Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Happy Potty Day!

Perhaps a "crappy" title, but appropriate, nonetheless....you see Saturday was all about the potty.  Let me give you the "poop"...

It was warm enough (high 40's) to allow our bees to take a cleansing flight.
You see, bees don't go to the bathroom in the hive.   So they spend the winter with little legs crossed, waiting for a warm enough day to "take care of business".  It also means for us (anxious beekeepers) that we get to see that the hive has survived so far...
Temperatures were also warm enough that hibernating bears woke up for a mid-winter snack...my neighbor/friend lost a hive to a foraging bear the same day (major bummer!)

And keeping with the waste removal theme...
Here is the riser, or opening to our septic tank.  Why am I taking a picture of that, you ask?  Well, it turns out that Saturday was also the day we had to have an emergency visit from the Septic Folks to deal with a blocked septic tank.  Fun.

Actually, I dug the riser out myself as a part of my trying to diagnose the problem.  Only the unnaturally curious or seriously poor/cheap do that sort of thing - but it paid off.  I saved $45 off the service call.  Do you know where your tank is?  (Might be a good idea to check that out, and mark it! )

All is fixed....so it really was a happy potty day!

6 comments:

Michelle said...

Oh yes, I know where our riser is! Glad the bears didn't eat YOUR bees!

Susan said...

I have a vague idea where my riser is - but I'll be finding out for sure in the spring. And, holey crap! Didn't you just have work done on the septic this past summer? Are we talking about M's hive on the hill?

Mama Pea said...

You AND your bees must have felt a lot better at the end of that day!

Our bees had their potty day last week. It felt almost like spring/summer time to see the little buzzers flying out and about.

I actually didn't know bears would leave their winter hibernation homes and go roaming around. Now that's a scary thought . . . hope I don't meet one of them in the woods. Especially a hungry one. :o(

Araignee said...

Uh, oh....I've been meaning to call the septic guy for ages now. I just had a peek inside when we had a drain issue and it wasn't pretty. Thanks for the reminder!

melanie said...

Susan - yes....and yes. They were here about a year ago (time flies when you are having a shitload of fun..) and yes, that was M's hive. Bummer!

melanie said...

Precisely why I mentioned the septic - it's on all of our back burners....until there's a problem. Good luck, everyone!