elle sagenev

Mike Barkley wrote:Insulating board might be your best bet then. Perhaps a space blanket too.

I'm curious how you have a nuc this late in the season.

It was an accident. I opened my hives and could not find the queen. Looked everywhere. No new brood. so I went in search of a new queen. Someone offered me a nuc for free that had a queen but wasn't doing well enough for them to believe theyd' make it through the winter. So I went and got it and when I went to combine it with my hive lo and behold there is the queen right on top. So then it was a crap moment. I have this nuc and found my queen and now what. Well, my property has a lot of food so bees tend to do better for me than they do other people, you know, if I can keep them from dying during winter. So I decided to just keep it as a nuc and I must say that within the month I had it they did double in size so...we'll see.

Mike Barkley wrote:Minus 30 is very cold for bees. Some people do use insulating board & in Europe there is a type of hive that is made basically like an ice chest. Made of styrofoam or something like that.

I think the chips are probably helpful unless they attract pests or absorb water. What I would probably do is sandwich the nuc between the other 2 hives & surround them all with hay bales. Top and sides. Keep their entrances open. That works pretty good. Don't know how well that works in minus 30 though. That's harsh.

I can't really do that. The shed they are in is in the general barn fence area. So the pigs could potentially get in there. Thus, I have the hives put on spools inside the shed. I couldn't put the hives together or fit hay bales around them. :(

Tereza Okava wrote:Elle, my explanation is that people are just sort of flailing around in their anxiety and aren't sure what to do- they want to do *something* but it's not clear what.
At least, that's how I'm trying to deal with some of the similar things I'm seeing here- I need to try to see some positive or it gets really depressing.

I know you said that this is not the point, but-- good data recently about schools not being the big super-spreader factor everyone was afraid they would be (so far). It is about time there is some sort of break this year. I'm doing an online conference this week and by the third hour I was ready to go completely nuts, kids, adults, teachers who deal wtih this every day deserve a medal.

Yeah my daughters teacher thanked me for not being mad at her about the mask mandate during parent teacher conference. It's a THING ya'll.


One of the comments in the group is that, "Don't appreciate that someone that has no knowledge of my child gets to decide her fate. why isn't it a parents choice."  

I was generally confused. I asked her what she meant by choosing the kids fate. Like, what? She said, "deciding what my kids have to fallow. We have no say."

So then I mentioned that we have never chosen the curriculum and tests the school administers so is this just the masks or what? Because what? How is a mask deciding a child's fate? Super confused.


And yeah, her reply was 100% about the masks. IMO that is the smallest part of school. I just went over MAP testing results during parent teacher conference and the fact that my kids are taking these tests 4 times a year is a far bigger deal than wearing a mask. But I guess that's just me.

I didn't read the article. I'm in an area where pine is it. I buy pine shavings and have used them for years and years. I am unaware of anyone dying because of htem. Recently the pigs decided they were going to break into the new bag and eat them too. They're still alive. So, pine is fine imo.

We, like most parents in the US, did online schooling March through the end of the school year last year. It was a NIGHTMARE! Our school has been open and safe this year to which we are VERY thankful. At this point I'd send my kids in a hazmat suit if that is what was required to keep the school open. Cases have been rising dramatically in our area, due in large part to a very strong anti-mask sentiment in the area.

Now I'm not really going to get into that. I wasn't a huge fan of masks to start and I'm still not. They're uncomfortable. It's not awesome that the kids have to wear them in their classes. Still, hazmat suit ya'll, that's what I'd put them in to keep them in school. So it's something we deal with.

This brings me to the parents group that just started in our school. They've started a group. They say the group isn't "anti-mask" just anti-government in schools. This is where my thoughts kind of get jumbled up in confusion.

Aren't schools government institutions? I'm fairly certain that they are and all the staff and teachers are government employees. So......what? What are they against? Schools?

My bees are in a shed and I have much hope that that helps them survive the winter this year. It has plenty of air flow. First real snow here today so last night I went out with pine chips and set about insulating. I have a nuc that I just covered with chips. Then I have 2 hives with feeder boxes on top. I filled the feeder boxes with wood chips. What do you think? Filling the feeder boxes a good or bad idea? Should I do more to insulate them? Gets pretty cold here imo but realize that -30 is about the lowest I've experienced and some of you get worse.

The Netflix show Unwell says bee venom can cure lyme disease. As the worlds worst beekeeper allow me to offer to get you stung over and over by accident.

One of the lawyers I work for represents phone companies. Anytime anyone complains about taxes I ask them quite honestly how they think Wyoming is going to get internet and phone services without federal government subsidies which are derived from our taxes. I ask quite honestly because I know that my house, which is in a location that would never attract phone company interest, is billed at the same rate as city people because of federal funding. I also know that the only roads available for me to drive to work are federally funded. I am always a wee bit baffled how the "country" people are the ones who are the most against taxes and the fed and yet also the ones benefiting the most from it.

Robin Katz wrote:Elle, I'm sorry to hear about your dog. We've owned Great Danes for decades and bloat is always a scary possibility with larger dogs. Don't be too hard on yourself. The symptoms you describe don't sound like bloat at all. And yes, dogs and cats can get strokes although it's not that common in a younger animal. Our 17 year old cat had a stroke, and another one that was 20 had a stroke that left him blind and deaf. It was heart breaking.

Even if you got him in earlier there is no guarantee that he could have been saved. It's always so hard to know when to take an animal in for treatment since they can't describe what's wrong. And most dogs try really hard to pretend that everything is ok even when they don't feel good. That's part of why we love them so much but it does make it more difficult to know when something is really wrong.

Yesterday morning he was off. I knew he was off. I asked my husband throughout the day how he was. When I got home he was still off but he was drinking. We discussed whether he could be depressed from the other dogs death or if the change in the pack dynamics was causing his behavior change. Then this morning he's drooling and dry heaving and that is when I thought there was something really wrong and he should go. To think he went 24 hours like that. It is the first time any of our dogs have had bloat. I'm aware it's a possibility and my sister in laws great dane had it, I  was with her at the vet so I knew what to look for. Just so unexpected. The vet thought he might have had a tumor that caused the twisting. Just awful.

Where I live cats get eaten by coyotes, hawks, badgers, etc all the time. So if the cat that adopted us just stopped showing up begging for food we wouldn't be that surprised.

If you hadn't ever spoken to these people there would be no problem with you taking care of the cat however you wanted. I'd probably live trap it and take it to the pound if I were you. However, now if the cat goes missing they'll be looking right at you.

You say you can't not let your cat outside but I'd say at this point you can't let it out either. Just keep your cat in, she'll adjust. Id stop feeding the birds if it's attracting them to their demise too. These answers suck, I get that. However, you can't control your neighbor, only yourself.

If the kids seem otherwise fine I would not be calling CPS on them. However, if you suspect they are being abused I'd call and report that. Course they might retaliate