She had a rather low key arrival on the passenger seat of a rusty white courier van. Rather weirdly (and this happens to me so often I don’t often think about it anymore) I decided to walk the dogs to the end of the drive, which is something I almost never do and the rust bucket courier and I converged at the letter box. (The roofers think I have ESP – they see everything from up there). “Have you been waiting here all morning?” the freckled courier boy said as he tapped on his little hand held technological device. “”Not really.” I said, then he casually flicked Cleopatra and her girls, in a brown envelope, out his window into my waiting hands and roared off back down the dirt road.
I held tight to my wee package as we fought the gale force winds all the way back down the long drive.
Can you see her in there, with her attendants?
It is sheltered in behind the pine trees where the hives are so i donned my bee hat and proceeded with her installation straight away.
I stole two frames laden with bees from the extra strength hive after carefully inspecting to make sure their queen was not there (I hope I did not miss her) and transferred them to Cleopatra’s hive.
They immediately converged on the little cage that Cleopatra and her girls were in and she sat there all serene and wafted her pheromones about. You can just see the tip of her plastic box jammed between two frames. She has a plug of candy at the entrance of her box so it will take a couple of days for them to open her door, by then she will have wooed them all and they will be eager to do her bidding.
There now. I created a new look for Cleopatra’s hive (on the left). Now we sit back and watch for signs of activity.
The roofers came and spent time preparing the roof for a roof and the old walls for their new siding (you will either be thrilled or horrified when you see what i am planning for the walls!) after they have put in the other red door. What other red door I hear you ask!? Goodness, you didn’t think I would only put ONE red French Door in, did you? I have made a few changes to this whole side so that the new house and the old house look like they belong together. It will all happen very fast now.
Daisy doesn’t care, all she cares about is getting to that green, green pasture.
She simply cannot understand why she has such short dinner times. Already her milk has increased by a gallon a day.
Good morning. The unDaily View is so different now. Do you see the new rain barrel John found on one of the sites he is working at. He will cut the top off, then install screen into the top piece to keep the insects out of the water and I am looking for a paint that will stay on plastic so I can paint it something outrageous and it will be installed around the front to catch rainwater beside the new recycled glasshouse.
It is the most perfect calm warm day outside. Clear and shimmery. I can’t wait to get out there. Yesterday we had piles of warmth along with the wind. We ate late out on the verandah, (grilled lamb chops with rosemary and garlic and fresh asparagus) after the winds had died down and it was glorious.
Have a lovely day.
your sun kissed friend celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
61 responses to “Cleopatra is enthroned”
Oh, Celi, I am so envious of your green, your warmth. Yes, we had three days of warmth and sunshine here in southern Minnesota. But the skies shifted last evening to moody grey, with rain falling and temps plummeting. We are under a winter storm warning beginning at 3 p.m. today through 7 p.m. Thursday with up to six inches of snow forecast. I can hardly bear this anymore, especially in May.
Pack an overnight bag and come over here, you can help me pick the asparagus! and gather eggs and laugh at the mucky pigs! I mean it, We have a bit of rain for the next few days but it will not be snow!
I did a reportage on a local bee keeper here, a few years ago. He was showing me the little containers, with a Queen and retinue, ready to be sent out to various needy bee keepers. He still gets his Queens from the old British monasteries, such as Buckfast. I had an amazing time doing the shoot, and was completely covered, camera and all, in bees at one point. I did have the whole kit on, but I didn’t find them at all aggressive. Wonderful creatures.
fancy getting bees from a monastry, that sounds almost romantic, c
Green and warm. We have wind again today and it is much, much colder with freeze warnings out for the next two nights. But last night a rain cleaned our air, which was lovely!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
will you have to cover your garden? a freeze would be very inconvenient out here at this point.. c
We made it through. I didn’t cover, but so far everything looks good. The wind blew all night, which kept the freeze at bay.
Lucky! that would be such a shame, i have a feeling this will be a short summer as it is!
Sure makes one wonder. We planted corn and will harrow it off Monday. In two weeks Terry will plant pinto beans, if possible tomorrow we will plant alfalfa…the temps are supposed to soar into the 80s by Saturday.
Love a Happy Ending – Hope she is a Great Queen:) Happy Day on the Farmy!
Hi Celi
Didn’t have a chance to comment yesterday but just have to say I am in love with the new baby kitties! And yes, I too hope they have their Mama’s beautiful eyes! I’m such a cat lover…can you tell? Looking forward to more pics as they grow…thanks 🙂
I shall climb up there tomorrow morning and take some more shots for you, they are growing a mile a minute! But she has them hidden in the dark of course.. c
Wonderful post as always! You brighten my day so much you wouldn’t believe. All the little stories about bees, cows, cats dogs and birds, my type of ‘people’! Been overcast here for the past 4 days, with heavy drizzle in the mornings and spotty sun in the afternoons. But at least the night time temps are over the 40 mark and things are starting to take off. Amongst them lots of weeds, but they are tiny at the moment and until my lettuce, radishes, spring onions etc. are bigger they will have to stay there.
Hugs Lyn
PS how can I change my little picture to something that looks more like me? Little green bug (or whatever it is) looks nothing like me LOL
I don’t know you sound like you have green fingers, maybe it is a picture of your thumb! c
LOL could be!!
Oh, your little corner of heaven sounds (and looks) fantastic today. The two houses will look great all “red doored 😉
Have a lovely day!
G
Wow — that looked like a feverishly warm welcome that Cleopatra got from her subjects! Not to mention a very stately looking hive. I’d stick around and reign supreme if I were that lucky queen bee.
If your rain barrel is made from PVC, you could try this:
http://blog.makezine.com/projects/stain-pvc-any-color-you-like/
Hopefully the hive will be buzzing soon. Can’t wait to see the second red door, it’s going to look fabulous, I just know it!
Love naming your queen bees . . . although I might be tempted to customize the names . . . as in Neferti-Bee and BEE-o-patra!
What a nicely decorated hive!
Lamb chops rosemary etc, plus fresh asparagus … no carbohydrate? Is this how you keep young and fit????
People used to say to me, how do you stay so thin and I would say.. my children eat all the food!! bet you remember those days too (laughter!).. I eat one piece of homemade toast with my eggs in the morning, after that I try very hard to steer clear of carbs, potatoes are my downfall!! c
Everything about the bees just fascinates me! And Cleopatra’s hive is just gorgeous, too. 🙂
Cleopatra’s hive is bee-autiful 😀 I’m very interested to see what you are planning for the wals, if it is what I think it might be which is what I would do…