It's Over.

 No more Lockdowns - or so they say...

Time to dust off the tables and press your Work Gear.

It's been long enough.

NOW after 84 days - We are out of "Lockdown No. 6".

It hasn't been the longest, last year Lockdown #2 went for 111 Days.

120 if you were caught in the #1.5 Postcode lockdown that preceded it by a week.

We kept our Sense of Humour and made friends over Takeaway Coffee.

And between these times we must not forget that we had 7 months when life went back to almost normal, as we watched the numbers drop.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could bring back all those Zeros by the 27th November again?

These announcements can then become just a Memory and the Government will have other things to Tweet about.

In the meantime - I am happy to be able to GO shopping again. 

I will still prefer to do my shopping when it is quiet.

Maybe not THIS quiet. 

But it will be a while before I venture into the crowds again.

And that is OK.

Still Busy

Lockdowns come and go and Life also goes on.

Yes, we can now go out for all the 'Important' things like Coffee & Cake, Haircuts and (my favourite) a Massage!  

The Shops are still to Open when we get to our 80% Double Vaxed but that is not far away. 

(I can wait a week for new Shoes.)

In the meantime I am reminded of my Grandfather saying

 "Spring has Sprung, The Grass has Riz, 

I wonder where the Birdies - or in this case Bee Hive - Is?"

We were somewhat interrupted during our January inspection when DD was Stung, and have not dealt with the hive since. 

So time to deal with it!

Extreme Gardening is Required.

Just as well the Greens Bins were emptied this Morning!

Bees don't like Power Tools - Noise, Vibration and Fumes get them irritated, so this job had to be done 'Old School'. 

Pruning Sheers and a Rake!

With the Workspace cleared and before we can Inspect the Brood Boxes it was time to lighten the weight of the Flow hive Which meant Harvest!

No fancy jars this time - just Get in and Get it done.

And the Result?

Not too bad.

This is what 10 Kg of Honey looks like!

And THIS is what Little Miss A Thought of her first taste of real "Home Made" Honey!

(She only got a little taste. As this photo was taken she dropped the spoon into the bucket - 'never to be seen again'!)

I am a little concerned though. She got very excited when seeing a picture of someone in a Bee suit.  Having only seen us in Bee Suits recently she thought it was Grandma and Grumpy! 😂

… and then the Phone Rang

 "Hi Wendy.. You know we have that trailer down the back well there is something odd going on..."

At that point the no visiting the neighbours COVID rules went out the window  - or in our case Over the Fence. 

From her description I knew the Girls had swarmed.

And as a registered Bee Keeper it is my responsibility to deal with any swarms that may or may not be from my hive.

Under Covid regulations I am permitted to "Tend to Livestock - Including Bees"

The last swarm I dealt with was back in January when I helped remove one from My DD's friend's garden.

It was a little swarm and we brought them home to our place.

This one was far from small.  

There is an estimated 20,000 Bees in this cluster all hanging out on the Magnolia Tree

And as I had no desire to start another hive or had any friends who wanted their own.

I needed help.

Fortunately it was just a phone call 
(and a 90 minute wait) away.

This was the easiest capture our new Bee Keeper Friends have ever done.

Move the table underneath, 

Put a - no make it TWO boxes underneath and Prune the Tree branch. 

Done!

While the stragglers were joining the swarm I had the offer to check the health of my Hive.

It is a 'Good Strong Colony' with heaps of Bees left and TWO new Queens ready to hatch! 

"We will take one of those as well, so they don't Swarm again."

Last I heard they had settled in nicely and were already drawing out Comb.

They will be relocated to happily forage in a Farm in Gisborne.

On another note to the day - 

It was Our Neighbours Son's Birthday and he happily told EVERYONE that he had 20,000 Visitors to his Party! The backyard was a 'Hive of Activity' and he got a real Buzz out of all the Puns.

Applique - what happened next.

Finally giving up on the idea of FMQuilting the Istanbul Wall-hanging Experiment I opted for a simple all over cross hatch.  

It took time but gave a finish that I was happy with.

I had always considered that the Quilting would be my Nemesis - But never have I had so much trouble and issues with a BINDING! 

It just would not work.  

I pulled it off, put it back on and I even remade it. 

The problems seemed to keep multiplying.
And when I got it all right...

- I cut the tails off on the stitching line instead of the cutting line! 

It is times like this that DH comes in and gently removes me from the project for a nice l-o-n-g walk!

Several days later I was able to once again sit at it and calmly remind myself that it was an experiment and also not going to be subjected to the wear and tear that a quilt is.

A minute seam, a bit of glue, some reinforcing, a tug or two and quite a few short Prayers later the Binding was on and stitched down.

It was then into the Wash. 

Shoving it into a lingerie bag to make sure it got as creased and crowded as the Quilt would be in the machine.

The result: 

It did take up a bit as all quilts do, but each fabric didn't shrink nor did the colours run.

The applique was not quilted (as in the original) and Puffed up which may settle with a good steam but I will leave that until the DS & DDIL see the result.  

The intention after all, was to show them what will happen IF they have to wash their Quilt.

Footnote: I only did this because it was a Custom quilted, hand appliqued quilt -  The everyday pieced quilt I made them can be washed to their heart's content!