Get a grip woman!

Suffolk_lass

beanielou said:

Coming for tea. 

  

Suffolk_lass

Having put my LMP in the oven I realised I had not squeezed the lemons and added the juice! What-An-Idiot! I think I rescued it by cooking some homegrown blackcurrants in the lemon juice and just a couple of teaspoons of sugar to accompany the pie as a contrast to the sweetness in the form of a (sieved) sauce, along with pouring cream. I thought it was delicious but I was worried it was too sharp. Until Mr friend had seconds! And cake! And we had ice cream while out! And leftovers for today! The normal eating regime resumes tomorrow!

I posted about Asian hornets and yesterday we heard reports from five locations. Here we got an email for association members as we are within 10 miles of two sightings from a wildlife sound recordist - so he is a professional but not an entomologist. Unfortunately no photos. The BBKA suggests using a takeaway tray with kitchen paper soaked in sugar syrup, weighted with a pebble and keeping a lid close by, as an attractive trap. Then the lid can be put on and the hornets can be tracked back to their nests. Their incursion is very much quicker than we anticipated

Karmacat

That's worrying about the hornets

beanielou

Eek to the hornets.

Suffolk_lass

We are expecting DH's pension tomorrow. It cannot come a moment too soon. Both his credit cards will take a chunk but I hope to have £100 I can use towards groceries. My pension account can deal with most of the bills without a top up, but I may have to raid savings again to make ends meet.

I have had to buy a replacement kitchen tap. Not cheap. The previous one is over 18 years old but we can't get the cartridge out as it has never been opened since installation. It has such a weak flow it no longer fires the boiler and the waste of water is awful. So a new tap is awaiting installation. That will result in much swearing if that is a me job (he is too big to get under there and as I was horrible to him I will suggest I do the hard bit under supervision) - my penance!

No sign of either pension yet. His tomorrow, mine at the end of the week. No spends except milk then (although I do have some cash to fall back on).

Bees
Our wasps have found the garden hives and we are uniting the two smallest colonies as a result. This involved putting a sheet of newspaper on one, over the brood frames, and taking the other off its floor and putting it on top. This top one is queenless so uniting should be straightforward. The newspaper stops them mingling and fighting straight away. The top colony will need to chew through the newspaper, so they can get down and then out. By the time they have got through, the smell of the queen in the lower box will have permeated up and they become her bees, integrating with the other small colony. There are usually a few casualties but it normally goes without a hitch, as long as there are not two queens - if they fight, it is quite normal for both to die or the survivor to be damaged. It takes a few days. The forecast is grim after this morning so we probably won't check until the end of the week. Fingers crossed. There were more stores in the top box because all the bees have been foraging and filling the whole frames with honey. So they should be welcomed to strengthen the queen-right colony a bit (and they don't have to go out in the rain!).

Garden
We live in hope that the rain stimulates courgettes!

starnac

How interesting to learn about uniting hives. 

Karmacat

starnac said:

How interesting to learn about uniting hives. 

I've been leafing through previous pages of Suffolk Lass's diary, and I remain completely fascinated!

starnac

Karmacat said:

starnac said:

How interesting to learn about uniting hives. 

I've been leafing through previous pages of Suffolk Lass's diary, and I remain completely fascinated!

Me too! It's really interesting 

Karmacat

Mind you, there are other things that shine through: local community, long term friends, son, charity work, maximising income, and health, especially vision and HRT.  You're a ⭐ Suffolk Lass, you juggle amazingly well.  As opposed to me, slouching about in my armchair   

Merlin's_Beard

Me three!

Can I ask - what do you do if there are two queens, remove one and then continue as you did with these two?