Surrounded by life (end of June 2020)

We plant dill each year for the Eastern Swallowtail caterpillars to munch on.  We didn't have many this year, so I was very happy to spot one of the butterflies on a zenia.

We all enjoy the comfy chair next to the kitchen window.

Vix is hanging out

 

Quick social distancing visit with the Olsons and the Howells (June 29, 2020)

We had an hour or so with the Olsons and Howells before the Olsons flew back to Seattle at the end of June.  Hi Beka!  Hi Miles! (looking out the window).

No hugs, but we could pet Kerbey, the Howells' new dog.

 

Summer marches on (June 24-28, 2020)

Otis sleeps hard after four days of basketball camp.

After hardly driving since mid-March, I wondered if it was time for a Zoomer oil change. So weird!  The day I checked, the mileage was at 104,437, the exact mileage noted for the next oil change!  See below.

One of the tobacco worms (tomato plant eating caterpillars) became a tobacco moth, soon to be rehomed miles away at the Bull Creek watershed.

Yep, it's time: 104,437 miles

 

Life in the garden (June 18, 2020)

Stink bugs allegedly pierce tomato plants and fruit but we've seen no signs of damage

This very hungry caterpillar, however, was removed and rehomed far, far away.

Tomato blossoms in mid-June promise ripe tomatoes in July

Maybe this fat, happy spider is the stink bug controller???

Vix (June 17, 2020)

Fox and Vix

Vix likes to play the piano

Tommy 2 is just the right size for exploring. Look at those catssassin claws!

Our first honey extraction (June 16, 2020)

We brought 3 hive frames home, leaving 15 frames to ensure the bees have food during the long, hot summer. The cells capped in white wax contain cured honey.

Very sticky project to uncap the honey cells.  

Centrifugal force is used to extract the uncapped honey from the frames.

The last step before bottling the honey is to strain out the wax.  We'll wash the wax and melt it to make lip balm, candles, maybe other things.

Otis gets a kitten (June 16, 2020)

Meet Vix.  Otis named her for the catssassin on Fortnite. She may well live up to her name as her Mom is an accomplished mouser on a farm near Kyle.

On the farm where Vix was born is a small herd of miniature horses.  This foal is only about 10 days old, as I recall.

Now that's a baby bottle!

The kids

Summer days (June 15, 2020)

We started out agreeing that Fox and Finley (who visits her grandmother next door to us) could play if they wore masks and stayed 6 feet apart.  That lasted less than a minute.  Ja vel.

Zephyr tries out the box Otis set up for his kitten's arrival. "You know I'm still queen of the house, right?" Zephyr reminds us.

Not exactly Paris for our 25th (June 10, 2020)

No Louvre or Eiffel Tower for our 25th after all.  Thanks, COVID 19.  But we did have quiche, creme brulee, and French wine.  Maybe next year, for Tom's 70th.

School's out for the summer! (June 10, 2020)

Last Google meeting with Otis's sixth grade class. Fox's last day of school was at the end of May.

Hard to get that ball from Otis without fouling

Honey extraction class (June 6, 2020)

Honey is extracted in June this year, due to a good "honey flow" (lots of wildflowers provided abundant nectar for the bees). Papa and I had no idea how to extract honey from our hive.  We took a class at Oakley Apiaries on June 6, well into the pandemic, yet were the only participants who wore masks and stayed 6 feet from other people (except here, where Papa is learning how to uncap the honey cells on the frame).  Must have been okay, because as I write this on July 12, we're well past the incubation period with no symptoms.  Whew!

After the frames are placed in the extractor, centrifugal force slings honey out of the cells.  A tap on the other side of the extractor is then opened so honey can flow into the honey bucket, through a strainer to catch pieces of wax and bee body parts.

Life on Alguno (June 5, 2020)

Thank you, Zephyr, Einar, and Fluffy.  No squirrels or birds in the tomatoes this year.

Delicately fragrant moonflowers are blooming

"We are not pleased."

Baby opossum (June

Papa found this baby opossum in the water bucket.  Poor thing had probably been there all night.  Luckily, its nose was above the water level.

We dried the baby off and put him in Violet's old hamster cage with some of her food and bedding.  

Fur is dry and fluffy.  We opened an end of the cage and let Baby decide when to leave for safety under the tool shed.

Fox is here! (June 4, 2020)

Fox and Lala at Half Price Books for the June 4th pick up

Otis and Fox together for the first time since Otis's April 16th arrival to Austin

Otis's Great Wall of China project (June 2020)

One of the options for Otis's Ancient China studies was to build a papier mache Great Wall of China model.  No.  Found this greater Wall of China option on Amazon.

The main part of the real wall was built in only 10 years by several hundred thousand soldiers and citizens pressed into service by the Emporer.  

Done!  That's my foot, not Otis's.

Beekeeping at Cornerstone (June 2020)

Flora at Cornerstone

The cells covered in white wax are capped honey.  The cells capped in yellow are drone brood (worker bee cells are capped differently). We have yet to spot the queen, but know she's there because we keep seeing new brood.  Each hive box can hold 8 frames like this one.

Wild turkeys at Cornerstone

Bootsie in the catnip (June 1, 2020)

Neighborhood cat who we call Bootsie stops by to sample the catnip

Catnip makes Bootsie so happy

Caterpillars to cocoons (May 31, 2020)

The very hungry caterpillar munches pepper leaves.  His older buddies are in various stages of cocooning.  Hard to believe such a big caterpillar becomes the tiny brown cocoon, which later becomes a giant moth.

Last meal before the habitat

Protests in Austin (May 30, 2020)

Protesters started at police headquarters, shut down part of I-35, then marched to city hall. 

Horses graze while officers monitor protesters