Kept in the Dark and fed lots of. . . compost?

Tomorrow is supposed to 50 degree F and rainy (possibility). This translates into frisky ponies, wayward hogs, and honeybees on cleansing flights. Woo-hoo! I'll have to check the hives tomorrow morning to make sure they have unblocked entrances and leave sugar syrup out for all the girls to enjoy. However the weekend is supposed to go back down to 25.
I guess I always knew the day would come when I would have to say goodbye to the "Bourbon". Yes, the beloved Mom Mobile, the 94 Chevy Suburban. I've been thinking about for awhile (5 years) but I just can't seem to hang a For Sale sign on it. It was my kids' childhood car. Cross country trips, soccer games, brownie troop, lacrosse tournaments, horse shows, ultimate pet mobile. It is the only vehicle I ever bought new. (And you know they issued them to every mom in Portland, Texas, hell every town in Texas for that matter.) That Kiss & Ride line would of been a whole lot shorter if we were all driving Subarus)
Back to my story. . .When Quentin was 2 or 3 and he would have a meltdown usually in some very public place, he would scream for his favorite things his "Bourbon" and "Purple Crack". At the risk of looking like a degenerate parent, I would try to hustle him out as fast a possible because I was usually wild eyed myself when he got to that point. Listening to him wailing, "I want my Crack, I want my Bourbon" at the top of his lungs usually made an entire store become deathly silent. I had to explain on more than one occasion that all he wanted was to take a nap in the Suburban and have his favorite snack, Raisin Bran cereal. The cereal came in a purple box. His other favorite was "dip dip", Italian salad dressing. So it would sound like my baby wanted to dip tobacco, drink bourbon, and snort crack at 2 years old. Gee those were some fun days! Thankfully, Quent 's command of the English language has improved since then.
Fast forward. I have a parking lot of vehicles that need to move on. Tractors have new homes, cars are being traded around and now someone just stopped to see if I might want to sell the "Burb". Not being too helpful I said they were welcome to look at it if the wanted to dig it out from under 3 feet of snow because I wasn't about to. Dang, if the guy didn't come back today and dig it out and give me a deposit for it. Oh no. I can't come up with anymore excuses why I can't sell it. I know all the Cowboys in Reber are tired of listening to me say I want to sell it but just can't. I guess I can.
Mushroom spawn arrived yesterday. I looked at the tracking from my phone because I wasn't home when it arrived. Said it was left on the porch. Well it wasn't it was left by the road about 500 feet away from my porch sitting on a snow bank. I was a tinch annoyed. I'll have to start it down in the basement since it will be April before I can put it in the mushroom beds outside. I got some oyster mushroom spawn for the 4-H kids to practice with. We will grow those in recycled clementine boxes in coffee grinds and shredded paper and some other composted stuff. It is a fun indoor project for next week.

Tomorrow's just another birthday

Well. there he is Cletus the boar. He enjoys digging himself a very deep nest under the hay and straw. He also enjoys dumping out his food and water. So I am not really certain how much he is eating but he is still growing and doesn't look ribby so I'll leave it at that.

We have lots of snow on the ground and we are still digging out from last week. Lots of barns have collasped in the area under the weight of it. A North Country "handy" item to have is a Snow Rake, that you use to pull the snow off the roof. When we first came up here and folks would mention a snow rake I thought it was like going on a snipe hunt. You know something you tell newbies to waste their time looking for and you get a good chuckle out of it.

But signs on spring are pressing onward. I had chicks delivered last Sunday, the day before we had another foot of snow. But they are as cute as can be and are doing just fine. I got an assortment of Buff Orpingtons, New Hamshires and Delawares, and the exotic freebie is a Polish Crested.

I placed my order for package bees and a few extra Carniolan Queens for spring arrival. I hope to requeen a few hives or make some splits. There were quite a few swarms last year so I thought I might try to use the pheromone and capture one or two o start Nucs. I've been reading the Honey Bee Democracy so I thought I might use some of this knowledge before I forget it. But if the spring weather is bad it won't matter anyway. Last year was an excellent bee year.