I am officially a honey bee owner!  I am so excited!  OK, they won't be ready for pick up until April.  They only give out bees in the spring - although you have to order and pay for them in November.  That's "bee"cause they have a better chance of survival in the spring when all the flowers are in bloom.
Here's a picture of the bee house.  (a hive).  It comes in two boxes, the bottom brood box and the honey super on top.  The bigger box at the bottom is where the queen lays the eggs, the nurse bees tend the brood (that would be the bee babies for you non-bee people) and they store food for the winter.  The upper super (honestly, I don't know why it's called that) is where the excess honey is stored.  That's what you get to keep for your biscuits.

 Here's a view of what's in the brood box.  There are 10 frames with a sheet of hexagonal cell shaped foundation boards.  The bees build  in that shape, so it kind of just gets them started. This box will be where the new bees come from. You think your life is hard.  If you're a female bee, work 24/7 to feed more bees, then die.  Awesome.

Anyway, here's the top honey super where the bees store extra honey.  They store extra honey for winter when they can't find pollen on flowering plants. But, if you own the hive, you steal the honey from the bees for your own use. So, what happens to the bees?  You feed them a sugar/water solution that they think is a flower supplying what they need.

Here are the gauntlet gloves and smoker.  The purpose of the smoker is to calm the bees so you can steal their honey.  Actually, what's happening, is they think there's a fire that's threatening the hive, so they gorge themselves on honey - thinking they're going to have to flee.  Fact is, they're so full of honey they can't move fast and chase you. Whatever it takes to keep them away from me, I'm OK with that.  They can think there's a fire.

Here's the netted helmet hat. Can you see me wearing all this stuff?

Well, I'm getting ready to paint  the supers some really cool colors.  They don't have to be white - so I've read on the internet..........  We'll see if the bees stay in their cool home I'm making or run for the hills.  I'm picking up a box of bees and a queen next April.  They're going to show me how to get the bees out of the  travel box and into the brood box. Once you get the queen in the box, the other bees will follow her anywhere.  I can relate to that.  Do they have princess bees?

I'll be selling honey in a couple of years so ya'll just remember that when you go to the store to buy honey that my honey will be the BEST!
I can't wait till April :)

I have been such a slacker!  I have so much to tell you but I've had this allergy attack for two weeks and just didn't have the energy.  Anyway, today I want to make a tribute to my awesome turkey frying Dad.  He fries our turkey every year at the Hostage Thanksgiving.  And - he has never made the car explode or burned down the garage or house - like you see on TV.

So, what's a Hostage Thanksgiving?  It's at my Mom's house every Thanksgiving.  We all show up and have to decorate her house for Christmas before she'll serve Thanksgiving dinner.  My mother has strict requirements:  put up the 15 foot tree (that comes in 5 different pieces), put on the lights and decorations, put the garland on the banister, garland and lights on the outside of the house, and on and on and on.  Everyone knows their place and what to work on.  It totally works.

Anyway, for all you turkey-frying wanna be's, pay attention to the master:
First, season, season, season the completely thawed turkey.

Place your fryer in a safe area without clutter, or exploding chemicals or small children. 

 Place the turkey in the drop pan.

 Wearing long sleeves and leather gloves (hot oil) slowly lower the drop pan into the hot oil.
Slowly, I said!

 After the correct amount of time in the fryer, lift the frying pan out of the oil.  Slowly, while you let the oil drain out.

 Place pan on folded newspaper for a few minutes to let oil drain before you remove the turkey.

 Ta daa!!  Isn't that gorgeous?  I have one request for next year.  Can we remove that turkey butt thing before we plate the turkey?

Another great family gathering at Thanksgiving.  We had a great time and the food was fantastic.  Lots of dominoes and double solitare competition.  Hey, my Mom gives away cash prizes to the winners!  It's become really cut-throat.  If you can't take a beating in dominoes, don't play!