Photo Blog

Finishing those outdoor flood lights was “fun” in the cold, but I’m sure my late-day delivery drivers appreciate it and, honestly, I like how it lights the way between the house and the workshop, so I’m glad I put them in. Of course there were some challenges besides the cold (which itself is not to … Continue reading Lights, Lots of Repairs, More Death

Don’t worry, most of them aren’t dead! But some of them are. That’s just how it goes – they are born, they live, the die. And the older ones going into the winter will die during the winter. That’s just natural. I have plenty of evidence from my sensors that the hives are alive – … Continue reading Dead Bees, Flue Repair, Snow, Machinery, and a Hole

It’s that time of year again – winter prep! It starts with cleaning the flues for the wood stoves (one each, house and workshop), ahead of the season’s first fires. I love this easy do-it-yourself flue cleaning tool. Just send the orange sputnik look-alike up the flue on these fiberglass rods that connect together, attach … Continue reading Flues, Booze, Ooze, Store & Door

Conventional wisdom says that when a new honeybee colony is established, the steward should not expect them to make enough honey to harvest in their first year. There are good reasons for this. First, the bees need honeycomb to store and process nectar. The bees need to actually make this honeycomb before they can use … Continue reading How Sweet It Is

I always knew that this HomeBox project was going to be a perpetual work-in-progress. In this way, it is no different than the rest of my life to-date. Anyone who’s known me for any length of time has observed that I am always adjusting myself and my environment in an effort to converge on a … Continue reading Filter, Frogs, Flower, Bees, Nature

I got out my thermal camera today to see how the beehives were doing in the infrared domain. These are composite pictures from the thermal imager, which combines the IR and visible images. The imager is relatively low-res by modern standards, with 320×200 pixels. That’s plenty to do inspections looking for hot/cold spots, but doesn’t … Continue reading Thermals

The phoebes are back in their prior nest on the porchlet. This pleases me greatly. These wee eggs have since turned into balls of fluff & beak! Last year, Ma & Pa Phoebe had two sets of children here. We shall see how things go this year. In any event, I like having the baby … Continue reading Birds, Bees, Trees, Critters, and a Tall Tool Tale

After all that mud, wiring, and other prep, it was time to go get the bees this weekend. And so it was. The bee farm promised to close up the nucleus hives for safe transport but offered, for a small additional charge, a mesh bag to go over the hives for added security. I opted … Continue reading Apiary!

When we last left our intrepid electrician, he had just received a new 6kW inverter and was contemplating wire upgrades for the breaker box (“load center”) to handle the 100 amps the dual inverter system could supply. If you’re doing nerdful math in your head, you may conclude that 2x 6kW inverters at 240V does … Continue reading Shop Power Upgrade, Final Bee Yard Prep

As spring approaches, it’s time to repair the damaged fence around the bee yard (which failed to attract wild bees but did evidently attract a wild bear). Actually, the whole skimpy step-in fiberglass poles and tie-outs concept was deficient — but it was the best I could do since it is so very difficult to … Continue reading Bee Yards, Ice Storm, End of Battery Saga, More Power Upgrades