A nice swarm from Canby

I got a call about 5pm today asking if I wanted a swarm. Seems it was about five feet off the ground and described as the size of a basketball. We got there about six and it had settled in with very few bees flying. It had formed about a half hour before I got the call. I pulled all but four frames out of the box to make room for them. They slid around, but I was able to hold them with my left hand as I shook the tree and got the majority of them in the box. My first swarm away from home.

 A nice size swarm! It half filled the 10 frame deep.

 Eventually they all crawled in to join the queen.

52 Vincent and Bee's wing. I'm feeling the past today.

Richard Thompson

1952 Vincent Black Lightning

Said Red Molly to James that's a fine motorbike

A girl could feel special on any such like

Said James to Red Molly, my hat's off to you

It's a Vincent Black Lightning, 1952

And I've seen you at the corners and cafes it seems

Red hair and black leather, my favourite colour scheme

And he pulled her on behind

And down to Boxhill they did ride

Said James to Red Molly, here's a ring for your right hand

But I'll tell you in earnest I'm a dangerous man

I've fought with the law since I was seventeen

I robbed many a man to get my Vincent machine

Now I'm 21 years, I might make 22

And I don't mind dying, but for the love of you

And if fate should break my stride

Then I'll give you my Vincent to ride

Come down, come down, Red Molly, called Sergeant McRae

For they've taken young James Adie for armed robbery

Shotgun blast hit his chest, left nothing inside

Oh, come down, Red Molly to his dying bedside

When she came to the hospital, there wasn't much left

He was running out of road, he was running out of breath

But he smiled to see her cry

And said I'll give you my Vincent to ride

Says James, in my opinion, there's nothing in this world

Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl

Now Nortons and Indians and Greeveses won't do

They don't have a soul like a Vincent 52

He reached for her hand and he slipped her the keys

He said I've got no further use for these

I see angels on Ariels in leather and chrome

Swooping down from heaven to carry me home

And he gave her one last kiss and died

And he gave her his Vincent to ride

 BEESWING

I was nineteen when I came to town, they called it the Summer of Love

They were burning babies, burning flags. The hawks against the doves

I took a job in the steamie down on Cauldrum Street

And I fell in love with a laundry girl who was working next to me

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing

So fine a breath of wind might blow her away

She was a lost child, oh she was running wild

She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.

And you wouldn't want me any other way"

Brown hair zig-zag around her face and a look of half-surprise

Like a fox caught in the headlights, there was animal in her eyes

She said "Young man, oh can't you see I'm not the factory kind

If you don't take me out of here I'll surely lose my mind"

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing

So fine that I might crush her where she lay

She was a lost child, she was running wild

She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.

And you wouldn't want me any other way"

We busked around the market towns and picked fruit down in Kent

And we could tinker lamps and pots and knives wherever we went

And I said that we might settle down, get a few acres dug

Fire burning in the hearth and babies on the rug

She said "Oh man, you foolish man, it surely sounds like hell.

You might be lord of half the world, you'll not own me as well"

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing

So fine a breath of wind might blow her away

She was a lost child, oh she was running wild

She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.

And you wouldn't want me any other way"

We was camping down the Gower one time, the work was pretty good

She thought we shouldn't wait for the frost and I thought maybe we should

We was drinking more in those days and tempers reached a pitch

And like a fool I let her run with the rambling itch

Oh the last I heard she's sleeping rough back on the Derby beat

White Horse in her hip pocket and a wolfhound at her feet

And they say she even married once, a man named Romany Brown

But even a gypsy caravan was too much settling down

And they say her flower is faded now, hard weather and hard booze

But maybe that's just the price you pay for the chains you refuse

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing

And I miss her more than ever words could say

If I could just taste all of her wildness now

If I could hold her in my arms today 

Well I wouldn't want her any other way

Interesting photos of a doe with twins

What is interesting about this, is that while taken at two different times and dates, the doe is in almost the exact same pose, and within one inch of the same place. If you click and enlarge, & look at her right leg, there is a stalk of grass in front of it in the first photo, (and a small seed pod) and it is also visible 1/2" or so behind her leg in the second picture. The lighting is a little different, but the same weeds are visible.  Coincidence? Or do they walk on earlier tracks. I am not really sure that it is the same animal, although I suspect it is. If so, she lost one of the fauns, as there was only one in the second series of photos.

                            

                            

Below are the full photos.

Twins

Just one faun

Going the other way the first day.

For Budde , who  requested a bear, but this is the best I can do for now.

A very realistic Weeping Angel, a clockwork robot, and the McMinnville alien parade. A very short review.

We found this one searching for victims before the parade started. This was the best part of the whole show, and I would have been happy to head back home at this point, the rest was a somewhat hum drum repetition of last year's parade.  They weren't in the parade of course, The angel wouldn't have been able to move with everyone looking at it. 

You can see from my posture that when I looked away earlier she managed to remove some critical parts of my back.

The Weeping Angels had a unique and nearly perfect defense mechanism: quantum-locking, which caused them to turn into stone when being observed. (TV: Blink) It could also happen by instinct when they believed they were being watched. (TV: Flesh and Stone) When not being observed, they could move incredibly fast, though they appeared to slow down the closer they got to their prey; they appeared to like "playing with their food". However, quantum-locking meant that they had to cover their eyes when in their stone form, as if they saw each other they would be trapped forever. (TV: Blink) This also applies in the instance that an Angel were to see itself in a mirror. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) They have the ability to see in the dark as well, as the Angels have no trouble pursuing their quarry in total darkness. (TV: Blink)

The clockwork robot/droid was right out of the Victorian age.

I wore my alien hat.

They followed camouflage procedures to blend into the surroundings by dressing in somewhat unrealistic 18th century costumes. They were equipped with short range teleporters, scanners, tranquilizers and sharp tools within their wrists for part removal. They could also heat themselves if they were frozen and empty unwanted fluids from their system. Whenever they entered a room, they made "tick tock" noises from their clockwork parts. They broke any clock in the room to avoid raising suspicion. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace)

The Droids' only purpose was to fix the ship. When the ship was damaged in the Dagmar Cluster in an ion storm, they lacked the right parts. They used all the crew members' body parts; according to the Tenth Doctor, "No-one told [them] the crew weren't on the menu." The last part they needed was a brain for their command circuit, and they believed that only a thirty-seven-year-old brain (the same age of their ship) would work. They modified the ship's warp engines to open many time windows to 18th century France and passed through it at various moments of Madame de Pompadour's life, attempting to find her in her thirty-seventh year. The Tenth Doctor defeated them by disconnecting the time window that led back to their ship. With no purpose, they shut down. After one of the droids deactivated, it collapsed to the floor and shattered to pieces on impact, suggesting they were fragile and had no sense of self-preservation.   http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Clockwork_Droid

There are at least 800 Dr Who starting in 1963 and continuing today. One of my all time favorite shows. 

A couple of shots of the parade. At this point I was thinking..."it was supposed to rain,  it's sunny, I'm hot, I should be putting together the raised garden beds.

Wild Iris and the elk as usual

As usual, click for full size.

Found a patch of dozens of these on the upper field.

The usual questioning looks and heavy breathing on the lens

He looks offended

And the elk that wants to be a moose!

A few from the several hundred that were on this camera. 

The Arnhem land Islander chooky dancers

For your pleasure. Doing Zorba the Greek.  These guys have a sense of humor!

And on Australia's got Talent:

chooky dancers comedy gala 2009

And if you made it this far,,,here for PP and Budde,:

Ukraine Got Talent - The world's best pole dancer - Anastasia Sokolova

Johnny Carson does Reagan and Abbot and Costello And the new hives

A classic shtick that will never grow old . I've watched it before, but it still makes me laugh.

Somehow, I have a feeling that this kind of confusion is really going on in the oval office, always has & always will. It got worse with the current administration.
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The new hives!

The house swarm hive.Named the Queen Libby or hive #1

The new swarm's hive. Queen Ellie or Hive #3

Where it came from, The 2 mo. old nuc. 

A rather pretty blond forager mutt..