Vacation!

We are going on an adventure!!!

Two week adventure by backpack.  This has been scaled back, but some things are missing too - like rain boots, travel books and a map.  

Honey!

We pulled honey last weekend...
Aaron getting the smoker going

The middle hive pulled apart.  We had a huge swarm a few months ago we were unable to catch, and then cold rain came for about a week, so we lost them all.  It had to have come from this hive, because there were hardly any bees left, and even though there had been quite a bit of honey earlier in the year, it was mostly gone too.  We pulled this hive apart and left the few bees to absorb into the neighboring hives.

Aaron with our honey!

We added in Apiguard to treat for varroa mites, you can see the little boxes we put in the middle to make room for it.  

Honey taking over our kitchen.

This is always a sticky mess!

Aaron, extracting.

Honey!  We got just under 7 gallons this year.

Aaron did get stung on the last hive.  He always has a huge reaction, but this was his smallest one actually.  We always take a preventative loratadine, and he took another one right away with this sting. I've only had 3 stings in 3+ years, which I think is pretty good.

They all look the same, but we separated out 3 kinds of honey this year.  5 gallons of one, 3/4 gallon, and half of another.

I have to switch out the medicine in a week, remove it for the winter, and then they will be tucked away and I get a break from beekeeping for a few months.

Eagle Crest

We had a small family get together in Eagle Crest last weekend.  We met up for dinner Friday night, then got up early with my parents and two of my uncles and headed to Smith Rock for a hike up to Monkey Face.

Monkey Face

We were able to get really close to it.

Check out the climber on the left for scale.  There are over 1500 climbing routes in the park!

We headed to Bend for a few hours for some quick shopping, then back to Eagle Crest for a BBQ at my aunt and uncle's house.

Sunday I got up early and headed toward Sister's to hike Black Butte by myself.  It was smokey, but still great views of all the mountains in the area.  Here are the 3 sisters.

Almost to the top.  There was a fire watch tower at the top, and just a handful of other people thanks to my early start.  1 hour 40 to the top, 45 minutes down.  A great hike I hope to do again with Aaron.

Meanwhile...I had announced at dinner Friday night that Aaron had NEVER ridden a horse!  Knowing that my uncle, who lives in Arizona, had brought his two horses with him.  Well that was an easy fix, Dick was all over it and a Sunday morning ride was quickly arranged.  I would have loved to have gone too, but no horse for me.  Aaron had a great time, they went out for about 2 hours.  Long enough for him to get a little experience.

Aaron riding Blonde

We met back at the house and headed over to the Deschutes County Fair with my parents.  We were all impressed with the size of this fair!  Not only in the fairgrounds - which were large, but with all the entries.  Here is less than half of the canned food that was entered in open class - just the senior section.  We went to the Marion County Fair this year, and this was much more fun with all the participation.

Piglets

Lots of chickens too!  Way more than the State Fair has.  This rooster was a hot mess.

The plan was to stop at Sno Cap on the way home, but the line was to the street, so we passed and settled for gingerbread at the Gingerbread house in Mehama.  Yum!

We had a great weekend!  My least favorite thing about Salem?  Easily the lack of hiking, which is my favorite form of exercise.  It was nice to have the outdoors as our playground for the weekend!