Memorial Day Weekend

On Friday May 25th 2012, Dave and I went to explore the Billings area.  We spent the Friday night in Bozeman then went to Billings on Saturday.

Our first stop was for lunch at Montana Brewery downtown Billings.  One of their specialties is a seletion of macaroni and cheese dishes. Dave decided to have the Southern Mac with fried chicken and bacon in the macaroni.  I had thier chicken alfredo.  Both dishes were very tastey.

After lunch we went to Pompey's Pillar.  It is a landmark used by many throughout the years.  One of the more famous people that used this land mark was William Clark. 

Pompey's Pillar is located east of Billings and is next to the Yellowstone River.

The yellowish box in the picture below is where William Clark carved his name.

WIlliam Clark ( of "the" Lewis and Clark) carved his name in the stone on Pompey's Pillar when he came thru the area. 

After climbing the 200 stairs to get to the top of Pompey's Pillar, you can see a view of the valley for quite a way out.  Would have been a better view if it hadn't been a rainy and drizzley day.

The view below is looking West from the top.

Our traditional photo at the Portal sign

Our next stop on Saturday was Pictograph caves.

There are 3 caves.  The one below is the one with the most pics on the rock.

The pictograph below shows rifles and they think the oval with the dot in the middle represents a beaver.

The pictographs are very light.  In fact it is easier to see them on the digital camera than with your eyes.

The guy at the visitor center said that on a sunny day a lot more of the pictographs will show up on your camera than what you see.  The day we were there, you could only see the red pictographs.  We were told there were a lot of black and white ones also, but we couldn't see them.

There were cottontail bunnies all over the trails.  Baby bunnies that came right up to you... Killer rabbits...

Notice the red eye?  That is always a dead giveaway.

Dave is looking in the Ghost cave.

May 27th, 2012 Dave and I went to see Battle of the Little Bighorn National Monument.

Portal sign picture

Below is Custer's last stand.

The markers represent the location of where Custer's troop died.

Custer's marker is the one with the black.

There are about 39 horses that they estimate to be in the horse grave.

There are a few markers for the Indians.  It wasn't until recently (within the last 10 years) that they started marking where the Indians died.

The memorial below is dedicated to the Indian Tribes that fought in the battle.

Opposite these horse sculptures is a weeping wall.

The monument below represents the battle where Maj. Marcus A. Reno led his troops to die.

This was my first time to the prairie side of Montana.  Dave--standing in the prairie.

The park did an excavation in the mid 90's and found a bunch of spots and places where soldiers/Indians had died.  There are markers scattered throughout the prairie battlefield.

Below is the National Cemetary located at the Battlefield National Monument.

Soldiers from many wars are buried here.

Since it was Memorial Day weekend, there were small flags on all the graves.

The saying below is on the side of the Visitors Center at the Battlefield of Little Bighorn.

We spent Saturday and Sunday nite in Billigs and then headed home Monday morning. 

It was just about the right length of trip for the weekend.

The Hive gets a 2nd Rack

May 17th- This evening Dave decided to add another rack to the hive.  Over crowded hive is one of the reasons bees swarm and leave their hive.  We don't want to lose our bees!
Also Dave wants to check to see how the queen is doing as far as laying eggs in the frames.

The bees are pretty clustered together whenever the temperatures are cooler.

I am always amazed how mellow they are when we open the hive. 

I am standing right next to the hive taking pics and they don't even care I'm there.

They are starting to use propolis to seal the cracks and parts in the hive making Dave use the hive tool to pry open the hive.

(Propolis is a resinous mixture that bees can collect from tree resins like conifer sap)

Dave pulled out a frame to see how the bees have been doing.

You can see how they are getting the combs built up with wax.

Dave pulled out another frame closer to the middle of the rack and it had HONEY!

Busy little bees!

The second rack is in place.

Dave is giving them some more sugar water. 

We will only give them sugar water for about a month to ensure they have enough to eat until there are plenty of flowers blooming.

Two Racks

These 2 racks are for the Bees.  We will not harvest any honey from these levels. 

They will be used by the bees during the winter.

Dave the Bee Man.

The Bees!!

The Bees

Special Delivery...

25,000 of them and one Queen

Men in White

Ted Hayes on the left and Dave on the right.

Spraying the Bees with Sugar water so they aren't able to fly away easily

Opening the Bee box with the hive tool

Removing the sugar water can which is also the opening to get the bees out.

The Queen Bee box is put in the hive to get the bees to stay in the hive.

The queen gets taken out of the little box after most of the bees are in the hive.

Gently shaking the bees out of the box

We were quite surprised how docile the bees were. 

I was taking pictures in short sleeves and I was only about 5-10 feet away. 

They didn't seem to mind much.  They were probably glad to get out of the tiny box.

Pouring sugar water in the hive so that the bees have something to eat until they make some honey.

 Dave is putting the frames in the rack.

We are starting with one rack, but will be adding another rack soon.

The first two racks are the brood racks.  The queen will lay eggs in these racks and they will also be their food storage for the winter.  All the honey in these two racks will be for them to eat all winter.

The entrance to the hive below.

We put out a dish of water.  The rocks are in there to give them a place to land and not drown.

The bees that came with the queen are a different type than what we will eventually have.

The Queen is a Carniolan Bee.  The Carniolan Bee originated from middle Europe.

The yellow/golden bees below are the bees that came with the queen and they are Italian Bees.  They will eventually die off and be replaced with the Carniolan Bees that come from the eggs that the Queen lays.  She was bred before she was sent to us.  Queens are only bred once in their lifetime and they live about 5 years.

Later that afternoon when it warmed up, the hive was already busy.

Dave went out that evening to check the bees again.

He kept checking them throughout the day. It was cooling down so they were pretty much tucked in for the evening.  Not a whole lot of activity at the entrance to the hive.

Ted Hayes is a friend of ours who said he would help.  He has had bees for quite awhile. 

He knows bees.

Thanks Ted.