The Swarm Part 2

About 21 days AFTER the Swarm Part 1, Sensei was, once again working on the house. This was about 10 days after we had decomissioned the heat pump along the side of the house, next to the infamous camilia (which is supposed to be hard to grow in the mountains, so we preserved it through every bit of painting, window installation, metal bending, etc. cursing each time we had to hold it away from the house and climb around and through its scratchy branches. It's thriving though!!). We sold the pump and the furnace to a guy working on affordable housing, so they found good homes.
The reason the timing is important is because during those 10 days, approximately 10,000 honeybees gathered near that spot and began to create a cone/hive. This humming was equally loud (but less threatening, since he wasn't staying there at the time). The swarm inside the house occurred the same way with the same number of casualities.
I called Extension Services for help. They gave me 4 numbers of local beekeepers who often assisted people like us with bee swarms. This was on a Friday afternoon and I left messages or spoke to each person and none of them was in a position to help us. They wished us well and we swept up more bees.
On Monday, we received a call from a local pastor who was one of the people who was sorry not to be of help on Friday. His hives had all been full at the time. Over the weekend, some cold weather had killed one of his colonies and he had room for ours!! We were sorry for his loss but anxious to find a good home for our collection!!
We'll post a slide show of that event (soon) when the bees were swept off their feet (all together in a clump) and moved to a happy hive. Ah, the natural world is so fascinating!! I so enjoy it when it stays outside!!

The Swarm Part 1

Around Easter, Sensei was camping out at the house for a few days. On his last day there, he heard this loud humming in the room he'd used for sleeping. When he lifted the tarp flap, (no walls, it was cold, it kept the heat from the propane fireplace in) and discovered 1,000 bees swarming against the door wall. Even when he managed to open one side, he could not get them to leave. These Kamikaze bees were bent on self-distruction, to the point that they didn't even notice him when he entered the room.
He called Terminex for their opinion and they said they were endangered honeybees and they couldn't do anything to them. It didn't matter, they all died in a sad pile on the floor and we swept them up later. So strange!

Insect Insight

This renovation has brought even greater appreciation for the natural world since we have only had windows/doors for a short time and we don't bother with screens yet. We never know what might flutter or float into our space so the surprises are many. Most of them have been interesting; a few dangerous but the dragonfly was my favorite.
One day, Sensei noticed this large creature poised on the french door, inside the house. It rested there as if it were home and I took pictures quickly, assuming that it would run for safety outside. It did not. Then I started to worry that it was going to get sick inside but I couldn't get it to budge. Finally, Sensei took his hand and brushed this gentle giant out into the sun once again. I was tickled by the experience and the size!! I'll include pictures soon.

What will make the house sing?

Now that the cedar is backed by the black cement board and the brick red windows are adding another touch of brickishness (like the original, common brick foundation), I am forced to consider that maybe blue inside will not be the color that pulls the outdoors in.

We have collected blue in many incarnations: couch/chair, art clock, throws, vases, flower pots. In other words, our lives have been joyously expressing blue for the last 6 years. Sensei has resisted my monochromatic obsession, but it brings me joy, so he has let me go with it.

Now, the flooring issue (wood?, cork?, tile? marble?) has brought up his penchant for connecting the natural world to our unnatural interior in an attempt to merge them. This means that, unlike the bright blue red accents we've connected with our blue furnishings, we are now looking at more of a rust color which is way out of my color palette!! To further confuse the issue, we both love a marble we've found (called "Rain Forest" = some green = uh oh!!) which we would use on one or two accent walls. It would definitely connect with some rusty tile we've found that has the look of wood, but then how do we move into blue from there??????

Any suggestions??

Green is not such a clear color

As we consider how to heat/cool and create hot water for the house, we do daily research regarding the energy savings and the expenditures. Sometimes, as in the case of the solar hot water, it becomes clear that the capital outlay is not worth the return for the two of us. ($12,000) Plus, the energy expenditure and equipment upkeep is not so sustainable, either. Further drawback, we would have to cut down some of our wonderful trees to get enought sun on the roof. That's not negotiable for us.

We have just found a wonderful unit that looks like it might be IT but, once again, my wonderful husband is ahead of the curve and it is not available until MAYBE fall of this year. It is a heat pump unit that is attached to the hot water heater and actually creates dehumidifying and air conditioning while it heats the water. Coo --ell. It's called a "hybrid electric hot water heater." What we will probably end up with is a unit that fits on a regular hot water heater. The GE one is all one slick unit. . .oh, well.

I will attach pictures of the unit when I find them. In the meantime, here's the website:
http://www.geconsumerproducts.com/pressroom/press_releases/appliances/energy_efficient_products/doetanklesshybrid.htm

Spring in the mountains is beyond description. I've included some photos which don't begin to really capture the magnificence but give you some idea of the glory (and another good reason to stay in the area by renovating!). The weather has finally developed some moisture which is desperately needed (severe drought conditions still exist) which is making everything an even more glorious green. The flowering trees and bushes usher in the season and the annuals take over from there. Mother's Day marks the planting time here, so the gardens of flowers or vegetables are springing up now, too. All-in-all a festival for the senses!!

Our renovation project's garden is a surprise everyday, too, as the bleeding heart by the door (which survived trampling and a post insertion) bursts into its tiny pink charms and the iris (in a color I've never seen before) float by the upper fence. Bright purple blooms of seemingly wildflowers bloom everywhere (which will turn into money plants later) and the trillium in the shady spots have sent up their magnificent white sentinels.

Deciding where to move the path and maintain the garden's integrity in the process is something we need to plan now, while everything is in bloom. In the fall, it's hard to remember where the bulbs are sleeping and we don't want to disturb them and rob next spring of its renewal.