An Emotional Blow...

If a $100 bill fell out of my pocket, I would be just a little upset that I was out of some cash. But when my $75 batch of bees decided to run out on me it was a blow to my spirit. A few weeks ago--only days after I first received and installed my bees, I went to PA for a Saturday to become a trained leader of "The Truth Project". I spent the entire lonely drive home anticipating big changes in my hive. It was the first sunny day since the bees had been introduced to Canal Winchester, and I figured they would have made lots of progress turning my humble hive into a home.

Stephanie was out at her parents' house and I was supposed to drive straight out to join the family, but I couldn't resist a quick stop to see what I had missed! As I approached the hive I was surprised by the inactivity around the entrance but figured that the bees must all be out foraging! I carefully opened my observation window with incredible anxiety only to discover that my colony of 10,000 or so bees was down to 50... if that. My heart sunk. For the next few days I foolishly held onto a sliver of hope that they might come back or that the few remaining bees would raise a queen out of the handful of eggs in the comb they managed to build.

Stephanie was very understanding and even insists that I try again this year. I would really love to, but I am not sure if I have the time. I am not sure I could deal with another colony absconding. It was so sad.

Well, seeing as though I didn't even have the time to blog about the bees when I had them, I will post some videos and pictures of the whole ordeal. I hope you enjoy them.

This is a bee package. Within that screened box there is a can of sugar syrup, a queen protected in a cage, and roughly 10,000 (3 lbs. worth) bees clinging desperately to her.

Here is a short clip of me pouring the bees into the hive... I read that when they don't have a home to preotect they hardly ever sting. They were right!

Well, most of my bees didn't die, they just took off--presumably with the queen, but here are a few sad dead ones at the bottom.

This was all that was left when the bees absconded. Although extremely sad about them leaving I was pretty excited that they left me a keepsake. The strange thing is that they did not build to the top bars at all. Oh well, better luck next time I hope.

Here is a sweet macro shot I took. I believe that if you click on the image you may be able to get the full size version. It makes a pretty good desktop background. (apparently that doesn't work, so if you want the full size email, send me a message)
See those yellow lines down the center of the wood pieces? That is where the bees are supposed to build. They didn't like that idea.

A Pefect Boy*

The other day I was driving out to the Hall's and I was overwhelmed by the thought that our child was perfect*. I had to call someone to brag. I called my mom, because I think that it is okay to brag to moms. We are so blessed by Thor. I can't remember the last time he cried without good reason. He is sweet, cute, smiley, tough, and gaining mobility! We just could not have asked for a better little boy. Thank you Jesus!

*He is still a sinner... :)

Remember the Sabbath

Somehow the fourth commandment (3rd for Catholics and Lutherans) has come to mean "go to church on Sunday". Most of us may think there is a little more to it--like taking it easy on Sunday. But in practice, it seems that most of Christendom acts as if a literal obedience to the other 9 is a good idea, but we can stretch this one all we want.

This dilemma was brought to my attention by Stephanie's uncle while we visited him in San Diego last week. We discussed it briefly. Yesterday, it was the topic of Sunday School and after inspecting Exodus, I have come to a couple of conclusions:

1.) Remembering the Sabbath day and church don't have anything to do with one another.
-Don't get me wrong, worshipping is an important part of Christian life. Many Scriptures support this notion, but it seems to me that it is unrelated to honoring the Sabbath.

2.) The Sabbath day is a day or rest; pure and simple.
-Defining rest very well may be a grey area, but that doesn't mean we should ignore it. It also does not mean that we should be like the Pharisees and turn it into a strict black and white code.

If you take the time to read the original text, you will see that it is one of only two commandments God takes the time to explain. It is as if He anticipates the question, "How am I supposed to keep it holy?" The text makes it very clear that it is to be a day of rest. The very word, "sabbath" means "cease".

Yesterday, as Earl, Bethany and I worked through this we tended to read our own desires into the text, but they don't seem to be there... One common objection is that "it is not work if it is something I enjoy is it?" I ought to consult a Hebrew scholar for this one, but our day of rest is to be modeled after God's day of rest. I know two things about that. God didn't need a day of rest, and creating the universe wasn't exactly work for him. He did not sweat once in the whole process, and I cannot imagine that it was anything but enjoyable for Him. The idea, I believe, is to rest--not to switch over to work that you enjoy.

No one will argue the practical (as opposed to spiritual or moral) value of the ten commandments. After all, the world would be a better place if no one stole, lied, murdered, or coveted. I am willing to bet that we would all be better off if we truly rested on the Sabbath as well.

So, Stephanie has agreed to move forward and we are committing our Saturdays to rest. I doubt the day upon which we rest is too important, but I work on Sundays--delivering the paper and teaching Sunday school. Those two things aside, getting up and going to church any day is too much like work for my sabbath. Getting a family of three out the door is tough, I cannot imagine having a bigger one!

From now on, we will work (hard) Sunday through Monday and rest all day Saturday. I don't imagine this to be easy, but we are committed to holding to this commandment with as much devotion as we hold to the rest.

Please comment, I look forward to a discussion on the topic. I would love to be wrong. ;)

The US Mint Comes Through

I am unimpressed by the US Mint for a couple of reasons. Although I originally requested 3k $1 coins, they only sent my 500. I assumed that I had misunderstood their limits. Well, today I received the remaining 2500--almost a month after I ordered them. They never once corresponded with me concerning the order being filled in two increments. Second, I thought it was a little wasteful for them to ship them for free in the first place. Well, the coins I got today were shipped next day air! This package weighes a good twenty lbs, and Uncle Sam was happy to pay for that. Why do we need all these new coins in the first place?
Nonetheless, I am happy to have the rest of my coins and this financial scheme is now more worth the effort. Making $30 out of the process doesn't really take any more work than making the $5. I will only burn more calories carrying more coin to the bank.

Bees!

Uh oh. I may be putting too many irons in the fire. I just spoke with a bar owner from Waldo Ohio, and agreed to send a $74 check in the mail today in order to secure a 3 lb package of bees that I will pick up on the 22nd. I was turned on to backyard beekeeping quite a few months ago, but it was too cold outside then. In the past few days, the blossoms on the trees around here have been begging for bees. I have to answer that call. Now, despite some advice, I plan on building a Top Bar Hive. It will be a much smaller investment, and is supposedly much more natural. I am pursuing this as more of an adventure and teaching opportunity than a way to get cheap honey, so efficiency is not a huge deal.

I am quite excited, but a little nervous that I have given myself a deadline... I need to have a hive built in just over a week! Say some prayers for me, as well as the bees that will be ours!

Bring on the coffee!

So, I made a significant investment. I purchased 130 pounds of Kenya AA. At $2.75/lb, it wasn't cheap, but by I saved $.25/lb by buying the whole sack. It arrived at Harvest Moon on Friday, and I couldn't wait for Thor to get up so we could go get the sucker. I underestimated the size of the thing, so a kind man helped me carry it to the car. It came in an awesome burlap sack as pictured below>
Everyone who has seen it, asks if they can have the bag when I am done. The answer stands at "no", so don't bother asking. I plan on selling fresh roasted coffee to friends for about the price of Folger's. This way everyone wins, and I can reinvest the profits into our roaster. In the past week, we have roasted around 5 lbs and it gets better every time.












But, as you can tell by the picture of our roaster below, it is quite rudimentary. The thin scraps of metal welded together to make our frame, as well as the piece of crap stock pot drum do not stand up to the heat very well. They both warp, and expand at their leisure with no amount of predictability. As a result, we have had to adjust the machine--meaning hit it with hammers, and bend it with a crowbar-- whenever something goes wrong. There are two problems that have reared their ugly head.

1. The drum expands, the the box shrinks, so the gear motor locks up. BAD.

2. Beans fall out of the machine like a sieve. ALSO BAD.

These complications have had Andy and I thinking, and today he had a wonderful revelation. it is pictured below. Pardon the quality, I took it with my phone.


What is it? That is the cursed wood burning stove that started the fire that destroyed my in-laws old house... It lay in the ashy muck of a basement for a month after the fire, and has resided in a patch of trees at the back of their property ever since. This picture isn't complete--we had already stripped it down a whole lot. Anyway, it will make the PERFECT shell for our full sized final roaster. Andy thinks he can secure a huge piece of pipe that will become our drum. If he takes care of that, I confidently believe that for less than $200, we can build a roaster that will effectively rival commercial roasters that retail for about $10k. I wish you could have seen Andy and I's faces as we removed the sheet metal sides to expose the perfect answer to our prototype woes. I can hardly contain my excitement.

Nonetheless, our prototype does the trick. So, if you live in or around Canal Winchester, I will sell you FRESH roasted top quality Kenya AA for $6/lb. Of course, you may try before you buy, so give me a call, or pay me a visit. I will roast at your request and to your preferred roast. Thanks for reading!

Identity Theft? No way.

Days after receiving my first batch of coins, Stephanie gets an invitation to open an account with Capital One. Imagine that, a credit card offer. They offer no interest for 12 months. So, I go online and fill out all of the info. A few days later we receive the card. Stephanie was asleep so, I went ahead and called them to activate the card. In a world with an increasing transsexual population, I didn't think my male voice would be a problem. Listen to the lines of security protecting this card from the wrong hands:

1. Phone number - They use caller ID to make sure that you call with your home phone number.
PASS

2. SSN - They asked for the last 4 digits of Stephanie's SSN.
PASS

3. Zip Code - Billing zip code
PASS

At this point, I think you would usually have jumped through all of their hoops, but my voice not fitting the name Stephanie had them suspicious, so they kept going.

4. Previous Address #1 - This was multiple choice. They asked what city a previous street she lived on was in... Strangely, the street was "Joshua". She never lived at a Joshua - I loved on a Joshua Trace!? Anyway, we got it.
PASS

5. Auto Loan - They asked how long the terms were for Stephanie's auto loan.
PASS

6. Previous Address #2 - They wanted her parent's entire address.
PASS

7. Driver's License Number - I had to dig into her wallet...
PASS

8. Ridiculous previous address details - They asked me to, "Name a street that intersects 'St. Paul'" (her parent's house) I gave them three.
PASS

9. Family!? - "Do you have relatives in Crookston, MN?"
"My in-laws are from there."
"Can you give me a name?"
I proceed to name my mother, and sister
PASS

10. A woman with a man's voice?
FAIL

So, they still were not convinced, but apparently could not point out the obvious reason they were not. So, they left me with one final test.

11. Go to a bank with the CC, Driver's License, and Social Security Card, and have someone call us to verify your physical identity!
PENDING

Note: Stephanie woke up to feed Thor half way through this conversation, so I could have just handed the phone over to her. She was helping with the answers throughout the last half. But, seeing how far this would go was more important than activating the stupid card so I could capitalize on the US Mint and their introductory rate.

Capital One, I am impressed.