“Throttled. Yes Ma’am.” 
“So.. TonTon I cannot play with your ball from in here! Think about what you are doing! Mia stop that, stop jumping! Wait.” I said to the little man. “Mia, Get OUT of the chook house. I have got to fix this door. Stop that, this is a phone not a toy. Listen” I said to the little man, as Moaning Mia and I finally get through the chook house door with the eggs intact and the phone back to my ear. “I have called to ask you why my internet is so murderously slow. And you tell me I am garroted. Mia get down! Go find your kitty.” 
“Throttled back Ma’am. Is Mia your Dog?”
“No” I told him “she is a very BAD SHEEP!” Mia is finally quiet. Sullenly chewing on my jacket pocket. “Now, please explain to me in tiny words why the little man on the internet bicycle is pedalling so bloody slowly. ” I sit down on a big rock in the field, in the afternoon winter sun.
“Oh.” The little man on the other end of the phone rallies. “Well ma’am you have used up all your gigabytes. So you get slowed right down. Throttled.”
“Giga- whats- its? Mama what do you want. It is not dinnertime.”
“Bytes ma’am”
“More like nibbles then aren’t they. (silence) Well what do I tell my people? I can’t tell them anything can I. I can’t read their pages, or download their pictures. AAH! (girlie scream.) Hairy don’t sneak up on me like that!”
“I’m sorry? Are you OK?”
“My ram, Hairy Maclairy. Just tiptoed up beside me and stuck his nose in my face. No manners. Hairy back up, you are making me nervous. 
But My readers, my people, they are waiting to hear about my bees! And I can’t even load an image. Or answer my comments. Or comment on their pages. I write a blog about my little farmy. ”
“You have bees?”
“Mmm. we have bees too don’t we, Daisy? We are off to check them in a minute.” 
“What is the name of your blog?”
“The Kitchens Garden.”
“Cool. Well, the good news is that your next round starts on the 8th. That’s in two days. So I will go and check out your blog on Sunday then?”
” Well that is good news. Thank you. Ok I have to move, I am being mobbed. See you Sunday then.”
I am pleased. All is not lost. The little man on the internet bicycle sighs with relief and forgets to try and sell me a better package. He thanks me very much for my time, wishes me luck with the animals and goes back to putting the brakes on me for two more days.
And so to the bees.
Two of the hives including the Blog hive seem to be doing OK.In the warm weather they have been tolling their bells and bringing out their dead. A certain amount of attrition is normal. Bees do not have very long lives. You can see in the centre of this shot a healthy housekeeper bee dragging out one of the dead ones and dumping it over the side.
Except for this hive who had so many dead that both their entrances were blocked with bee bodies. I cleared them with a stick. Not good. This was always the weak hive. It is still heavy with honey so I can only assume that they broke ranks on those warm days and were not fast enough at cuddling back together when that flash of very cold weather hit us. For bees there is safety in numbers as they wait out the winter. Big numbers are best. 
I have put protein patties into the tops of all the hives. But this is an instance when I do wish that the weather would stay cold (but not too cold) and constant.
When farming we have to take the good with the bad. Sometimes everything you do is not enough. Mother nature is a big part of the equation. So I will order a new Queen and possibly another brood of bees as well and in the spring we will strengthen this hive with some newcomers.
Dawn is here. I am so relieved that that little internet peddler is pedaling at a reasonable speed again. 
Good morning!
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
91 responses to ““You’ve strangled me?” I said to the nice man, moving Moaning Mia out of the way with my hip.”
Hmm. Maybe I need a better package?
Morning rosemary. Our internet connection is usually quite slow, so when it was throttled back it was dreadful. The trouble with better packages is that they do not have a better price.. So utube has been banned unless absolutely necessary,c c
Great photos!
Thank you.. there was lovely light that day.. c
Have a nice day my dear Cecilia, as always you are amazing, fascinating me all your photographs. Blessing you all! It was a wonderful reading again. With my love, nia
Morning Nia, I hope you are having a great day!! c
Well I am relieved that is was just the bicycle. I was concerned. Glad to have you back!
yup we are back Rumpy and able to visit again! c
slow internet connections is one of the banes of existence! i never thought of this before but i guess have these warm spells is not good for bees. they think it is warming up but when the temps drop they die. so sad!
Exactly right Jaz. They need it to go up and down slowly. This hive is having trouble because it down not have a big enough population.. c
The internet man does a fair amount of slow peddling here to Celia!
Glad that you are back up and running today.
Have a happy week ahead.
🙂 Mandy
We will have a great week, evidently it will be mild for a while yet.. all good for me, and as long as there are no more wild temperature swings good for the bees too.. c
It was good to hear the latest goings on with all the gang. They all keep you site busy, don’t they?
I love the image of the little man on the internet bicycle. With al the sophisticated technology, you manage to bring it back to human proportions!
Ronnie
Hi Ronnie He was applying the brakes to me!! I took it hard. But there you are..
Very funny and I particularly like the close up of Hairy 😉
He walks so quietly that sheep. he was funny how he posed close enough for me to shoot his nose.. c
Naughty Mia! And Hairy Maclairy has a noble chin. How many hives do you have? We have only two, but will add another this year. We’re adding them one by one to see how many we can support. My soon-to-be daughter in law makes her lotions and potions from the wax cappings of the honey harvest. Our bees don’t like the temperature swings either, but so far, so good so far as we can tell. I haven’t found a body pile-up like yours as yet. You didn’t mention how the warmish days allow them to fly out to ahem, relieve themselves, being the neat housekeepers that they are…The bees are a marvelous wonder, aren’t they?
Morning maggie, I only have three hives, but I will keep adding one a year.. I love working with the wax, and especially make my own lip balm that everyone uses around here. They are such neat little housekeepers aren’t they – the bees. c
Hello Maggie, I believe the phrase you’re searching for is “cleansing flight” (a little less embarrassing (or could I say em-bare-assing?) but, either way, better than Dysentery, eh?
Sorry, not lurking Cecilia, just found you this morning and have been enjoying your lovely bunch (of postings & friends) immensely! (Oh, and by “friends” I include both the two and four footed kind; ).
Thanks so much for the TonTon StopActionShots – he’s such a lovely scamp – and truly brightened my day!
Ah, look at poor Ton Ton…C’mon, buddy, I’ll play ball with you while Miss C does chores and talks to the internet man!
He is trying to woo the chickens out i think, he likes to herd them, which is not a good idea! c
An intriguing post. My internet package is unlimited, but it. Do you tidy up your computer regularly – eliminate duplicate docs and pics? I find the whole thing works much better when I’ve done my housekeeping! I hope the bees are all right from now on.
You are absolutely right, i could definitely do some housekeeping!! i am very lazy that way.. c
Rant on.
Spending as much time as I do in Michigan away from the Big City, it’s a pet peeve of mine that large tracts of America have the same level of internet connectivity and speed as was available in 1980. I know that no one wants to hear about more government but something should be done. The big companies are busy building a G4 network when large segments of the country are barely at a G2 capability. As it is now, rural America pays top dollar for incredibly lousy service and with few or no alternative providers to offer competition.
Rant off.
Silly bees. Stick a calendar outside the hives to remind them it’s only January! I am very familiar with the “look” that TonTon is sporting. “PLAY WITH ME!” Max will be donning his in about 30 minutes when it’s his late morning romp time. Welcome back!
EXACTLY! and we really do pay, i could get bigger and faster but i would also have to sell every gate on the farm to pay for it! What aboutt hose cities where it is free for everyone.. Is it denver? or detroit? I should look it up. Hopefully there will be changes before the whole thing implodes! c
Hi Cecila. Those bees fascinate me. Love the photos.
Regards Florence x
Morning Florence, hope you have had a lovely day over there! .. c
Oh good! I’m glad you were just being throttled…. nothing serious then! 🙂
Nothing serious Janet, just a wee choking from the tech world.. c
The close up of Hairy McLairy looks like a postcard for the farmy! Slow internet is a pain, and I’m glad yours is fixed…wouldn’t want to miss all these great images.
Hairy has a perfect wee snout! c