Today involved the trek to town for animal food, people coffee and other such essential supplies I prefer to buy in bulk. While down there I managed to pick up a replacement pump (still waiting for a call from the plumber to let me know he got my message it has arrived) and so forth. I also picked up a pressure sprayer (to differentiate from the one I have been using for Roundup) and some pyrethrum which I read is not good for bees - bother. So I will need to apply it in the evenings when the bees are not about. Not much chance of doing it tomorrow, by the looks of the forecast.

I also had to call the chap from the beekeeping association, which I duly did. While you get good signal in Hobart, it is usually accompanied by large quantities of traffic noise. So I drove to the top of Mt Rumney and parked in the lookout (glorious views over various bays and inlets of the Derwent Estuary) and sat to eat my lunch. I picked up the phone to make the call and blow me down of a council water truck decided it was the ideal moment to damp down the parking area. So I had to wind the window up on the ute to hear the beekeeper's wife tell me he was not available. I tried his mobile service but that was gone to message-bank so I set off back down the road. Just got part way down when he called back and we had a lovely chat. He has emailed me three documents he thought I might find useful. They are!!! One is an e-book about beekeeping published in America, another a brochure about foulbrood (which we have all heard about but had no idea what it was!!) and the third is a real gem! A solar wax-melter. So Instead of having to scrape off the frames, bung the wax into a double boiler and wait for it to melt, you pop the whole frame into this thing and let the sun do the work. Now that's my sort of toy!!!

Then home via the local library to replenish supplies and three of the bee-keeping books I had ordered were in stock. So they too came home to keep me company this evening. One is about gardening for bees, and I am pleased to say that most of the recommended plants were already on my list, so I will just have to get them now ...