Blog : September 2005

Site update

by maryellen | Sep 27, 2005

With the indispensible help of Mark, we are doing a tiny bit of site tweaking. First, the software platform we are using has been updated, which won't make much of a difference to you, but it makes it a lot easier for us. Thanks Mark!

Second, we have attempted to add a categories function. That means you should be able to hit a category link on the left, and any entries that we have marked as belonging in that category will be retrieved. We have just barely started to mark entries into particular categories, so the categories function is still very much a work in progress, but hopefully we should make some progress in the next few days.

As a result of some of these changes over the next couple of days, if you notice any glitches on your end, it would be great for us to know.

Wavy is 2!!!!!!!

by peter | Sep 25, 2005 | in

Our little baby turned 2 last week! We threw her a party last Sunday, and when we had planned for it, Wavy said she wanted a fire engine cake, some balloons, and for Tommy, Maggie, Molly, Ethan, Emma, Aleda, Quinn, Emmaline, Elliot, Mama, and Papa to be there. Maryellen made the cake (I helped frost it), Aleda brought the balloons, and everyone else showed up, plus the older Cobb boys, and Craig, Mark, Lori, and Corny. We all played t-ball (sort of), played in the sandbox, drove (toy) tractors everywhere, and ran around like a bunch of kids jacked up on sugar. I have to say, Maryellen and I had a ball, I think Wavy had a lot of fun too, and everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves. I only wish we had taken more pictures!

Hello!

by peter | Sep 23, 2005 | in

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. It isn't that we haven't been trying, it has just been crazy around here lately. Today is a good example. We came back down from the field with a truck and tractor bucket full of winter squash. We all thought it looked so nice that Kat said, "Let's take a picture for the blog." So Laura gets the camera set up on auto-shoot, she hits the button, the little light starts flashing, she runs over to climb on the tractor, and in all the shifting and picture posing commotion, the bucket lever gets tripped, and the front bucket of squash gets dumped just as the picture snaps.

Well, we all had a good laugh, so it worked out Ok.

But we will keep trying, and sooner or later we will get some more posts up, including some photos from Wavo's recent birthday party. Our little girl is two already! Oh well, more on that later.

Picking apples

by maryellen | Sep 8, 2005 | in

It's been a great year for apples. Even the wild old trees in our overgrown pasture are putting out lots and lots of good apples. We spent part of Sunday afternoon picking and enjoying them.

 

Tomato jungle

by maryellen | Sep 7, 2005 | in

Waverly loves to go into the greenhouse to pick and eat sun golds straight off the vine. She is really good at it too -- she only picks the ones that are perfectly ripe. Here she is in her Papa's rain hat.

Bee E.R.

by maryellen | Sep 2, 2005

A bear smashed the bee hive to pieces. She (or he, but I'm trying to convince myself it was a pregnant mom just trying to get enough calories to make it through the winter) came in Monday night and ate all the brood and all the honey. Luckily, Peter and the crew found the disaster Tuesday. I say luckily because even after they'd cleaned it up, and even after I'd been warned, to see the devastation still was heartbreaking for me. The bees had been doing so well, no evidence of mites, tons of honey, and, as bees go, a pretty happy and gentle hive.

Also, finding the devastation quickly allowed us to save at least a few of the bees. Many thanks to our friend and neighbor Libby who came and did some bee emergency rescue Tuesday afternoon. She ventured in among some VERY perturbed bees to put a box back together for them to try to regather in.

bee er 1.JPG

Then Libby and I went up this morning to give the bees some sugar syrup, so they'd have something to eat for now at least, and then to try to close down the entrance to make it easier for the bees to defend their hives from robbing yellow jackets and bumblebees.

bee er 2.JPG

This hive, with no brood, no honey, and few bees, will not be able to get through the winter. So one evening this weekend, Libby is going to come take the hive and combine it with hers. If the queen is still alive, we'll have to kill the queen (only one queen per hive), but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

It's a bummer, but it's hard to fault any creature for taking the food it needs to survive the long, cold winter ahead.