A step Forward Here, A Step Forward There

It has been over cast today but no rain which was a relief. At least none yet. Finished up the riding and tractor mowing but still need to do a bit of push mowing which I will do after a few inside chores. Once again several swarm traps are showing interested bee parties but no one is jumping yet.  Too much of a real estate glut in the bee market right now.

I have several projects once again laying around in various stages of completion and all awaiting something before they can move forward . The new swarm trap version 3.0 is awaiting my super secret ant defense material before it can proceed and the cistern cap is awaiting confirmation as to the actual location of the families' cement mixer. That particular mixer has been in the family for over 50 years and has been repaired and/or had the motor replaced more times than I will ever know since it is older than I am. Somehow though some family member violated the family only agreement and it wound up residing at an outsiders home. It is proving rather difficult to track down with some considerable himmming and hawing over exactly where it is and maybe more importantly exactly what kind of shape it is in. This may prove to be a major side project all it's own.

One way or another I am going to have to make a final decision but if I can manage to recover said heirloom it will dramatically decrease my costs to finish the cap and will prove useful for future projects as well. Not to mention save me some back breaking hand mixing work.

After the cistern cap is completed I can move forward to the deck extension and hand pump addition and that will complete my emergency water storage plans altogether. Well except for the pond expansion and eventual well redrilling so it will complete that particular sub-plan I guess. Heh it never stops does it :)

At least I can see dry patches out in the garden once again. With a little luck if the rains hold out tonight I may be able to get started on the weeding tomorrow and finish putting the grass mulch in place.

The bees appear to be building up nicely, even the one that barely survived Winter seems to be getting more active once again. I am now 4 swarms behind last years score but as I have mentioned before I think the main season maybe running a few weeks late this year. With luck my delivery will arrive soon and I can put the  swarm trap project/experiment to the test.

I guess I should have said baby steps forward.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!