Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Honey Bee

 Not a lot to report on around here lately....other than I am still on the very low starch diet and so far I have not gone to jail.  It was looking kinda iffy there for a while but all I can say is thank God for chocolate and coffee, otherwise I'm not sure where we'd be.  This diet is a special kind of hell in case you're wondering or would like to get back at someone at some point.  The first few days I was sure I could, and possibly would, chew the siding off the house but things have calmed down now.  I guess it was just my body adjusting to getting part of it's energy somewhere else but for now at least, I am able to go for several hours without having to cram any non-starch food I can get my hands on into my face.
I have even been experimenting with baking with coconut flour!  and I managed to make some "biscuits" tonight that were.....not horrible.  With a little pat of butter they were actually fairly edible.  Chigger on the other hand, seems to really like coconut flour .....creations....errr....eggy things.  She also had to stop and poo about 3 times today on a 15 minute walk, so I guess maybe I should spread the "love" between her and the chickens a bit more.  So far I have not felt any particularly noticeable pain relief but they say it can take 3-4 weeks before you notice anything.  If it works...it will be totally worth it.  If it doesn't....well...I'm gonna be one pissed @#^%*&*(%&^$%!!.


 In some wonderful news though, the honeybees have been massive this year!!  There are just tons of them on my corn (which I can't !$%&*^*% eat now!) and on the catnip.  Yay!  Just hundreds of them it seems.

 I don't think I have seen this many honey bees the whole time I've lived here.  I know these pictures don't seem that impressive but I assure you, there are scads of them!  I missed getting a really good shot of about 6 on one tassel of corn when the battery in my camera went dead but I did manage to eek out these few on the catnip.  I wonder if somebody on the area has added or started hives?

 The little bitties are not bitties anymore..they are well on their way to young adult chickens.  This is Wingnut, one of the little pullets, enjoying some overgrown cucumbers from the garden.  She has one feather on each side, in exactly the same spot, that appears to grow wrong side out, so that's why I call her Wingnut.  That's what she looks like from the front.

 These three stick together like peanut butter and jelly.  I don't know why they were picking on this little dead tree in a pot but for some reason they found it interesting.

 I tried to get some new pics of the dragonflies but they were not in the mood.  I managed to get this one mediocre shot however.

The little Silkies are still doing fine and the broody one FINALLY got over herself and gave it up.  Now she goes outside everyday with the other one and they pal around together.  My big hens don't bully these two but the little silkies are still kinda scared of the big hens so they stay to themselves.  I don't know if you can see or not but here one had caught her a vole and was trying her best to eat it.  I think she finally gave up but I have seen the large hens eat a mouse in one big swallow.  I take them various treat during the day though, so the little girls get plenty of nice things to eat. 

7 comments:

Hermit's Baby Sis said...

Annie - your silkies and dragonflies are such lovely shades of cobalt and sapphire in the photos! Hope they really are those colors for your enjoyment. Sounds like you could use some about now. But, if the new eating plan (we won't use that nasty 4 letter word) helps with the pain, I'm sure it will be worth it in the long run. Just imagine being able to do what the other (not old) Annie could do again.
Best of luck with eating and pain, and Hooray for the honeybees!

Ed said...

Back when it was all the rage, I did the Atkins diet for a couple months. At first it was great and the pounds really did just melt away. However by about a month in, I started drooling every time I saw bread. By two months, I was fantasizing about buying a loaf of bread and just eating it in one go. That is when I decided I could never keep up the diet even if it worked.

MamaHen said...

Hey Sis! Yes, they really are those colors! I edit my photos a little but try to keep the color true. If the no-starch diet helps the pain I am ALL for it! and yeah, it will be worth it.

Hey Ed! ha! well, the deciding factor in it all is, what's your motivation? If it were to just lose weight, yeah, I wouldn't last very long either. Great pain can motivate you to do amazing things though! lol!

JO said...

Up here on the mountain the yellow jackets are really bad this year. People are being stung left an right. Doesn't make being outdoors to much fun but they seem to be doing a great job with pollination. Your Silkies are beautiful. Hang in there with the diet if it helps you I know how hard it is to give up favorite foods.

ErinFromIowa said...

Yay! I am so pleased with your high bee population. I just read this and my brain hit the brakes when I read watercress. Never hurts to pass on information. :) http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2015/07/kale-silent-killer

MamaHen said...

Hey Erin! Interesting article. One of the first tests the BFD ran though, was a heavy metals test and it came back fine. Plus, I rarely eat the watercress here and I don't think I've ever eaten kale in my entire life! lol! I like the watercress that grows down in the creek but rarely think about it actually. Always welcome new info though~!

MamaHen said...

Hey Jo! Didn't mean to skip you! I guess stuff like that comes in cycles...we had a bad year for yellowjackets a couple of years ago but I haven't seen many since. Thank goodness. I hate those things.