Surprise!

I have been ordering Jim's folks most of their supplies online and having them delivered to their apartment since they are on lock down.   It their latest order, I surprised them and added TWO bags of M&Ms!   They were so happy that they each got their own bowl and started eating them!

SIP Hike

We went on our second shelter in place hike today.  Boy, does it feel good to get out.   We went early in the morning, in the middle of the week to avoid people.   We hiked for an hour and 25 minutes and saw tons of insects and wildflowers....it was so good for my soul!

I do have a mask for when we pass people on the trail.  You can't be too careful.

Mama Beardie

Tre is at it again....she laid another clutch of eggs!   This time she spent over a week digging and then went into her hut and laid 26 eggs!

This is her immediately after laying the eggs.  She looked really beat up this time.  I can't imagine how hard it is on her body to lay 50 eggs in a few weeks time.

Cake for Friends

I received this recipe from a friend who I worked with for about 16 years!  She is the kindest and most gentle woman!  I appreciate her friendship even though we don't work together anymore and only get to see each other a few times a year.  Thanks, Lisa L!

Cake For Friends

Ingredients:

1.5 cups sifted flour

3 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup cold water

1. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar, and salt into a greased square cake pan (9 x 9 x 2 inches)

2. Make 3 grooves/holes in the dry mixture

3. In one hole, pour oil; in the next, the vinegar; into the next, the vanilla

4. Now pour the cold water over it all

5. Beat with a spoon until smooth and you can't see the flour

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

The Tale of Three Pairs of Shoes

This is a weird one....get ready.

On Saturday morning at 6 am, Jim went out to hunt....hunt for toilet paper which has been so elusive during Covid19.  When leaving the house, he stopped on the porch to notice a box of 3 pairs of black men's dress shoes.  We looked at them using a wipe to hold them because we had no idea where they came from.   We did not recognize them, nor were we expecting them.  There was a lot of head scratching wondering what the story was but in the end we decided to leave them there in case someone realized they left them at the wrong house.

On Sunday evening when the shoes were still there, we decided to check the video camera to determine if we could see who left them there.  See the video still above.  At 2:20 am this dude came to the door with what looked like a key.  He seemed perplexed by the key pad although he appeared to try it a couple times.  After a number of minutes, he decided to just leave the shoes and put them in a box that was already there.  He walked away, came back a few minutes later and looked again and then left for good.

We didn't get a video of any car he might have come in because he did not park at the end of the driveway.

The mystery remains....and the shoes remain on the porch....

Astrid - 4 months

We have had Astrid half her life now!  She is getting to be a big girl and even has two big girl front teeth!  But she also has one big girl tooth that is coming in BEHIND a baby tooth so that both are in the same spot.  That's a first for me - I have never seen that happen.   We are watching it closely although there is not much we can do with vet's only seeing emergencies.

Big girl teeth!

We train her every day all day long.  We are always working on something.  Highlights right now include the up command where she puts her front feet on something raised.  We do it on steps, on brick walls while walking and on a tool box of Jims.  We also constantly work on "bed", "down", "wait at a threshold", "wait for your food", "kennel", "under", "drop", "dress" (put on her gentle leader and cape)...

One problem we are having is when she gets excited she jumps on the couch, runs all along it and leaps off the other end!

Aretha Update

Hops watching us check the hive

On day three we checked the hive to make sure Aretha had been released for the queen cage.   She had been and the bees were super active so we are assuming she is in the hive looking to lay eggs.

Here is the empty queen cage and below you can see the hole that contained the marshmallow.  Next up - in a few days, we will open the hive and see if we can find her and see how much work they have done in building the comb.   We have been watching closely and there are bees coming in all day with full pollen baskets.  I have asked Grace to take some pics of the pollen baskets with her good camera, so stand by!

Puppy Yoga

I get up every morning and do yoga.  I also get up every morning to take the early morning shift with the puppy.  So....I do yoga with a 4 month old puppy.   She LOVES it!   When I take out my yoga mat she gets all excited, runs and gets a toy or a bone and lays down on the mat.

It is very sweet but it is also very difficult to do yoga around a pup.

This morning was classic:

• While doing a supine twist, she came and nuzzled up in my arm pit while chewing a bone
• While doing child's pose, she stood on my back
• While doing warrior 2 I had to go stop her from eating a laundry basket
• While doing dancer pose she leaned against the one leg I was standing on
• While doing savasana, I had to stop to take a plastic eye out of her mouth 

My focus that I usually have with yoga has not been on point.....put the joy I get from it is an all time high with the addition of my puppy partner.

Polish Kołaczki

This SIP situation is going to be difficult to recover from based on the added weight our bodies will be carrying.  This was our latest sweet snack - Polish Kolaczki - which is a cream cheese dough cookie.  We used lemon curd, apricot jam, raspberry jam and this crazy yummy peach/vanilla jam.  So delish!

Ingredients

• 8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
• 12 ounces butter (room temperature)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 28 ounces filling (raspberry, apricot, prune, etc.)
• Garnish: powdered sugar for dusting (we skipped this)

Mix cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy (use a kitchen aid mixer).  Add flour.  Roll out into 1/4 inch thickness.  Use a mixture of sugar and powdered sugar to roll out the dough. Cut in 2 inch squares.  Drop 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of jelly in the center and fold over, pinching closed.

Bale at 350 for 14 minutes.  Use parchment paper.

Bee Bus

After a lot of anticipation, the bees finally arrived in their "bee bus".  Even the UPS guy was happy to see them!

They showed up at about 10 am super healthy and buzzing!  The UPS guy saw them on his truck and although he had until noon to deliver them, he knew we were waiting and excited so he drove straight to our house!   He will be given a "thank you" jar of honey when the time comes!

The bees sat in the garage in their bee bus until about 4 pm when we installed them in their new hive. It was interesting because while they were in the garage, about 15 bees from the neighborhood kept buzzing in and out of the garage!

The queen, her name with be Aretha!

The installation process only took about 10 minutes and went completely smoothly.  The queen was healthy and is installed in the hive in her cage with a marshmallow as a cork.  They will eat the marshmallow over time, which will release her into the hive where she will begin laying eggs.

We had all our gear out but never had to use the smoker.  But we did use sugar water in a sprayer to slow them down a little.   They seemed to settle right in.  We are hoping for a healthy, happy hive that  gives us 50 pound of honey next year!

3 weeks in - SIP

This is how we all feel after 3 weeks into shelter in place.   Marty started it with his wig and the rest of us piled on!

Apple Raspberry Danish

We made a home made apple raspberry danish this weekend.   Grace made the home made puff pastry dough and then we cooked up some apples and raspberries in a sugar glaze.   OMG - it was delish!  The recipe called for cranberries but we didn't have any, so raspberries gave it that little zing it needed.

Puppy shots

We put it off as long as possible and finally had to go get Astrid puppy shots today.  Her regular vet is closed so we had to call around and find a vet who would give shots during the shelter in place time.   They had an excellent process where they came out and got her and took her in while we waited in the car.   We are so happy to have them done because now she is protected from Parvo.

Bee Drama

So....my bees were supposed to be here by Tuesday at 10:30 am.   I got a message early in the morning on Tuesday that they were in Sunnyvale and would be here late....but by the end of the day.  We waited and waited.   Finally in the early evening, we stopped the UPS guy and asked him if he had them.   NOPE!

So we started calling around and for the next two days, we searched for our bees.   No one knows where they are!  They are somewhere between Sacramento and Sunnyvale...we think but they are not moving because they are not being picked up in a scan.  They have enough food for 3 or 4 days...but we are approaching 4 days now.  I am hoping someone stole them and they are safely in someone's backyard hive because the other option is too upsetting.  Stay tuned as the mystery unfolds.