well, Friday the thirteenth went well, didn't it. The Blogspot had a glitch and was off air.

In the mood for the day I was rather alarmed when I went to look at the bees to discover that, not only were there piles of bodies outside (normal at this time of year, the bees decide they can't be bothered feeding the drones through the winter and get rid of them and any other passengers, to permit the survival of the swarm) but there was a dead body in the entrance to the hive. Major panic as any self-respecting hive gets rid of bodies and puts them outside. So I called Graham who duly came over (I still don't have a smoker but he keeps telling me it is on the way) and we investigated. No point getting veils and smokers as it turned out as the bees had gone into their winter huddle in the bottom of the hive and were nowhere in sight. They were there, however, which was good news. Graham had thought perhaps they had run out of food (with the erratic weather, on sunny days the bees go out wasting energy looking for blossoms, and so consume more of the winter reserves). So while i was waiting for his arrival I was making up a heavy sugar syrup to feed them with (recipe courtesy of that book I bought) and trying to find something suitable for a feeder. We decided old vegemite jars would do the trick, so drilled lots of tiny holes in the lid (the smallest drill bit i had) and filled one with syrup. Then we had to find a mat of some sort - no luck. So we ad-libbed with several layers of packing paper, with discs partly cut out, leaving a flap. All of this, of course, was way too big to fit under the lid, so an empty box was applied with the 'mat' in the bottom, and the jar upside down through one of the disc-holes. I will head down and check the out later in the day to see if they are feeding. I have opened up the container to cut a section of carpet underlay to replace the 'mat' of paper, and to put in the two boxes worth of frames we removed from the hive (these were the stickies left for the bees to clean up and to fill if they felt so inclined after i robbed them, and which they have failed to use). So I am ready and raring to go when the time is right to go down there. I will also chuck in two frames of drawn comb in case they decide they want to convert the syrup to honey.

As it turned out, all this panic was unnecessary as they still have ample supplies of honey on tap, but it is a useful lesson learned, and I will need to keep monitoring them fairly closely if this winter continues in its present form.

Speaking of winter, we had vast gusts of wind and rain, accompanied by some pretty substantial snow flurries as well yesterday, and today it is still only four degrees, despite the recently emerged sunshine.

So much of yesterday was spent in a bit of a huddle after I lit the fire with the newly cut wood. But i also exchanged a few communications - the sewing machine man is delivering it back next week, to carolines. There is yet another person in touch about me doing some work for them (preliminary historical research type stuff) and a third was in touch about interviewing me for the Census work, which, given the type of work I will now be doing, will fit in nicely. So she is arriving next Friday to chat to me. In view of all this, I have also acquired a vehicle log book and am planning to start recording as soon as I go anywhere. Also, to start thinking about how i am to keep records of expenditure and income. If anyone out there works as a consultant, it would be helpful if you have any excel tables or similar (just the headings would be useful) so I can figure out how to do this ...

And, start a 'routine' for housework and paperwork so I don't leave everything to the last minute as is my wont if I become engrossed in something ...