A friend came over and showed me how to solder pipes today, so I was able to install the new water tank.

This is Little Boy, the old one...

And this is Fat Man, the new one...

Little Boy was looking a bit old and too rusty.  The old wires are a wee bit short, so I'll replace them sometime next year.

Note for future plumbing jobs...  Get a flux brush.

I think we've gotten about two feet of snow so far.  I guess my big idea for the bee hives wasn't so big...

And it looks like the chapel birdhouse has turned Russian Orthodox...

We were in our second parade of the year!  The Town of Mercer has been holding a Candy Cane Parade for the last five years.  The MECCA ski club has been entering a float in the parade for at least the last three.  Kelly and I rode on the float, toasting marshmallows over a fake campfire...

Luckily, we had the fire to add more wind in our faces, because the temperature was in the low single-digits...

When we were lining up, we joked that there wouldn't be anybody out to watch the parade.  There were a few, but there might have been as many people in the parade as there were watching.  Some people were sitting in their cars to watch.

There were about twenty-ish other floats, including the two fire trucks, the snowmobile trail groomer, and some of the local businesses.  We won for best Non-Profit Organization, again.

After the parade, everybody went to the Community Center for cookies and cocoa.  Santa was there for the kids, and there was a table of raffle prizes for them.  Not a whole lot to do otherwise than just warm up.

I received a call today...  Apparently, I was down in Florida, near Fort Lauderdale, and charged $4000 on my credit card at a Winn-Dixie.

For those of you who don't know, Winn-Dixie is a chain of grocery stores in the Gulf Coast States.  I sure must have been hungry to spend that much money.

I wonder how many carts you would have to fill to spend $4,069.84 in a grocery store.  Ten, maybe?  Thirty years ago, we used to fill a cart for about $200, if I recall correctly.

The full quote is: "Lord knows I love that song, like a porkie with a twist ankle."

Somebody said that in my dream right before waking up this morning.  I have no idea what it means, but I love it.

Fall is here.  The peak color was a week-or-so ago, and the wind has been tearing the leaves down.  We had a light frost this morning...  First one of the season and almost record-late.

We released a total of sixty-three Monarch butterflies this year.  Thirty-five females and twenty-eight males.

I've been feeding the bees, fattening them up for winter.  Did you know you can buy a twenty-five pound bag of sugar for $12?

Had the best crop of apples ever this year...

So, I've been making apple sauce, apple crisps, and apple loafs.  If you are what you eat, I will soon be a honey covered apple.

And the most egg-citing news... Kelly found an egg in the new-chicken pen this morning!

Looks like the old hens will have some competition soon.  We have a dozen Red Stars that are sixteen months old, and thirteen Black Stars that are four months old.  We will hit 3,100 for the year so far today.  Don't worry, we never have any trouble finding homes for our eggs.

We had another four butterflies emerge over the last seven-ish days.  Only one female, so far...

She didn't stick around for any pictures.  One of the males only had three wings...

Today's two males..

The in-laws have been up, so we've been busy.  Here's a few pictures to catch you up...

I bought thirteen new chickens...

They are Black Stars, about seven weeks old, and should start laying eggs by December.  I found them in a Craigslist posting, and had to drive down to Woodruff and meet a woman in the Walmart parking lot to get them.

Last Wednesday, we went to the Loon Day Art and Craft Show...

Hoo boy!  Was it hot.

I collected some rent from the bees yesterday...

That's a quart jar and holds three pounds of honey.  I got that and another pound off one frame.  I'll post some pictures of the messy-way to get honey off a frame in a few days.

The first two Monarchs emerged yesterday.  I put them out on a cone flower this morning...

They are both male.

The first of the Monarchs will emerge by morning...

There's a second dark one almost off-camera to the right.

We have seven monarchs in the hamper.  The latest one is getting ready to form a chrysalis and pupate...

There are six in the picture.  The one in the middle is one of the two oldest and should emerge in the next couple days.

Kelly says she saw another, little one on a milkweed plant in her blueberry bushes.

There is no better pizza in the County than this one...

And I should have cooked the crust a couple minutes longer.  You'd think with all the Chicagoans coming up here, I'd be able to buy a good pizza.  Nope.  It's sad, but true.

Here's a picture Jan took...

I got to be in the Mercer Parade today.  I was "Smokey Bear's Friend"...

The parade lined up at the Mercer Ranger Station.  I took one quick picture while we were en route to the route...

There will be more pictures posted when I receive them.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Woke up early to go up to Saxon Harbor Berry Farm and pick twenty-five pounds.  Came home and made three batches of jam...

I used about ten pounds of strawberries for the fifteen jars.  I'll eat enough of the rest to almost make myself sick, then freeze what's left.

As you can see, the website is back up.  The hosting company I had been using for the last three years was billing me almost $400 for another three years of service.  Just like every other company, they are more interested in getting new customers than keeping old ones.  I think they rely on the fact that it does take some work to move a website.  I have several websites, so it's that many times more work.  I don't use any of the extra services a hosting company supplies other than hosting which makes my sites pretty portable.

I said don't look!

Just go downstairs and look at the seedlings...

Or work on beehive stuff...

Spring will come. Spring will come.

I heard a tiny hint that the website hadn't been updated in a while.  I have a handful of pictures on my phone that I didn't get around to posting last month...

The Harmon's at the triple-threat birthday party...

Kody's Christmas present from his Tennessee aunts...

The bunny is still running, but the Missouri chicken and pink-purple thing are well-chewed, too.

My ornery beehive the weekend after Christmas...

I took my gloves off to take pictures, stuck the phone in close to the hole, and a bee came zooming out and stung my finger.  At least I know they are still alive.

I've also been research chandlering on the internet.  Here's two pucks of wax from my hives that are ready for candling...