It's been a busy Spring here at Camp Kreitzer. One of our first adventures was creating a nuke from our one strong bee hive that survived the winter. Good thing we did because about a month later the big hive swarmed. There were so many bees in that hive that it is still thriving with a new laying queen and the little hive has a laying queen as well. So that is good news for the survival of our little apiary and honey production. We've already pulled out eight frames of capped honey from the big hive which is about 25 pounds. And there are a lot of other frames almost completely capped. We hope to get more before the honey harvest and plan to split the big hive again as well. We'd like to have at least three hives going into the winter because we generally lose one.
Meanwhile back at the house, we had some landscaping done outside the pool to improve the look and reduce the work. We've had a major weed area with everything growing under the fence and onto the pool deck. Yikes! I couldn't keep up with it. So we took out all that mess and had red knockout roses, lavender, and white hydrangeas planted, our patriotic garden! It looks good now but a little sparse. A few years will take care of that. And the hydrangeas are about to bloom with an incredible profusion of flower buds! I'll have plenty of flowers for Our Lady.
Also in the planting department....Last Spring I started moving my lilies into the pool area's Mary garden. I got tired of the deer eating all the flower buds before they bloomed and the flowers after. They think it's their salad bowl. The lilies are just beginning to bloom rewarding me for all that transplanting!
I also dug up an area for a little vegetable garden. It's a lot of work because the area was covered in rocks over clay, so I had to move the rocks, loosen the clay, and add good topsoil before planting. I harvested my first two little tomatoes today. Lots more are coming. I also have big tomatoes, romaine lettuce, green peppers and summer squash growing and some mystery volunteers that I think are cantaloupes. We'll see if we get any of those.
We also are having our back splintery deck and stairs resurfaced with a composite that will not only improve the look, but make it less hazardous for bare feet and hands. We've had to operate on some serious splinters in the past while the victims patients screamed bloody murder. After the deck is finished (Should be done on Monday.), we'll have a surface safe for little feet and hands, and big ones as well. We'll just need a big umbrella or canvas canopy for shade. I'm looking forward to some delightful evening suppers out there with family and friends.
The last project we really need to do (for now, are home projects ever finished?) is to seal the driveway. We had the gravel drive replaced a few years ago with asphalt and it needs to be sealed. We have a few cracks and hopefully sealant will keep them from beginning to sprout weeds or collect water and freeze next winter. It's been much less maintenance since we did it and the grandkids love to ride their bikes on Camp Kreitzer Avenue.
So that's it for the home front. What's happening at your house?
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