My get through the winter list of things to do

I like to write in this blog even though I've been a slacker lately.  It's a good outlet to just put  my thoughts down on things that interest me. And since other than family and friends, nature is what interests me, and I don't really like cold, I need to figure out what to do to keep me interested and happy in the winter months.

Here are some things I hope to do this winter.

• Make candles from the beeswax I've saved
• paint some outdoor chairs that are rusting
• pick up a needlepoint of a starfish and complete it so I can use as a pillow or wall decoration in Maine
• Ride 5 miles on my exercise bike at least 4 times a week
• Go ice skating
• Curl up and read good books with a hot drink beside me
• Spend hours with seed catalogs getting ready for spring!
• Clean the greenhouse and wash the seed trays
• Use scrap wood to make structures and/or planters for the garden

Secondly, I was pleasantly surprised to find a few Blog comments the other day...they were sent a year or so ago...but they somehow landed in my google account.  It was so gratifying to hear that this blog had inspired a woman to not mow as much lawn but instead keep or plant low-growing plants instead.  YES!  That's what it's  all about. 

A sharing of knowledge or lack thereof!  Keep the comments coming in. They're great!

Thanksgiving storm

We'll see if it happens, but an 8-12-inch snow storm is expected starting tomorrow.

I'm thankful, of course, for my family and friends but my bee-related thanks are for these things.

• I came home from summering in Maine 6 weeks ago to enable me to get some stuff done before snow came...which ended up coming very early so glad I did it in time.
• Then before the cold snap about 10 days ago, just before, I wrapped my hives in roofing paper and added bales of hay around 3 sides...again, whew..I just made it.
• I also added the cedar filled pillows that, hopefully, with fingers crossed, will take care of the moisture in the hive.  I added the pillows to a super with a screen stapled to the bottom so bees can't get to it.  I made two pillows per hive so that as one pillow gets wet from condensation dripping down, I will swap out the wet for the dry pillow. I swapped out the pillows just before the storm but they weren't too wet yet...again, I think that's a good thing.
•  I'm thankful I closed up the entrance, leaving just about a 1 inch opening. Last year, I forgot. This is to keep cold out out of the hive as much as possible, while leaving a small opening for bees to get out as they need to (one note on that...I should have a one-inch hole somewhere near the top of of the top deep hive so that, if snow accumulates, they have another opening...also just for ventilation.)  I haven't done that yet until I have an empty deep hive.  I can't very well do it with bees inside.   I've yet to see an explanation on how others do that. I'm thankful I remembered this detail this year.
• I have a bee food source in patty form that I made a year or so ago.  So far, the bees haven't touched it in either hive.  I hope it's because they have plenty of honey so don't have to resort to that.

Now it's December 1 and see several months ahead of cold weather. I do hope I've improved my bee knowledge enough to get through the winter.