Winning the War on Water

Pretty much the first thing we did when we moved to the King Farm was begin to Wage the War on Water (Chuck is the four-star general in this effort; I am just a lowly private, but I do know how to run the sump pumps). During the first storms, we noticed water ran in little trickles right into the basement, straight through the foundation. This was no good. The first effort to abate the water situation involved digging up the entire back yard, with hopes of redirecting drainage away from the building. It would have worked, if not for mindbending incompetence on the part of the contractors, who blew up pipes and rammed the house with heavy machinery, so that now during storms the water poured in through the walls, instead of trickling, and also ran right down the bulkhead stairs. During a storm, we once pumped 8,800 gallons of water out of the basement. Many, MANY efforts later, the situation is vastly improved. One of the last remaining weak areas is around our porch- a car parking area was created sometime in the last 50 years- two layers of nice flat rock. Big rocks. Which Chuck has spent the last week moving and removing. We will have better drainage in the area, as well as an attractive treadstone walkway that will be easier to remove snow from in the winter. And hopefully, the porch will stop rotting. Winter thinks this is all pretty awesome, especially the big holes and dirt piles. She also thinks that pointing her finger and saying "dah?" is awesome, and that blueberries and wagon rides are, too.

The bee hive situation remains...enigmatic. A few weeks ago, I was quite certain the end of the hive was imminent. When I opened it up, there were some honeycombs, but no "brood", or bee larvae. That typically means there is no queen in the hive, and it is was too late in the season for me to get a new queen. I checked on it again this weekend. The first thing I noticed as I approached the hive was the scent of fresh beeswax. If there is a better smell in the world, I don't know what it is. They are indeed busy, filling combs with honey. There seemed like there were more bees than last time. The bees were coming and going from the front of the hive non-stop. They were building comb. Everything looked pretty good. And I could still find no evidence of a queen, or any brood. I will go in again in a month...stay tuned, for these are the Days of our Hives (sorry! but it really is soap-opera like, or even Shakespearean, what with all the intrigue!)