~FRIENDS ONLY~

** this journal is pretty much friends only .. comment to be added **

Brought the girls 'home' on Saturday...!!

( more under here )

the install went SO SMOOTHLY, they bees are now at home and the feeders are full.. hopefully all is going well! I stopped off today (Monday) to top off the feeders and things were VERY QUIET (it's chilly and overcast today), and I'll go back on Tuesday to make sure that the queens made their way out of the 'queen cages' (I'm keeping my bees not at my house but at an 'outyard'.. someone else's land, he's got nine acres and borders on a state park, so pesticides are not an issue. Our neighbors spray, and the bees would travel farther than our acre to forage.)

The hives : Elizabeth (aka Devine)


Victoria (aka RuPaul)


I have a feeling Elizabeth/Devine's the one I'm going to worry about.. the bees just seem more complacent, while Victoria/RuPaul is filled with 'sassy' bees who are guarding the entry and just being all around PITA-es. Maybe I've got it wrong, but I take the activity as the sign of a stronger hive.

the bees are here. I'm off to pick up.

My annual visit to the cardiologist was uneventful, my EKG was normal (it was normal BEFORE I was diagnosed so to me this means nothing), my b/p was high as usual (140/70... doctor visits do that to me since the surgery, especially cardiologists :( I'm a bad patient, it's far closer to normal at home. I feel myself start to hyperventilate as Isoon as I walk into the office) and had to listen to my doctor whinge and moan about 'old people drivers'. Wow, he seems to be really cranky every time I see him.

no stress test this year. Yay.

Off I go. I hope the gals like me!

( more flowers )

...and even better ...

( GARLIC! )

I'm such an ugly tourist. I was gathering some information on stuff to do in Tennesse and I got LOTS of cool info on Nashville.

turns out, the trade show is in KNOXVILLE.

oops.

All I know.. it's not NYC. But it's near the Smokey Mountains and the University of Tennessee has a great arboretum, so it'll be a fun trip (assuming the set up for the show goes smoothly. and it will).

I'm a little sad about this trade show, W got a HUGE distributor for the product so it will be featured in their booth (they spend beaucoup bucks on their shows). While this is a major break for us it also means there will be no 'ghetto fabulous' setup commencing with a home depot run and ending with a pretty impressive booth. No loitering while scientists ask questions, and talking to folks. No Tom (the salesman) running frantically over when he sees me actually TALKING to a potential client (haha). It just won't be the same and I'll miss it.

There is no doubt about the status of this interval! It is unmistakably dissonant. In fact, it is usually considered the most dissonant of all the intervals. So much so that in the Middle Ages it was known as "the devil in music," and musicians were advised to avoid it.

we've all known an augmented fourth or two ...

damn, I love This American Life.

Source: Columbia University : Sonic Glossary

about the cutest friggin' thing I've seen all day :)

I recognise foley square and washington square.. the rest, I can't really place.

I also recognise lots of play doh

the Galerucella beetles are makin' babies (those are the beetles I'm raising in my backyard as biocontrol for the INVASIVE PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE!

( here's a closer look - a little blurry )

in RL they're TINY, just a fleck.

yes the black stuff on them is beetle poo (makes it less attractive to hungry predators - 'would you like some shit on those eggs?' Its a common deterrent among many insects.)

who said I have no maternal instincts.. haha

From Harpers:

A 68-year-old grandmother in England was the runner-up for
"txt laureate" for writing a love poem to her husband.

Her winning text :
"O hart tht sorz,
My luv adorz,
He mAks me liv,
He mAks me giv,
Myslf 2 him,
As my luv porz."

all I can say is
LOL ROTFL.

I can only imagine what the winner texted.

here's hoping it's a good one!