The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
(This will all look and work better if you click on the actual post and do not remain on the main page.)
I'm late getting this post out because this morning, as we were getting ready to putter around with some yard and house work, The Artist and I (and the children) noticed some frantic activity in one of the hives.
The bees were swarming!
My granddaughter ran in to get Papa from his study. In a matter of minutes, they had settled over onto the nearest pear tree, which was pretty advantageous — they were within reach, and although the tree is overgrown and obviously in need of pruning, at least they didn't go further down into the wild tangles of brush.
My theory is that they do want to swarm into a fruit tree, based on this episode plus a beekeeping friend's experience that his bees always swarmed to the exact same branch on the same apple tree right in his yard. They were so reliable that he made a box with one end the right shape to go over the branch they favored. All he had to do was walk over and shake them into it! This man had about 20 hives in his small city backyard!
Before Phil could go collect this swarm, we had to make room for them in the top bar hive, which was still hanging out in the back where the apiary had been. As you will remember, we moved the other two (more conventional Langstroth) hives out in front here near the garden. They have definitely been doing extremely well with the exposure to the early morning sun here on the hillside.
He scootched the two over and we made room for the top bar hive. It all looks very professional and pinteresty, and not at all like three people, only one of whom was currently suited up, had shoved things over and around to make it all work before the bees found somewhere else to go! (I really give John credit for this episode — he is not used to bees and was going way outside his comfort zone to help.)
Later we will put the roof on it — things have to be fixed up a bit. It all happened rather quickly!
(It gets really hot with the suit on — here Phil had shed the top of his suit to go collect some implements for getting the swarm out of the tree, after our hasty hacking together of the extended bee platform.)
Note super classy duct-taped bin… and I may or may not have just raided those woodchips to level out the legs of the top bar hive…
He thinks he got the queen, and so far they seem to be settling in! So maybe we now have three colonies! (But the morning's work isn't done… and that's how it goes sometimes!)
On to our links:
- I know that many of our readers are in the market for cars that seat a bunch of people. Well, I'm not sure who is in the market for a car that can hold a bunch of gallons of drinks in its numerous — nineteen (19), to be exact — cupholders. Two thoughts that are really not sufficiently explored in these articles, in my opinion: First, I just find it funny that Subaru settled on a prime number, not just a number not divisible by the 8 passengers (7 if you realize that to access two of the cupholders you have to forfeit one passenger) and second, you are not really going to be able to go far with occupants this highly hydrated. You probably can have a car with 19 cupholders or a car that can go far, but not both. Hat tip to my son Will for these stellar investigative articles!
- The family is God's original plan for evangelization. When you devote yourself to the humble beauty of home life, you have no idea the good that you do. Doug Mainwaring writes about how just being near a good family saved his marriage.
- “Man must be described according to his persona and the fact that he is created in the image and likeness to God and his vocation to eternal life.” Cardinal Müller addresses gender ideology in response to Dan Mattson's book, Why I Don't Call Myself Gay (highly recommended, by the way, by me — this is an affiliate link, and if you use it, a little money comes our way).
- A podcast about Operation Rescue, the largest civil disobedience movement in American history. I appreciate the time markers in the post (so you can find your place) and that these interviews are of Bill Cotter, a real American hero who has spent a significant amount of time in jail for rescuing the unborn, and my husband, Phil Lawler, who wrote a good book about the movement and what it means for our time. (Interesting that we now have five — five — bishops who participated in Operation Rescue!)
- Right now in Catholic intellectual circles the growing hegemony of relativism has occasioned a turn against the American Founding and its thinkers. This long article by Robert Reilly takes on one of the foremost critics of “liberalism” (in the sense of America's experiment with basic freedoms within a system of checks and balances), Patrick Deneen. “Around the time of Murray’s book, Leo Strauss pointed out that “unqualified relativism” was characteristic “of Western thought in general” (emphasis added). Indeed, no Catholic country has withstood it and most of them, like Italy and Spain, are in worse shape than the U.S. Why has America proven more stalwart? Why was it the principal redoubt against Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, both of which embodied the voluntarism that Murray decried? And why does America today remain by far the strongest force against the contemporary expression of voluntarism in Islam? Though the United States is obviously not incapable of wholesale defection from the laws of nature, its greatest chance of recovery lies in returning to its principles, not in jettisoning them.”
- Homage to Chesterton, by James Matthew Wilson. Orthodoxy was the book that sent me on my way to the Catholic faith: “As Chesterton notes in his introduction to Orthodoxy, all these ideas he came up with on his own, thinking them new, revolutionary, unheralded—only to discover that they were the basic, orthodox positions of Christianity: Life is a Gift; the universe is built of irreplaceable small, personal attachments; our lives are small but great dramas of good and evil, of reason and unreason; our reason and knowledge are real already at the level of common sense and hardly require the withering “tests” of the modern philosophers.”
Today is the feast of St. Marcellinus and St. Peter. Tomorrow is Corpus Christi. Will there be a procession where you are?
From the archives:
- Planning a wedding? This series from Deirdre will help! (They are all linked at the end.)
- Horizontal surface management in the kitchen.
We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).
Bethanne says
I appreciated the Mainwaring article. Stick to your primary vocation–marriage–and you can change the world in ways you may never know. Our diocese is raising one million dollars for evangelization…they intend to teach special people in each parish to evangelize with classes taught by “experts.” This article gives me hope that I am doing my part (for free!) to further God’s kingdom. Thanks for all the support you send our way. It is a great service to the Church and to the world.
Kelly says
Our church has a Eucharistic procession through the cemetery, past the outdoor Stations my younger son built for his Eagle Scout project to the outdoor altar my older son built for his Eagle Scout project! Needless to say we get a little excited at our house 😊
Adele says
Thank you for the Mainwaring article. It is always heartening to be reminded that what we do, even when its small and sometimes especially when its small, matters. Thank you.