Honey Bees 4.26.10

Has anyone else noticed that Honey Bees seem to like our boats? I’ve even had them land on or follow us when on the water…usually only one or two but they are there.

Yesterday I had 3 Honey Bees trying to get behind the teak on the side of the boat. They didn’t bother me as I went in and out but they always returned to the same spot. No hole there that I can see……this morning there were 4…I do believe they think that big white boat is a giant beehive….

So…..I have set up a hive. My sister, JoAnne, gave me most of the parts…but I had to borrow the “porch”  and the cover from my neighbor, George, who has 4 hives of his own. He gave me instructions on what to do to get it ready….and will help me when, and if, I am able to attract a swarm.

Bees send out scouts for new homes when a hive gets too large and wants to split…I am hoping that’s what looking at my boat…scouts…now….I can’t say that Jim is thrilled with this idea…but he is going along with it for now…

This is what the bees make their honeycomb on…

I think this hive has 11 …once that one is dropped into the slot on top…the panel lying on it’s side with the hole goes on top of them..it leaves a small space so they can get from one panel to the other.

Then the top covers the whole thing.

So….after I get this all together…sitting on a wheel barrow so I can move it once they decide they like it….I sit in the boat and watch the bees….they don’t show any interest at all…I couldn’t even get them to look at a plate with a bit of honey on it.  So I washed the area on the boat that they were so interested in with soap and water…then put a piece of wet paper towel over the spot to discourage them…

The next thing I knew…I had 7 Honey Bees flying in an out and landing on the wet paper towel…so I sat and watched for awhile longer. I finally realized they were after the water in the towel. Each bee would drink …then fly away…..

I made up a bee water bowl… the paper towel in the tray is so they don’t drown…and they seemed to like having it to sit on. I placed it on the stepladder and removed the wet one from the boat…it only took a few minutes for one to find it and then they just kept coming back to it. At first I moved it when no bees were there and they wasted a lot of time trying to find it…you could almost tell where it had been sitting when a bee came back…..I kept moving it until I had it on a small step ladder and then I moved it a few feet at a time until I had it near the birdbath… the next step was to put a piece of paper towel on the bird bath…

I’ve had bees coming to the bird bath in the past…but these were happy with what they found on the boat…we get a lot of condensation in the snaps..perhaps that was it…I figured the thunderstorms we had last night would create better places for them but they were working on the paper towel at the bird bath early this morning….and none on the boat…..so I guess these are the “water” bees.  Every bee has a job and honey was not in their job description…may be “union” bees.

I put the hive in the only spot that doesn’t get a lot of mowing. I will have to keep the plants cut back so the ants can’t get to it…the legs of the stand have engine grease on them to prevent them climbing…If no one moves in…I’ll store it until next year…

It’s really amazing what you can learn if you just take the time to observe something.

We are home… 4.17.10

We had no problems loading the boat on the trailer…it was a beautiful day and we headed home.

While I was on the water…I tried to publish a couple of videos and was unable to…here they are.

This gator made such a slow slide into the water it gives you a chance to see just how big it is.

In this video we were trying to get through this narrow section of one loops off the river. Jim thought I could get a better shot of the Sand Hill Cranes from the foredeck, but they had already left. There was a bar at the entrance that we had to go over. Depth gauge showed 2.7 for a quick blink and then we were over…must have been skidding the keel as we crossed it.

This is the best video of the Sand Hill Cranes and the 2 chicks. I was standing in an 8’ inflatable dingy. Not really stable…if you’ve tried it you will appreciate this.

We are going to spend the week doing some cleaning on the boat….a good scrub and several coats of Poliglow…then we’ll be heading for the river again. Maybe we’ll get luck enough to see the Sand Hill Cranes with there little ones again.

4.11.10 Sand Hill Cranes and 2 little ones!!

When we dropped the hook (anchor)  last night we couldn’t find the Sand Hill Cranes. We decided to stay here anyways and it was a good decision….when I was on deck with Raisin and her “magic carpet” this morning……there they were!

Once we had our coffee cups full…we took the dingy up near the floating mat of water plants and I started taking pictures.

A few days ago my pictures only showed one…now there are two…

They look about the same size so perhaps there were hatched at same  time and I just didn’t see the other one…..I wouldn’t have known there was a little one if it weren’t for the pictures.

They aren't the best pictures but I was standing in an inflatable dingy while taking them

Jim thought I would get some better shots from the deck of the Albin…..so we got the dingy loaded on the swim platform for travel and headed up this narrow channel. Kind of made me think of the African Queen….unfortunately they had already moved to another area farther away.

It is only a bit wider than the boat and there is a shallow bar at the entrance but Jim wanted to give it a try…

We made it over the bar…the depth gauge read 2.7 for a quick flash and then we were over…..must have been scrubbing the bottom with the keel.

Lots of boats again today…..

We made a slow cruise to G109 Butchers Bend.  A couple of gators kept us company…but the real surprise was this Immature Little Blue Heron. I have been trying to get pictures of one but they always fly away…..this one let us drift right up to it.  It’s mostly white but you can see patches of blue where it is molting to it mature color.

It was really much prettier than these pictures show it.

We are anchored for the night. Weather was again perfect. We’ll be up early…and heading home….What a great week….

4.10.10 Saturday on the river

Last night a pontoon boat beached at G3 (Lungun Island). They arrived with a big stack of firewood to last the weekend. We really enjoyed the bonfire from our boat…this was our view…

It was another pretty day….warm sunshine…cool breeze. We saw a few very nice gators.

You are probably getting tired of them…but i never do…You don’t often see the whole gator…nose to tail tip..and you don’t here…but you can see that the distance from behind it’s rear legs to nose is not as long as the tail..there is at least another ft below water. Such a pretty one….

This one has some color pattern to it….and isn’t nearly as handsome as the one above.

This one is in the video below…

It has been such beautiful weather…Gators, Osprey, Bald Eagles, Sand Hill Cranes and Turtles aren't the only life on the river. ..this group consisted of 5 pontoon boats and 3 jet skis…all in a hurry…

“go fast” boats…

lots of fishing boats…and even one that travels about our speed.

We only had about 20 miles to run today so did it at a slooooow 4.5 mph…needed to charge the batteries and it was to beautiful to hurry.  No pretty bonfire tonight….just a couple of resident gators cruising around us to keep us company. We are anchored where we saw the Sand Hill Cranes with the little one…but they are gone.

4.9.10 drizzly a.m…turning into a beautiful day.

Thunderstorms were predicted for last evening….we had a few flashes of lightening and a crack or two of thunder, a few showers and then it let up. We toyed with the idea of putting in the vinyl side curtains but , instead, just moved the bench seat cushions to the captains chair area and waited to see how it turned out.  Good choice…it rained during the night but more of a straight down drizzle…the rain shields over the sleeper ports worked great ….left them open all night. Very little rain in the cockpit. It drizzled off and on most of the morning…a great day for a “lazy day”.  We didn’t do anything much most of the morning……other than go exploring in the dingy.

Mid-day it cleared up…bright blue skies and brilliant sunshine…we headed S.  Just a short trip to G3, Lungun Island, or Shell Island ( as it’s known by the locals)…

Did see one nice gator on the way.

A Pelican glided along with us for aways…..they are so much fun to watch.

Not many pictures, today….like I said…it was a lazy day.

A pontoon boat beached at the island….we heard a lot of pans banging…they were setting up camp. A nice screen room for sitting…and several big stacks of firewood. Guess they are here for a few days. They left a few minutes ago…hope they come back and start a nice fire. It will be fun to watch from our floating perch.

Well…the sun is down behind the trees…the breeze has let up…the water is flat and shiny. There is a very big gator patrolling…We saw him when we first arrived. I guess that’s one of the safest things about Florida…you don’t have to worry about anyone swimming up and boarding your boat. Even crooks wouldn’t be dumb enough to swim here at night. LOL…

We could hear a big one “growling” last night. I could picture the water vibrating from the deep rumbling he was sending out.

Tomorrow we are planning to anchor at Drigger Island….where we got the picture of the baby Sand Hill Crane. I hope I can be as lucky tomorrow.

Looks like another great night for sleeping at anchor….soooooo much better than being tied to a dock or at home.

4.7.10 Deer, Bald Eagle, Raccoon, Heron

When we were cruising near Blue Springs St Park, Jim spotted these deer on an island. It is thickly wooded and has some high ground….but the deer are feeding among the water plants. It looks like they are standing near a meadow…but she is almost need deep in water.

They look well fed…perhaps close to having a fawn sometime soon.

Yesterday we anchored in Silver Glen Springs. Ron & Karen are here with their houseboat. They have done a beautiful job on the inside, and that foredeck is a great place to spend time. You can see several boats and houseboats behind them. It was fairly busy until late afternoon…by then many had left for home. This is the view this morning, as the sun was coming up behind me.

Once we had our coffee cups full….we loaded Raisin into the dingy and headed for shore….we were not the only ones with “doggy duty”….though ours is much easier to load.

The resident Bald Eagle is standing guard….

This Blue Heron was waiting for breakfast to arrive….

and this little Raccoon looked as if he was washing his….

We stopped and introduced ourselves to John ..aboard Lilly Mae..she’s only 21’ but he has her fixed up for extended living aboard. He was sitting in the white seat  on the stern bracket…steering with the tiller when he came in. There is even a bicycle on board. By having his cooler, water storage etc on that bracket….he has uncluttered his living area. Very interesting person …living a relaxed lifestyle. 

We haven’t seen the Otters yet….but we did spot this gator on our way in…yesterday…..we thought it might be 9 –10 ft.

I was only able to capture part of him….later we spoke to Fred, who has a sailboat anchored just a bit below where we are…and he works on it during the day….he said the gator cruised past his boat and he thought it was bigger than our estimate…..Definitely will not be swimming in that area …nor after dark.

There are supposed to be thunderstorms this afternoon so we’ve decided to head S ..the batteries need charging and we’d rather do it cruising instead of using the generator.

We are anchored in the S end of Kitchner Creek, near marker  G23. There is a pair of Osprey nesting near us. I thought they looked kinda cute sitting together.

There were a couple of Herons nesting in a nearby tree. You can usually spot more than one nest in a tree top.

Well…it’s been a fun day on the water…so far no rain…but the sun is going down…time to head back to the boat.

Good night