May is a transitional month for us as we can finally plant the garden and the bees are starting to build up the colony ahead of summer. This May, we also had shearing, family visits, and writing a lot of postcards. Plus, I got a long-awaited acceptance from one of my favorite, ultra-competitive lit mags, but more on that in the future.
Family Visits
At the beginning of the month, my mom and sibling came to visit. They were here for shearing day and we had a nice Mother’s Day brunch. We also visited the Butterfly Pavilion and, at home, watched some caterpillars that Mom brought with her build their chrysalises. Unfortunately, the butterflies did not hatch until after Mom and MJ left, but we still really enjoyed releasing the butterflies.
This past weekend, Julio’s parents came to visit. Our daughter ran her abuela and abuelo ragged with playing. We also played most of a round of Trivial Pursuit, but it was the edition that came out in 2001, so answering the dated questions was an extra, sometimes hilarious, challenge.
Bolder Boulder
On Monday, Julio and I ran Bolder Boulder. It was my sixth time running the race, which is one of the biggest 10Ks in the country, but also feels like a fun community event. I do not know what happened—I assume I tripped over my own feet—but about 1K into the race, I fell. My knees and one elbow are pretty scraped up and bruised, but it was a clean fall and I caught myself on the heels of my hands before I hit my face or head. Initially, my hands were what hurt most. I popped right back up and kept running and it was about four miles before I noticed the huge scrape on my shin. At any rate, it can’t have cost me that much time, because it was my fastest Bolder Boulder yet.
Julio was trying to make it into the Sub-40 Club, a goal he’s been chasing for a few years. Recently he ran a sub-18-minute 5K so there was good reason to believe this was his year, then last week he pulled his hamstring and started to feel under the weather. The Saturday before the race, he was not even sure if he was going to run it. When Memorial Day arrived, however, he went for it, set a new personal record, and got that Sub-40 t-shirt of glory.
Garden Fence
We finally built that garden fence to keep the chickens out. So far, they have not hopped the gate, so I am hopeful that the project was a success. We were able to use t-posts that we already had, which I spraypainted black to match each other and the gate that I purchased. The gate is a little shorter than the rest of the fence, but I read that chickens do not have good vision so if there is not a clear top bar to the gate or fence they are less likely to try to fly over it. The gate does not have a top bar and it is the tallest one I could find within our budget. The gate could be a little sturdier, but I am happy with how the fence turned out and once the weeding is done and the garden is blooming, I think it will look even better. I put rosemary by the garden gate and planted lavender for luck, too.
Bees
One of my favorite things about bees is that if they are having a problem, usually if I just leave them alone for a week, they will solve it themselves. After I split the beehive last month, The Bee & Bee raised a new queen. I even got to see her before she left for her mating flight! Then, over the next few weeks, I found three dead queen bees out front of the hive. That and the lack of eggs in the hive made me nervous that perhaps the colony was without a queen. Without any new eggs, they would not be able to raise another queen and the population of the hive would start to dwindle.
Usually, the solution would be to take a frame with eggs from the second hive and move it back so The Bee & Bee could use those eggs for a second attempt at raising a queen. But, unfortunately, that second hive, Nevermore Academy, is dealing with a case of chalkbrood, a fungal infection. There’s no treatment for chalkbrood, but it’s kind of gross and can impact the growth of the colony. I could not move a frame from them to The Bee & Bee without spreading the infection.
When I checked on The Bee & Bee on the 17th and they still did not have a laying queen, I started to panic. I did the math and realized it had been just under five weeks since I split the colony. Technically, they were still within the window for a queen to emerge, mate, and start laying eggs. The weather in the middle of the window had been cold and wet, which would make it difficult for the queen to take her mating flights. I decided that if by Memorial Day, which would be six weeks, there was no queen, I would catch Queen Wednesday and move her from Nevermore Academy to The Bee & Bee. That would give Nevermore Academy a brood break to help them beat the chalkbrood and The Bee & Bee a queen to help get their population growing again. I did not want to have to try this plan, but I thought it might work.
Fortunately, when I checked the hives yesterday, Queen Leslie Knope III was mated and laying! Such a relief! There was enough capped brood in the hive that I think I must have just missed her on the 17th. And in Nevermore Academy, the population is growing quickly and the signs of chalkbrood are clearing up. Go, bees, go!
Environmental Voter & VoteRiders
Finally, this month Get Out the Vote efforts continued. Our local Citizens’ Climate Lobby Chapter held two postcarding parties to send out 800 postcards for Environmental Voter Project. It was my sixth time postcarding with EVP and our CCL chapter’s second campaign with them. I think these organizations are so awesome, I’m so glad that they’re teaming up this year.
I also volunteered a couple of times to textbank with VoteRiders, to make sure people know what ID they need to vote and, if needed, help them get that ID. It’s another great org and they have great music for their textbanking events.
That’s it for May. We are looking forward to June, gardening, and lots of summer fun. What did you plant in your garden this year?