The joys of nature and home ownership

Oh the joys of owning a house :) Remember a couple years ago when they were worried because so many bees were disappearing?

Back in April I was mowing my backyard one evening when I noticed a few bees flying around one area. Upon closer inspection I discovered they were coming in and out of my sprinkler box. Hum...what should I do? Maybe open the sprinkler box - possibly a really dumb idea but I decided to give it a try. With my shovel I stood as far back as possible and pried the lid up...about 1/4 inch on one side, not even enough to do anything. Then reality hit me and I decided it was a really dumb idea. The next day I called the exterminator. He came right away, got decked out in his bee outfit, opened the sprinkler box and sprayed the attacking bees. From the safe confines of my house it looked like there were a lot of bees, maybe 75 or 100. When the exterminator finished his business he left me a small piece of honeycomb (about the size of a flat grapefruit) which was the smallest of 8 pieces. What!?! And said there were several thousand bees. WHAT!?! On second thought, I'm pretty sure it was the spirit telling me not to open the sprinkler box.

Fast forward to July.

Katie and Ryan came to visit last weekend and I opened the sprinkler box as I told them the story of the beehive. Boy was I surprised by what I saw (all the brown is bees).

Today I decided to clean this up (don't worry, I wore gloves). There was so much is it almost filled a grocery bag.

All that remains is some honeycomb left on the cover and some powder to make sure they don't come back. I also included an after picture of the box so you can compare to the pictures above to see just how many bees it really was.

Vacation!...in Rock Springs

Last week I was on vacation. I was in Rock Springs, WY which is not much of a destination but it was fun anyway. And it was very nice to have some relaxing time after 7 weeks of 6-days-a-week working in Africa. I visited Beth, Chris, Caitlin and Ashlee for a week and here are some of the highlights:

• Standing in the driveway so Caitlin could ride around me on her tricycle
• Going on walks with Beth and/or the girls
• Listening to Caitlin copy exactly what Beth was saying
• Caitlin talking non-stop during meals and explaining to us that "after I eat my piece of corn bread all gone I am going to have that piece and then that piece" (sure Caitlin )
• Ashlee waving and clapping
• Finding a steal of a deal on long jeans at the mall - buy 1 get 1 free - resulting in $10 jeans for Beth and me
• Meeting up with Taffy and her kids in Green River for the afternoon
• Riding to Green River and Logan, UT with Chris wedged in the back between two car seats - he was a really good sport about that
• Helping Caitlin put on "sun scream" and playing "membory"
• Reading books
• Visiting Grandma and Grandpa and the Stuarts in Logan

These are some pictures of us playing "membory". Ashlee was not very content with just sitting on Beth's lap and watching.

10 Year Reunion

I have been very busy since returning from Africa, therefore adding no posts. I am now however back in the saddle :)

Last weekend Beth and I attended our 10 year high school reunion in Laramie. Back in May I convinced Beth that we should go and we are super glad that we did. It was a good time and really great to see high school friends. There was a mixer on Friday night followed by riding in the parade and a picnic lunch on Saturday. It is amazing how much yet how little everyone has changed. This is a picture from the picnic, taken by my "coolest person on the face of the earth" brother-in-law Chris. In case you don't see me, I am on the top row (for those 6' tall or taller) in a purple shirt next to Beth in a green shirt. It was a great weekend. The only down side was missing those classmates who couldn't come to the reunion.