Balloon Wreath

So for church, I am on the Relief Society Monthly Meeting Committee (insert your favorite term - Enrichment, Homemaking, etc) Its really fun.  We are preparing for a "Super Saturday" type activity for September (except we are doing ours on a Friday night - Probably calling it Freaky Friday)

anyway....

I was asked to do some "research" by making a craft we might do, and check out the price, how long it took to make, etc.  We found this idea on the site howdoesshe.com (that will link you to the directions of the wreath too.  The only thing it doesn't tell you is the size of straw wreath.  I ended up buying a 14 inch one - which was too big for the instructions so I needed more balloons.  So get a 10-12 inch wreath.  The total cost was about $15 and it took about an hour.  (I'm not counting the extra balloons... luckily Deb had some extra balloons, I could use!!)

I love it!!... July is such a busy birthday month for our immediate family (Cannon, Elliot, David are all July birthday's - plus others in our extended families) Its fun to have something fun and festive for birthdays!

Here is my finished product!

Bee Be Gone

I was feeling a bit nervous and concerned for my neighbors and warned them about my bee hive this morning.  We have a  big joint backyard, but private porches (where my bees were) and I would have felt SO bad if something happened before we got the bee guy out to get rid of them.  So I told the close ones, and the ones I knew that walk their dogs this way.  I was probably being paranoid, but just the thought of someone's dog being attacked, not to mention a child, was horrific.  So I had to caution people.  Then I figured they were at their own risk.

So, I called the Bee Remover guy, Chandler Pierce, from Bee Be Gone.  I had used him before when we caught the beginnings of a hive moving in to our grill a month ago! (aye, aye, aye)  I'm really impressed with him.  Small family owned business.  He gave me a "repeat customer" discount... which was nice, but I really don't want to be a repeat customer!  {sigh} His prices are fair. (I was quoted from another company that just an evaluation - to see if I had bees would cost $300.  SERIOUSLY?  I know what bees are!! Removal would be another $300.)  We didn't pay nearly that much!   If you need his number, let me know... I will gladly give you his info and referr him on. (I kinda think he killed a few scouts a month a go, and some new ones found this new space instead and have been busy getting it ready for "Her Majesty" - the Swarm we saw yesterday was bringing her in)

But first, not sure if you can see this one, but it was pretty cool to see the little bee with all the pollen on his legs. (click on it to enlarge) It kind of looks like white on the side of him. He was working so hard. and in just a few minutes... it was gonna be for nothing...

Chandler's 10 year old son was on the job today, learning the ropes and LOVES it. Loves bugs, loves learning how to kill them! As a mom... I'm freaking out, but at the same time, they were professional and know the risks and safety measures.  So they both put on the spacey, bee keeper suits. (His sons was modified with duck tape to hold things tightly sealed!!) My boys and I were watching safely INSIDE with the camera ready!! (now Zach wants to be the "Bee Guy" when he grows up)

Yes, I admit, I was hoping that there would be some sort of swarm {he's got the suit on, sheesh, cut me some slack, yes, I'm a little morbid} , UNTIL he brought his son. Then I decided that was bad and scary.  And nothing major happened in that department.  BUT... here is what DID happen still kinda interesting

Chandler sprayed a foam around the openings of the trunk so they can't escape/attack, while his son gassed the inside, killing the bees.  You could hear a loud buzzing inside from some very angry bees (yes, I could hear it from inside the house).  They waited a few minutes for the buzzing to die down... and it didn't die down enough for them.  So they kinda peaked a bit.  (this is them, leaning down listening to the bees)

THERE WERE A LOT MORE BEES than expected and some pretty big pieces of honeycomb!  Amazing!! So they gassed some more and finally the buzzing stopped.

There were some angry bees (not a mob, but 20-50 or so) flying around them, being pretty aggressive.  Chandler, and his son, swatted at them (tried to catch them in their gloved hands - ewww) but pretty much ignored them)

When they opened up the trunk, we had a good look at the honeycomb. There were 3 pieces. The longest was about 6 inches long and 5 inches wide.  Stark white, beautiful . You can see the pollen being packed inside.  Some even had honey in it (of course not enough to use, and no longer edible) The wax was soft and perfect, delicate.  A work of art.  I am mesmerized. Its in a bowl in my house right now.  Fascinating to look at!

As for the bees - it was started over 2-3 weeks ago. (it takes honey, I guess, about 2 weeks to be made). So we are very lucky that we never opened that trunk in the last couple weeks for whatever reason (outside toys, hose, etc).  We would have been attacked.  Yes, they were Africanized.  They were far too aggressive to not be. (plus, pretty much all local wild bees have been Africanized now, he said)

Africanized bee stings are dangerous because once 1 bee stings you, the pheromone that is released alerts the others to come attack too.  100 bee stings is equivalent to 1 rattlesnake bite. A man here, recently died, because he was attacked by bees and was stung over 500 times.  Now I understand why it was so deadly.  No one in AZ has died from a Scorpion sting in 80 years - but non-allergic people die from bee stings yearly.  (I still HATE scorpions - just for the record) but it kind puts things into perspective.

After they dumped the bees out of the the trunk... there was a LARGE pile of bees on the grass. (kinda looks like dirt - but I wasn't going outside with the few angry bees out there still) He said there were about 10 THOUSAND bees there!  YIKES!  Still amazed - yet creeped out!  His son was picking through the pile looking for the queen {icky!}  With no luck.  He was disappointed.  She is probably one of the few still on my porch, hiding in plane sight (a few fell out when they were moving things). 

We have to let everything set for 24 hours and then we get to clean it all up and sweep up all the dead bees on my porch. (ok - David and the boys' job) The rest of the bees will be dead by then too. 

Of course, Chandler thanked me for my repeat Bee Business! Now to figure out how to keep the blasted things away!!

So if trouble comes in 3 I'm done for this week (bees, sick dog, and stranded in our new to us car - just thinking its a very clogged fuel filter.  but being stranded is never fun. but luckily/hopefully its an easy job and runs better than my van!!) Can I have a vacation NOW??

Newest Pets?

Hmmm, No, No No, we really don't have a new pet!  More like a PEST! and unfortunately, this is not the first time this year we are dealing with this one.

Bees.

Earlier, we caught some moving into our grill.  Not so fun, but we had the bee remover come and kill them, quickly before it got out of hand.  They had the nifty suits - which was the highlight.  They sprayed some stuff and that that was it.  $125 was gone in less than 5 minutes.  SIGH.

Today, my kids told me the bees were back... I was hoping they were in the grill, because the removal service came with a 1 year warrentee... but you and I know that our luck doesn't work that way...
NOPE. They were in in our storage trunk that was on our back porch.  SHOOT! 

Here is some info on how bees do their work... from what I'm told...


The scouts smuggle in the queen to their new location - someplace big (with about a 5 gallon open space available - so my trunk and grill are bee luxuries) Once the queen is happy, the rest of the hive comes at once... like 8000 bees or more all at once....

So, my friend, Bonnie was over and I happened to look out the window and my jaw hit the floor.  Cannon described it best and said there was a "bee tornado" on our back porch. They covered the side of our strorage trunk, got all moved in and once settled, got busy making their hive.

I admit, I was fascinated on one hand.  It really was incredibly interesting. BUT really scary. They were trying to attack us through the windows... telling me they are probably Africanized... VERY NOT HAPPY ABOUT THAT. (Africanized bees are very aggressive and actually can kill people even if you're not allergic to them)

So, we will be calling our bee remover again.  I'm hoping for more of a show this time for the payment.  At least make it entertaining for the price involved - he's got the gear - I want to see see a swarm or something like that!! (and this guy is cheaper.... we have been quoted $600 from some places - sheesh!)

Here's some photos - if you click on them, they will enlarge.... Enjoy!

(not the best photos because I was taking the picture through a dirty window... lots of finger prints I need to wash off!!)

Geocaching

Today, Father's Day, we went out Geocaching for the first time.  It is something I have wanted to do for a while, but David finally got with the program and decided to check it out also.

If you don't know what it is... the best way I can describe it is a world wide treasure hunt. People create boxes and hide them in various locations, and record them on website for you to go search for. There is usually some sort of thing you can mark saying you found it.When you return home, you log in and comment that you found it.  There are different skill levels and such.  You can of course create your own caches too. You can check it out at this website .

We don't have a GPS, yet.  Maybe we will get one. We printed off and map (instead of using a GPS, you can use the map it option) for one at a park nearby. (Discovery Park in Gilbert).  It was really fun and kinda tricky.  It was a considered a "Nano cache" meaning it was really small.  YEP, it was. It was in a metal, magnetic case, that was smaller around than a dime and about 1/2 inch thick. Inside was a small scroll of paper to sign.  I'm not going to spoil it and say where we found it, of course.  But it was fun.

You can find them all over the country - so when you are on vacation you can search for them too.  Of course, if you have a GPS, that makes it a bit easier, and some are very complex and some are in the middle of nowhere.  I really like that this was in the city and close by.  It was a quick and fun family adventure.

Who knows where the next one will lead us! 

Good Friends

We are really blessed to be surrounded by great friends. I've just had some experiences lately that really make me grateful for the people who are in my life who I am lucky enough to call friends.

We have an AWESOME ward for church, who has been looking out for us.  They recently brought us dinner for 3 nights while I had a bad case of strep.  It was so nice to not have to worry about dinner and I could just rest and know my kids were gonna gobble up a good dinner with NO effort from me! HEAVEN!  (can I get strep again?  kidding, just kidding!)

While my car has been in the shop for about 5 weeks, I've had 2 families who have loaned us their cars so that we could get around, take kids to school, go to doctors appointments, go grocery shopping, etc.  It has been wonderful and made things FAR less stressful. THANK YOU!

I have great friends who I can call anytime, vent, cry, giggle or celebrate with.

We have friends that are willing to help us with anything we need. Who will listen to the spirit and respond and help however they can.

We are lucky to have my sister close too, and we help each other too.  Sometimes, friends can be just as great as family.

 

Slow and Painful Death of a Car

Some of you have seen me complain on Facebook about my car problems... It has called it quits and is no longer fixable. It is dead.

Over the past year, we have put SO much work into the dang thing.  It is a money pit! Transmission, radiator, radiator hoses, fan assembly, brake master cylinder, oil pressure gauge,  power steering pump,, head gaskets, tension pulley, etc etc. Within those things, we had little bits and pieces fail, but under warrentee, were replaced (planetary gears in the transmission, radiator caps, etc).  The guys at the shop know my voice on the phone and cringe when I call... its beyond funny anymore.  Its quite sad.  But, they have been really good to us (Sun Devil Auto on Chandler Blvd and McQueen, if you are wondering)

But in April, after the planetary gears failed, (something in the transmission - that's all that means to me) my car just never recovered.  They rebuilt my transmission again... for free.  Checked over everything.  Replaced fuses, circuit boards, wires, etc.  NOTHING changes.  They decided that it was PROBABLY the main computer that needed to be replaced... to the tune of $1000.  We just couldn't see forking out that kind of money for something that wasn't a sure shot... so we found the part at Auto Zone for 1/3 of the price, did it ourselves and it didn't fix the problem.

So we took the car to a Chrysler mechanic, he worked on it for a little over a week... he thought for sure it was one thing... and it wasn't. Tried another... didn't work.  He couldn't figure it out either - and isn't even charging us the diagnostic fees.  

So, its time to say goodbye to my pitiful car.  We've put a lot of miles on it... had it for 5 years (paid off for 4) and had some great memories in it.  But, it is done.  

Now, to figure out a replacement that will fit our family of 5.

New Watch

My sister Lisa, surprised me with a new watch.  She had asked me a while ago about favorite colors and such, but didn't tell me why.  She had learned how to make these beaded watches and made one for me. The face is removable so I could find another face, or change the band, etc.  Anyway, I love it!  It's very unique, and I just don't have a lot of jewlery, so its perfect!!

Thanks Lisa!

Knock Knock

This month for Cub Scout Pack Meeting, the theme was "In the Spotlight". So the boys all had to prepare a talent and present it to the pack.  Trying to get Zach to prepare before hand for anything has been increasinlgy difficult over the  last few weeks (especially in school).  And this was no exception.

 I had been trying to give him ideas of things we could do as a family (thinking he might want some back up someone in the spotlight with him).  So I thought of stuff... silly, goofy stuff, that I thought he'd be interested in.  AND he wasn't... AT ALL. I'm pretty UNcool, I guess.

So he decided he was going to get up and do a few jokes, on his own.  He did really well, and we are very proud of him!!

Kindergarten Graduation

This week was the last week of school for my 2 oldest boys.  Holy Smokes!  Zach is now a 4th grader and Cannon is now a 1st grader! When did I get old enough for that to happen?  (ahem... don't answer that) Dobson Academy does a fun Kindergarten Graduation (well, I guess they call it a Promotion).  It was Jungle themed so there were monkeys, parrots, snakes and toucans everywhere.  It was cute.  They even dressed the kids up in the traditional Cap and Gown.  It was adorable!  Here are some fun pictures!

The kids were singing a cute song to the tune of "New York, New York" called "First Grade, First Grade"  ("if I can make it there I'll make it anywhere, First Grade, First Grade") They made cute ties to where under their gowns to look all spiffy!

Afterward the ceremony, there was some refreshments.  So I asked Cannon to smile while he was sitting there... This is the smile I got.  This is the typical smile I get when I ask Cannon to smile.  In fact, in a lot of class pictures, that is the smile his teacher got from him too... So it was only fitting to show this silly picture off too.

Both boys did really well this year and earned good grades!  We are very proud of both of them and are looking forward to a fun summer break!!

Safety Tats

A friend of mine took her cute little family to DisneyWorld on vacation. They are still there actually.  Today, (thanks to facebook for updates) they had the experience every parent fears... one second their 4 year old daughter was sitting next to them, and the next she was gone.  They immediately contacted Disney Security, (who shuts down the entire park).  Their friends were going in to bathrooms making sure nobody was cutting and dying her hair.  (YIKES!)  15 minutes later (an eternity to them) A "Disney Cast Member" found her at the Finding Nemo ride and called my friends number that was Tattooed to her daughters wrist with these cool temporary Tattoos, that you can write your cell phone number on and stick to your child.  Her husband, actually sort of mocked her before the trip for paying $20 for such a "silly" thing... of course, no one is laughing now and they are thankful for such a "silly" sense of security for their kids!