June 17 - Saturday Update

New and Exciting Developments -
The well has been hooked up and the church now has its very own water supply. No more need to connect extreme hose lengths or haul bucket loads from neighbor Pete's.

After the well is connected it is necessary to let the water run for a while to clean out sand and other undesirable materials like frogs from the well. Here we see the water refilling the drainage basin.

Matt was able to draw water for cleaning up his tools, without needing to import it. He seemed pleased with this situation.




















A Mid-June Portrait -

The view from the road. The paint color and pattern just right of the entryway reflects the recommendation of the design committee. The entryway does not.

The Worker Bees Swarm to the Job -
The trim boards behind the church proved to be an attractive landing spot for a passing swarm of bees. Sam, who earlier had demonstrated ample insight into sand hill cranes, today showed his apiarian knowledge. Sam knows his birds and bees. He explained that the worker bees swarm when they lose the whereabouts of the queen. I think all the worker bees are male and therefore refused to stop and ask directions. Instead, they just fly about willy-nilly, hoping by some stroke of luck to stumble on the queen. When one or two decide to land on the trim pieces, all the rest follow, packing in tighter than the average pre-school Sunday school class.

Ken figured if the volunteer workers showed up in these numbers the church would be finished in no time at all.

A local beekeeper was located, and he came to round up the bees and herd them home. His theory is that this is a spin-off colony that was looking for a new location. They just stopped in at this rest area to recharge a bit. The beekeeper likely has experience and science on his side but I like Sam's story better.

The beekeeper put a box under the critter collection then lifted and dropped the boards. The queen dropped into the box and all the other bees dove in after her. He estimated that 40 or 50 bees probably did not get into the box. He left and the straggler bees were left to survive by their own wits, which means they will most likely die. 


Post Script to Yesterday - 
Someone reported that they saw two Rebeccas and two Petes in the meeting picture posted yesterday. I can attest that there was only one of each at the meeting. I recommend that anyone suffering double vision should get their eyes checked.