting out my Savoy cabbages.  I purchased these as plugs at the beginning of the month, and they have flourished in our cold frame. Their roots are now starting to appear through the drainage holes in their pots, and they have many more leaves.

A line was laid out in the veg patch. A watering can was filled, and a trowel and kneeling pad was collected from the potting shed. I dug my first hole, and was surprised and delighted to see that the soil is still moist a few inches below the surface. I have been told that cabbages like to be planted deep, so their roots should be able to access the water in the soil. Needless to say, I filled each hole with water before planting, and gave them a good soaking, after they had been firmed in to the earth.

30% and I then spent a good while protecting the plants with a sprinkling of slug pellets and netting. It is amazing how quickly the cabbage white butterflies can locate a brassica plant. I swear one of the little sods was flitting over my plants within ten minutes of them being planted out!  And as for pigeons, those bastards would raze the crop to the ground in moments, given the opportunity. The only good place for a pigeon is on the ingredient list of a terrine!

The cabbage planting took most of the afternoon, especially when I take in to account the time to tidy up, and celebrate with a self congratulatory cuppa.  By five o'clock I had definitely run out of steam, and did little more.

A quieter couple of days

 I have had a fairly relaxing couple of days and have neglected to make a Journal entry.  This is an attempt to fill in the gaps.

On Friday 30% had arranged for H to come over with her two granddaughters, O & A.  They are two and five respectively and, shall we say, real characters!

They arrived midway through the morning and stayed until mid afternoon. We had a splendid time sitting and talking, while the girls played and chattered. There was no chance that two youngsters would occupy themselves, so we went up to the orchard to see the bees and chickens, and, of course, collect some eggs.  We explored the greenhouses and the veg patch, picked apples from the trees, and sampled raspberries and blackberries from the bushes. 

It's nearly a quarter century since TP was their age and I had forgotten how easy it is to amuse youngsters with the simplest of activities.  A half filled watering can allowed them to play at gardening, and they loved splashing water over the plants, whilst carefully avoiding the bumblebees!

We had a lovely day sat out in the sun, and they left around three in the afternoon. I have to be honest and report that 30% and I were both exhausted by their antics, and retired for a long snooze after their departure.

Now on to Saturday.

Evesham is hosting its annual Fishing Festival this weekend., and this has become a bit of a pilgrimage for Bubbles and me.  Basically it is an opportunity for us to trawl through the various pop-up stalls to find that "must have" angling essential at a bargain price.

I picked up Bubbs at ten o'clock and we drown down to the Evesham Crown Meadow. Anglers were setting up on the river bank for the competition that would take place later in the day, and tents and gazebos had been pitched to create a temporary market place on the meadow.

We spent an hour, or so, checking out the bargains and I wandered away with a Shimano spinning rod, a new handle for my landing net and a pair of curved forceps. Bubbles was a little more restrained, coming away with a couple of bags of boilies.

I was back at home for lunch, and just in time to wave off 30% ... she had arranged to spend the afternoon with one of her chums.

My afternoon was filled, making another batch of tomato soup, as the tomato plants are producing a seemingly endless supply at the moment.

In the evening we headed down to the local pub. 30% was under the impression that a local couple were performing this evening. It transpired that she was mistaken, so we ended up chatting with a couple and enjoying a glass of wine in the evening sun.

A trip to China Twon provided sustenance, and we then collapsed on the sofa in front of the TV. 

Recently the BBC has been showing a number of subtitled documentaries about Japanese craftsmen and restoration experts.  For some reason, which we cannot explain. these have been absolutely gripping television!  The intricate processes followed and ritualistic approach that is adhered to are fascinating to watch.  Over the past couple of days we have seen Samurai swords, Kimonos and Pottery being hand made. Each documentary left us wanting more.

Bailey Frame Change ... some progress

 I found myself awake at an horrendous hour this morning, or should I say "at some point in the night"?

I checked my blood sugar and the time, both were far lower numbers than are good for me.  As I was hypoglycaemic, my next step was to wander down the stairs* and find something to eat.

I filled my face, and returned to my bed, but failed to fall asleep.  Reluctantly, I hauled myself from my pit just before five o'clock.

The hypo and the lack of sleep meant that I didn't feel particularly great this morning, so I did very little. I took a nap after lunch and, as a result, felt marginally brighter.

This encouraged me to don my bee suit, grab my smoker and head up to check on the hives.

Hives #1 and #3 are both doing really well, and I have no concerns about them. I managed to spot both queens, and each has plenty of brood. 

The hot, dry Summer has impacted honey bee colonies across the country, and there is very little nectar available at the moment. I have been feeding my colonies to prevent them starving and have decided that I should bring my Winter preparations forward.

The first step is to remove the supers from the hives. Unfortunately these are part-filled with a mixture of honey and sugar syrup, so they need to be emptied first. I decided to place them above the crown board of the hives with the porter bee escape removed. The theory is that the bees will move up through the crown board in to the supers. Once there, they will remove the honey and syrup, and take it down to store in the brood box. Well, that's the theory. Let's see what happens in hives 1 and 3 over the next week.

Once the supers have been removed, I will think about an Autumn varroa treatment and feeding in preparation for the colder months.

Now on to hive #2. When I last checked the hive, I discovered that the bees had built fresh comb in the upper brood box, and then decided to fill it with syrup. I also failed to find and relocate the queen. 

I was hoping for a more positive inspection today.

I worked my way through the upper brood box and it looked just the same as last week. Some of the foundation had been drawn in to comb, and there was a lot of stored syrup. I removed the upper brood chamber and placed it on a Bailey board.**

I then started my search through the lower chamber.  About half way through the combs, I managed to spot the queen. I quickly transferred her and the comb to the upper brood box. After finishing my inspection, I reassembled the hive with the queen now secure in the upper chamber. I closed off the lower hive entrance with a piece of foam. The bees will now access the hive from the new entrance in the Bailey board.

According to the cognoscenti, now the queen is confined in the upper brood box, the workers will remove the syrup in order to give her room to lay. That is the theory. Let's see what actually happens in reality.

Over the next three weeks the brood in the lower box will develop and hatch. At the three week point, the lower brood box can be removed and the old comb disposed off. I will need to continue to inspect the hive and keep an eye open for queen cells in the lower chamber.

So that is the theory of the Bailey Frame Change. I'm not sure that my bees have read the relevant articles!

---

* Late night walks across the landing now require a greater degree of caution, as Wilson has taken to sleeping out there. His coat is a similar colour to the carpet, which makes him well camouflaged in the low light levels. Whilst I trust him more than I originally did, I wouldn't want to step on him by mistake.

** This is a perforated floor that is used to separate the upper brood box from the lower one. It is constructed in such a way that it creates a new hive entrance for the upper brood box. It also prevents the queen from returning to the lower brood box, although the smaller worker bees can move between the two. Basically it forces the colony to concentrate their efforts and their brood nest on fresh comb in the upper brood box.

I now need to be very patient

Today started with a walk down the lane with the dogs.

We got back home at close to eleven o'clock and agreed that it was an awkward time. It was too soon to have lunch, but too late to make a start on anything time consuming. As a result we drank coffee and pottered for the rest of the morning. 

My pottering activity was to fill two wheel barrows with mulch in preparation for planting this afternoon.

That sentence pretty much makes the rest of this Journal entry redundant. Yes, the afternoon was spent planting, watering and mulching the herbaceous border.  I also revised the positions of a few plants* that had clearly been planted in the wrong place.

We still have spaces to fill, but I now need to be patient to see whether our design develops in to a work of art or a dog's breakfast!

---

* Mostly smaller plants placed too far back from the front of the bed. These included a couple of hardy geraniums and a dwarf Knifophia.

Thinking in six dimensions

30% was hosting a select group of Coven members this morning.  I did what any sane person would do, and left them to it!

I headed out to the veg patch and was about to start watering the leeks when I had a sudden change of plan. I grabbed a hand fork and bucket from the potting shed, and spent a good hour hand weeding between and around the two rows of leeks. They were planted out in early July and now look like leeks rather than chives! It will be months before they are ready to be harvested and I don't want them to be competing with bloody weeds!

At lunchtime a local builder called around to give us quote for new gates. He turned up in a far more sensible vehicle,* and seemed reassuringly competent. We now need to see what his numbers look like before making a decision.

In the afternoon I returned to the veg patch.  I had impressed myself with my weeding efforts in the morning, so I knuckled down and finished the back half of the plot.  My cabbage plugs and seedlings are doing well in the cold frame, and the Savoys will need to be planted out at some point over the weekend.

30% and I then turned our attention to the recently cleared areas in the herbaceous border at the rear of the cottage.  We have a number of new plants to be transplanted, and we spent a good while placing the potted specimens in various arrangements.

Initially I thought it would be a simple matter to produce a pleasing design, but there are so many factors to be taken in to account.  We needed to consider height, width, overall shape, colour, flowering period and relationship to neighbouring plants in our attempts to finalise our design. It is no wonder that we had, on occasion, creative differences, as thinking in six dimensions does tend to make one's head hurt.

We eventually achieved a, hopefully, pleasing arrangement, and left it for the day. 

Our final activity was to head out for an evening walk with the dogs across the recently ploughed fields.

I guess that I will be planting tomorrow.

---

* i.e. One that is not a flagrant display of excessive profit margins

Some light gardening

 Monday morning was fairly lazy.

TP had stayed overnight, so this morning was spent on a few odd jobs, whilst making the most of the opportunity to catch up with his news and plans.

I did make the effort to bottle a few jars of set honey, before clearing away the paraphernalia involved in making my honey crop saleable.

At lunchtime another chap called in to give us a quote for replacing our gates. These gate companies really must target a customer sector with more money than sense. This chap turned up in a new Land Rover Defender. This is an expensive vehicle and indicative of the sort of profit margins that are going to be applied to his quotation.

30% and I have done a reasonable amount of research and have a fair idea of what a pair of gates will cost. After a good few years spent estimating labour effort and cost, I also have a reasonable idea of how long the job will take. We don't mind paying a company a reasonable profit, but a flagrant display of fripperies suggests excessive margins. Our expectation is that this quote will be higher than the first.

In the early afternoon I headed in to Alcester to collect my spectacles from the optician. They had replaced the lenses in my spare readers and sunglasses following my recent change in optical prescription.

In the late afternoon the weather had cooled a little, so I headed out to the back garden where I cleared, weeded and improved the soil in another area of the herbaceous border.  I also split the large clump of Iris plants. Half was removed and transplanted to another area of the bed. I then spent a happy half hour ensuring that the transplanted plant and cleared areas of soil were well watered.

The weather looks to be cooling over the next couple of days, and we may well finally get to replanting parts of the border.

A restful day

Midway through last week, Bubbles asked if I fancied shooting this morning. I checked my non-existent social diary and confirmed that I was free.

As a result I found myself stood in the glaring sunshine at the Cotswold Clay Club, Farmington Quarry, Northleach. Our shooting party comprised Bubbles, Bobbyn, Ben, myself and Heidi, a friend of Bobbyn's.

I had a pleasant enough morning, although my dreadful score suggested that I should have drunk less red wine the previous evening.

Back at home, I shared a late lunch with 30% before setting about bottling another batch of honey.

Midway through the afternoon TP arrived, accompanied by Charlie. They had combined a pork pie making course in Melton Mowbray with a mini motorcycle tour of Matlock and the Derbyshire Dales.

We spent a pleasant couple of hours in the sun catching up on each others' news before Charlie headed off for a fate worse than death ... We think he has finally made up his mind to end the relationship with his Bunny Boiler of a girlfriend.*

---

* Manipulative and controlling are understatements when applied to this young lady. She seems to think that Charlie should give up his friends and his motorcycle and spend his time exclusively with her. She has obviously not yet learnt that you can't change a person.

Something in the air?

I woke this morning and my eyes felt dreadful; dry, itchy, gritty. I went through my usual routine of drops and eyelid washing, and there was little, if any, improvement.

I really haven't a clue what exacerbates my dry eye condition, but whatever it is, there must be an increased amount in the air today!

As my eyes are very uncomfortable, I decided to have a quiet day, and stay indoors as much as possible.

Honey has been selling well over the past week and I am down to my last three jars.* Consequently I spent a chunk of my day sterilising jars and bottling a batch of honey.

In the evening we headed over to Worcester for a lovely evening with B&H. We had a great time, as they are absolutely brilliant company, and we feel so at ease with them. H had prepared two delicious tagines, one chicken based and the other was made with lamb. They were both beautiful, served with couscous ... Oh, and plenty of red wine!

---

* I bottled twenty jars about ten days ago, and have sold most of it already.

Sweltering

Today was forecast to be another hot one, so it was a case of finding things to keep me occupied, that were out of the sun.

We still had plenty of tomatoes, so I knocked up another batch of soup during the course the morning.

In the afternoon I headed up to the orchard with a step ladder and a ball of string.  Back at the beginning of May we planted a Wisteria.  It has managed to survive being browsed by Fallow Deer and a prolonged drought. I have helped it along by giving it a regular splash of water ... Every night when I shut up the chickens I give the Wisteria the dregs from their water container.  This has obviously done the job, as the plant has gone from strength to strength, and has put on at least two feet of new growth.  The ladder and string were used to reach and tie in this new growth, before it gets damaged by the wind.

I'm embarrassed to say that those few pathetic sentences summed up my Friday. It was far too bloody hot to do anything more. I did try to keep myself occupied, but just wandering around the garden and outbuildings was exhausting.

The rest of the day was spent indoors, snoozing and reading. 

Oh, I almost forgot, the soup was bagged, labelled and placed in the freezer ... God, I'm desperate if I'm using that as Journal material!

A glut

Our supply of tomatoes from the greenhouse is definitely exceeding our rate of consumption.

As I sliced bread for this morning's breakfast, my eyes fell upon three pasta bowls, each one was filled to the point of overflowing. It was definitely time to do something about the glut.

30% was down at the local pub for a Women's Institute coffee morning today, so I had the kitchen to myself. I therefore decided that it was time to make up the first batch of 2025 vintage tomato soup. This is our favourite way of preserving our tomato crop. It freezes beautifully, and makes a lovely light lunch or supper.

The kitchen tidying and soup making took all of the morning, and I swear that I left the kitchen in a tidier state, than the one I found it in.

In the afternoon I headed up to the orchard and checked on the bees.

Hives #1 and #3 are doing reasonably well. I managed to catch sight of both of the queens and I am happy with how they are doing. Both have about four frames of brood, and are increasing in size nicely.  I really need to think about removing the supers from both hives, and possibly starting to feed hive #1.

Now on to hive #3, the hive in which I am attempting to perform a Bailey Frame Change.* The workers have started to build comb in the upper brood box, but the little sods have started to fill most of the new cells with syrup. There is a single frame in the centre of the upper brood box where the queen has started to lay, but the rest of the frames are being used for stores!

I worked my way through the hive twice, but failed to locate the queen. I had intended to insert a Bailey board between the two brood boxes, which would confine the queen to the new comb in the upper brood. The elusive queen made this a non-starter. Hopefully I will get this done at next week's inspection. My current concern is getting the bees to produce fresh comb, but leave it empty of stores, so the queen has space to lay.**

I need to have a think about this.

Thursday evening saw me sat on the bank of the Avon at Fladbury with Bubbles. I'd like to say that we were fishing, but we caught nothing at all. In fact, our bait received very little attention from the piscine population all evening.  We noted that the fishing pegs had recently been numbered, which probably indicate that there had been a recent competition along the stretch of bank.  We wondered if the competition had disturbed the fish, or perhaps they had simply been overfed on the large quantities of ground bait that would have been used?

---

* I don't recall whether I have explained the reasons for a frame change. Over time the brood comb becomes dirty, and can harbour disease. It is good beekeeping practice to move the bees on to fresh comb every couple foyers. The Bailey Frame Change is one method for moving the colony on to fresh comb.  I've tried it a few times previously and have found it to be a bit hit and miss!

** The brood produced in late Summer and Early Autumn are vital, as these are the bees that will live through the Winter and help raise the colony brood  in the following Spring. The stronger the colony over Winter, the faster it will build up in the Spring.

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

It was going to be another scorching day today.

I generally rise quite early, so I was tasked with getting the greenhouses and veg plots watered before the heat of the day set in ... and before 30% had hauled her backside from her bed!

After taking care of the plants, I wandered over to the garage and unlocked the door.  As I stood in the doorway I paused, and took a moment to appreciate the space. It was warm, but cooler than outside, and has that certain smell of recently used machinery. There is that change in light levels as you move in to the shaded space, and it is also incredibly quiet in there. Weirdly, I would liken it to a monastic cell, or a church, somewhere of solitude and concentration.

I grabbed my mechanic's stool, a few rags and some metal polish, and set to work on the Guzzi's exhausts.  After a few minutes of polishing I could see that they could be restored, but it was not going to be a five minute job.

Over the course of the day I alternated between spells in the garage, and other matters that required my attention.

I fed the bees in Hives #2 and #3, and attended a dental appointment midway through the afternoon.

The dentist advised that the recently filled tooth may feel fine at the moment, but the tooth will crack at some point in the near future. Her advice was to proceed with a crown, or risk loosing the entire tooth ... Appointments were scheduled and payments were made!

Going back, for a moment, to my motorcycle cleaning activities.  I mentioned that it is "not a a five minute job." I can easily spend a day or two cleaning one of my bikes. There are so many nooks and crannies, with intricate components that need to be washed and polished.  I've mentioned previously that inspecting my hives induces a sense of calmness or zen. Cleaning my bikes produces a very similar state of mind.

As I focussed on polishing my exhausts, my thoughts turned to Bubbles' steadfast refusal to clean the R nineT.  I don't think he appreciates the satisfaction of cleaning a bike properly, neither does he understand that it makes you focus on every external component, checking for wear or damage. Instead the silly sod pays some random bloke fifty quid to do a half-arsed job.  Oh well, we're all different!

So, we end this day with a very shiny set of Moto Guzzi exhaust headers. I just need to wash and polish the rest of it now.

A ride out with Buzzer

When we met up with Dot 'n Dave last week, Dave and I arranged to go out for a ride on our bikes, and today was the day.

I selected the Moto Guzzi for this outing as there was a possibility that we would swap bikes at some point in the ride, and the R1250R is a little on the heavy side for Buzzer.

I left home at about half past nine and headed over to Alcester via the new Service Station. Twenty quid's worth of E5 was poured in to the Guzzi's tank, and I then rolled up to Dave's house. His new Enfield Interceptor had already been extracted from the garage, and was sat on the drive.

Our route today was very similar to the one we rode at the beginning of March. The weather was perfect, and the traffic was relatively light. We took a coffee break at the cafe at Wellesbourne Airfield and watched the light aircraft coming and going as we chatted about the usual biker nonsense.

The ride on the Interceptor didn't happen, as Dave is having problems with his left hand, and didn't fancy the long reach to get hold of the Guzzi's clutch lever.*

I was home by about half past twelve and soon had the bike tucked away in the garage. As I parked her up, I noticed that she could really do with a damned good clean.  The stainless steel exhaust is in a horrific state, and badly needs polishing.

However, the temperatures were now well in to the 30's, and we both decided to do very little this afternoon. 

We did have a chap call round to provide a quote for new gates, but that was about it. I made up fiev litres of sugar syrup for the bees, and that was it.

---

* Many, many years ago Dave had an argument with an industrial router and lost the top joints of three fingers on his left hand. Only the thumb and index finger are fully intact. This doesn't stop him playing lead guitar, nor from riding a bike, but he is, understandably, very particular about how his guitars and bikes are set up. 

Bits and pieces

We've entered another heatwave, so the first job this morning was to make sure everything was watered, and that the butts were filled.  I took the opportunity to check the level of water in the well. I estimate that  the current water level is about twenty feet below ground level.  

The well is about fifty feet deep, so we still have plenty of water, but we need to be cautious, as there is no sign of the drought ending. I should also add that the well level can be just below ground level in the wetter months, so the water table is very low at the moment.

After pottering in the garden, I made up a couple of litres of syrup for the bees, before breaking for lunch.

In the afternoon I finally got around to cleaning my shotgun. I am embarrassed to say that it has been a good  while since I last put a cleaning rod down the barrels, so I spent a good while giving it a damned good clean.

I also got around to making headway on my next little project.  30% would like a water feature in the ornamental greenhouse, and we have a drilled piece of slate that would be perfect for a little bubbling fountain. However the water feature will need an above-ground reservoir to house the pump and support the feature stone. Unfortunately most water feature reservoirs are unattractive plastic units, and that simply will not do.

Yesterday I found an eBay seller with a selection of lovely granite and sandstone troughs. One of these would make the perfect reservoir. I gave her a call today and she is going to check her stock. Hopefully I will be able to get one ordered later in the week.

I'm almost embarrassed to say that that is all I managed to achieve on Monday. In my defence, it is quite warm.