Bees and Bikes (But No Babies)

Glenn's prized school house hive had a traumatic week.  The weather here has been perfect for checking the hive so Glenn did an inspection last weekend.  Oliver was the keeper's assistant, Grammy served as Pearl's guardian, and I was the photographer.  The hive looked great and was filled with brood.

Grammy, Pearl and I had to take cover because a couple of the girls decided we were too close and began to head butt us.  Oliver and Glenn were brave and finished their task while I took the opportunity to take photographs of Pearl.

Two nights ago Pumpkin began barking at something in the front of the property.  Pumpkin is the sweetest dog alive, but he looked as though he wanted to tear apart an intruder.  The next day Glenn found his hive knocked to the ground.  Pumpkin perhaps was trying to tell us we had a bear or some other large animal in the front pasture.  Glenn quickly put on his bee gear and ran outside to save his girls.  They seem to be doing okay considering the horrific night they endured.

We did our second bee presentation earlier this month.  This time it was for Oliver's preschool class.  The kids seemed quite interested in bees.  They couldn't believe Oliver likes to hang out with bees and doesn't get stung.  I made the mistake of pulling honey sticks out of my purse at the end of the presentation and nearly got swarmed  by twenty preschoolers.

Today was the annual Wildflower Century bike ride.  The past few years we have gone out to the street to cheer on the riders.  Grammy thought Oliver and his cousins would have a good time trying to make some money by having a lemonade stand this year.  The boys faced steep competition from the bike club; they were serving free lemonade at the fire station across the street.

Business was booming regardless.  Some of their customers left money without even sampling the delicious lemonade.  We also sold lip balm to benefit Oliver's Aunt Kelly's "Treasure You Chest" team.  Kelly and her friends do the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer every year in Texas.  We are getting a head start for the 2012 walk.  

Oliver's favorite customer was this nice officer.  After Oliver passed his sobriety test, the officer donated all the dollars and change he could find in his car.

They scored!

Serio is still pregnant!  She is getting huge and often has unmentionable things dripping from her unmentionables.  I think it will probably happen in the next week, but I don't seem to have a very good read on goat pregnancies yet.