The Big News - New Baby - New Hive

Big news of the past week -  Collin Jameson Jones was born last Friday, April 13.  Proud parents - Pat & Amber have a beautiful little boy.

Also noteworthy -  Harry and I had a call from a beekeeper friend last night that there was a swarm to be had in Autumn Ridge but he was busy and couldn't go get it, so Harry & I suited up and went to collect the bees that were gathering around a light post.  It was a small swarm but we carefully pushed and prodded bees into my hive box and will check today to see if they stayed and hope we got the queen.  My hive is now up and running!  At least we think so.

A Hive of My Own

Freshly painted and located right in the center of the front hill - MY beehive! Painting help from Tyler on the primer, I did the first coat, and Harry did the 2nd coat today. He couldn't wait to set it out, so we did that tonight.

Getting Political

Harry requested a Mourdock sign and he sure got it - not one but a giant one and 2 smaller ones. Guess we have a good location.

Annual Egg Hunt

The Spring wouldn't be complete without the annual Easter egg hunt in the yard. This year it was a week early because Chicago grandkids had been here for the week. We started the festivities with lunch at Golden Corral. Just our luck, two buses pulled up as we were getting situated and let out 100 people, so the crowd was tough to navigate but nobody went hungry - that's for sure. The kids loved the new menu item - cotton candy. One of the photos shows one of the stacks of cotton candy cones polished off by our bunch.

Courtney, Hal & Tyler filled the eggs and hid them this year. Great job!

Another Week With Grandkids

Hal takes Dan who isn't the 56" tall required to drive

Courtney - Guitar Hero!

A tough shot.

This week we had 4 of the Chicago Jones Gang. Teresa & Harry took Allie to NYC as has been the tradition when each of their children when they reach a certain age. We've worked, we've played, we've toured the Folkcraft dulcimer factory. It's been a busy week and tomorrow will be the annual Easter egg hunt (a week early because the Chicago kids are here). The kids filled all the eggs with candy and cash for the hunt tomorrow. One of the favorite activities this week was Go-Karts at the Putt-Putt. They also played Min. Golf and video games but that was not nearly as fun for them as the Go-Karts.

Time Trials

So grandkids are visiting for a couple days while George & Anna celebrate their 10th anniversary. Things are pretty active at their house so coming to Grandma & Grandpa's can be a little "boring". An inspiration to clean out the refrig came partly because of a need to have kids involved in some activity and partly because of the odd odors that have been accumulating in there over the past couple weeks. The frig was chuck full - and beyond. We timed how long it took us to get every last thing out of the frig - not the freezer part. Natalie & Sam started the process and Seth & Levi joined in near the end. It took us a total of 6 minutes to empty it! Record time and these guys really know how to move.

Kids in front of the clean, reloaded frig - Well done racers!

Spring is Here!

Almost February

A mild winter of sorts. We had some heavy snow the end of last week, but a rain on Sunday night pretty much took care of getting rid of it. This was our 3rd Christmas in Chicago at Harry & Teresa's. I guess that makes it a tradition now until we do something else. We had our regular talent show, Anna & George brought a karaoke machine that we used after the traditional events. Pat treated us to a ginger ale taste test. He'd gone to great lengths to collect 18 different ginger ales - some imports, some very unique. In the end, our old favorite - Vernors - won out.

The Ginger Ale Taste Testing

A Rousing Game of Candyland

Grandpa, Grandkids - Plants & Zombies

The First Really Good Snow of the Season

Thanksgiving

Hadn't realized it had been so long since I posted anything. Here it is almost Christmas - everyone busy, busy, busy. We had a great Saturday after Thanksgiving with the family here. A Jones tradition started by Grandma Hazel carried on with a new generation. We dined together at The Factory, then came home for "the gathering". Cousins always love being together and always a little music in the mix. Hoping my kids and their families enjoy music in their homes as much as we did.

Busy Week

Mom trying out a scooter during the Apple Festival at the Manor

in Early October

A Solar Wax Melter Built By One of Our Beekeeper Club Members

Candles Made Displayed at the Beekeepers Meeting

Lip Balm Making at the Jones House

I spent the first 3 days of this week getting Mom settled into a temporary apartment. They closed the wing she was living on (they say "safety" issues but we know it was financial) and moved all those residents to other empty rooms in the Manor. We kids were upset about her leaving her beautiful apartment and going to a much smaller space that has very little to say for it - basically 2 nursing home rooms with a door between the rooms. Surprisingly, Mom was okay about the whole thing. While many residents were crying and having a hard time dealing with the move, Mom said it looked pretty good with her things in there. I brought all the dolls down after an initial smattering of dolls here and there and that seemed to make her happy. Everything else will be sealed up in her old room and stored until something else becomes available. I was so proud of my mom taking the move so easily and well.

Thursday we were in charge of our beekeepers meeting and I'd put together a video on making lip balm. Other members talked about melting wax, building a solar wax melter, and candle making. It turned out to be a fun evening.

A Record Honey Harvest

The Harvest

Cole the Birthday Boy Goes First

Aunt Marleta Takes a Turn

"Am I next?" (Griff to Dan)

John does a "superb" job decapping

"Unca Bump" asks the kids what they know about bees and honey?

Hal gathering honey boxes

Allie, Hal & Dan manning the pflume boards

Harry O IV and Tyler gathering honey boxes

Before the Big Event!

The honey party gained ground this year with 23 family members and one guest here this year for the big event. We could have wished for cooler temps - the garage got up above 100, and you can't open doors or windows or the bees will come in after the honey you took from them. It was a great time with Harry IV doing his impromptu "bee class" for the youngsters. Uncle John jumped in and became the lead "decapper" - meaning he scraped the layer of wax off the honeycomb cells. George manned the line of "spinners" who cranked the extractor. Pat became the jar filler. Marleta gave us a little piano entertainment to inspire the young pianists in the group to keep up with their lessons and "practice". Some of the kids hung in to the very end with the adults and the honey processing in the garage that took about 5 hours total.

And, yes, it was a successful harvest. Our first year we had 2 hives and got about 5 gallons of honey. Last year we again had 2 hives and got only about 2 gallons. One hive died out shortly after that harvest. This year we had 4 hives and got nearly 14 gallons (168 pounds)! As Harry says, "Incredible."