Get a grip woman!

Suffolk_lass

Aha! that explains why the clumps of echinops and perovska have been so popular. Thanks for that.

Karmacat

Loving the bee chat!  It would be nonsense for me to join a bee group, but I love it within the rest of your diary, thank you SL.

Suffolk_lass

I want to wash DH's beekeeping gloves after reading more about the attack pheromone! We don't want them detecting that and attacking us.

Suffolk_lass

Busy yesterday as a friend offered us plums and pears so after walking dogs, and running my chores we went for an hour and picked four trays of plums and pears. I need to process them this morning. Unlike our own plums which are suffereing from coddling moth damage and occasional larvae (ugh) which means they all have to be cut, these are perfect. I will do a couple of jars of bottled pears and freeze some, and freeze most of the plums, leaving out a goodly supply to eat as bowl fruit too.

The other big thing I have kicked off is my kitchen refresh project. After replacing the hob top (picture on here, a while ago) I need to progress the other plans.

• The wall cupboards have blown on the bottom corners that are above the hob so I plan to replace an 800mm cupboard on one side with a 400 and a 300 and on the other 400 cupboard with a 300, - freeing up 200mm. 
• I will also replace the 600mm extractor hood with a 700 (leaving a 50mm space each side) to try and stop this damage recurring. 
• I've also ordered a white glass splash-back to cover the tiles that I find so hard to keep clean (and under which the grout looks permanently dirty. 
• I have bought paint and I plan to prep and paint all the doors, with some handles being updated. 
• We already had two 300mm wall cupboard doors in the workshop still in their MFI Schreiber packaging so I was able to confirm they were solid oak. These will mean I don't need new doors, just to paint them. 
• I also have two floor cabinets that are a pain to use properly so we are going to change their insides - one is a shallow drawer and then an inaccessible shelf underneath, and we plan two deep and one shallow door for this one. 
• The other is two shallow and one deep drawer - and I plan to make this two deep and one shallow. This does mean I need different drawer fronts and they only come as a pack of three - so two of these also on order.

I need to get going. First thing is to make sure the existing hinge points on the "new" 300mm wide doors fit the 300mm wide wall cupboards I bought yesterday, and that means making up the cupboard, and testing it (and then painting the cupboard doors if all is well). Fingers crossed.

Suffolk_lass

Kitchen update
I made up the first of the wall cupboards yesterday (not such good quality as the old ones) and this morning DH is planning to swap them (the new 300mm for the existing single 400mm) so I have emptied the old one ready for when he wakes up. It needs different hinge mounting holes and once that is done I will paint the new door (white) and put the new handle on it. 

Bees
Well thanks to the ground anchors that DH uses to lock his bike up when away camping, they were safely strapped down for the gales earlier this week. All seems well. Once DH's gloves are dry, we can do another inspection, hopefully without making them too cross and fit the treatment strips for varroa mite that I have bought. I want to add another frame to the top so that we can start feeding them syrup (simple 1:1 sugar syrup). This is because the last crop of the year is ivy and it is very dark pollen and high in sugar. Apparently this means they have to work harder to retrieve their stores in winter, expending precious energy so a bit of syrup makes it a bit easier for them.

MS things
Not many but we have managed to keep about £400 in DH's running costs account so next month we should get away with the minimum transfer from my bills account (enough to make sure we get the loyalty rewards, although they reduce this month).

Fun stuff
Planning a weekend away with our regular camping pals but the date is still shimmying - it might have to be the third weekend in September. I was hoping for the first but one couple are still working and they have grandchildren a couple of hours away that they are prioritising. Such is life.

Hopefully our DS is going to start playing music again after receiving a contact from an old band-mate asking him to set up a small band ready for when people can have functions again. If nothing else the approach has lifted his spirits and reminded him how much better he feels about life when he is playing.

Suffolk_lass

I mentioned my disquiet about the quality of the cupboard I have assembled and I think we might take them back. Still under consideration. Meanwhile I am making a quick batch of raspberry jam and the house smells just divine!

Busy_Mee

The raspberry jam sounds lovely. I think we managed about 6 raspberries this year, but it is the first year. We do however have a bumper crop of figs, so I am thinking of fig jam. 

Glad DS is starting to play again, my DS plays guitar for pleasure and it really does bring him a lot of pleasure.

rtandon27

Suffolk_lass said:

...This is because the last crop of the year is ivy and it is very dark pollen and high in sugar. Apparently this means they have to work harder to retrieve their stores in winter, expending precious energy so a bit of syrup makes it a bit easier for them...

SL - that is sooooo interesting - the list of things I don't know about bees gets longer every day! - lol

Suffolk_lass

Well having made jelly and jam this week I had run out of sugar so we have not topped up the bees with any syrup yet. Just had 15k of granulated cane sugar delivered (on last day of the Amazing Prime free trial)

Karmacat

Well done on getting the max out of the free trial - I didn't know that about ivy either, I thought it was a really good crop for bees.  Something new ...

Sorry to hear about the cupboards - doesn't sound at all good.