[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatch Got Going 2022 #158605

Sorry to hear you lost the hives Robin.  I imagine the winters are pretty hard on them.  Did you insulate the hives and put some food in with them?  I lost one hive this winter.  It was the last swarm I caught and they just didn’t seem as energetic as the rest of the hives.  I set them up for the winter with sugar cakes and winter patties and they did eat most of that but still died off.  Don’t know for sure what happened to them.

A guy posted a video on Youtube where he thought he lost a hive from freezing weather and dumped them out onto a board.  As the sun started warming them up they slowly started moving again and 95% of them recovered.

The temperature here has been going up and down and the bees aren’t swarming just yet.  80* one day and 35* two days later.

You can use about anything to mold bees wax.  Muffin tins, Dixie cups, and I’ve seen guys use ice cube trays.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by aeronut.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Strange Problem – Headaches from New Bow #158589

I was thinking along the lines of hand shock being the culprit.

One of the first glass laminate longbows I  made from a Bingham’s kit had such bad hand shock it would almost loosen fillings in your teeth.  I tried grinding down and replacing the tips thinking that lighter tip overlays would help but nothing I have done has helped.  You didn’t happen to sneak in and get that one out of my shed did you?

After shooting that one for a while I gave up.  It was just too painful.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatch Got Going 2022 #158514

I don’t know about the bees wax being a different consistency in other geographic areas but it will be varying shades of yellow.

Any toilet bowl wax I have seen is way too sticky and you need to mix some paraffin or bees wax to it to stiffen it up.  I have just used straight bees wax for a long time.   I also use it as a blade lube on my bandsaw.

I haven’t used it as a bullet lube yet but I will when I cast the next batch.  The batch I made from a recipe on a shooters forum made a sticky mess.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatch Got Going 2022 #158446

I’ve got eight traps hung and three more that I haven’t decided a location for yet.

The honey yield depends on a lot of things.  I have five hives right now, two real strong ones, two that are building up, and one that I’m a little worried about.  I have gotten about four gallons average a year since I started.

I told my cousin I was going to try keeping just six hives and try selling the bees I catch this year.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatch Got Going 2022 #158424

I was busy a couple of days.  It felt good to be out and about.

My daughter’s boyfriend had car trouble.  We figured the starter might be acting up so I did the mallet test on it.  One rap and it sounded like the starter was full of gravel.  It took us a while to find the starter on the engine and I wasn’t going to try to wrestle it out of the nook it was hidden in.  Towed it to a garage Tuesday for repair.

Wednesday was a very nice day in the 80’s so I went out and hung five bee swarm traps.  My method to hanging them is to fasten a large sinker to some paracord and use a slingshot to launch the sinker over a limb.  It’s similar to shooting a bow anyway.  I did more in those two days than I had in the last two months.

It was windy, rainy, and 40* yesterday so I just took it easy.  My back and neck was a little sore from the activity.  Today will be in the 60’s and fairly calm winds so I’m headed back out to hang a few more traps.  Then maybe do a longbow glue-up I’ve had in the works for a while.

 

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatch Got Going 2022 #158324

I went out yesterday afternoon to scout for places to hang bee swarm traps and swung by to check the local eagle nest.  Around the 30 second mark you can see one chick raise its head up into view.  This nest is at least 20 years old and they add a little bit to it every year.  I always wonder how much it weighs.

https://youtu.be/EH6AIM5uccg

[aeronut]

in reply to: Hunting Binoculars #158302

For the timber I hunt the small monoculars are just fine for me.  I travel light and like the shirt pocket size.

Since I had retina surgery back in 2006 I have split vision which is corrected by my glasses.  I have never liked looking through binoculars while wearing my glasses because it restricts the field of view and without my glasses I have to look through just one optic at a time.

That said, I do own a pair of Nikon Monarch M511, 10×42 5.5*.  The clarity is great and the objective lenses have individual covers so I can look through either side individually.  To me they are too heavy to pack around all day.  I bought these cheap at an estate auction or I would not own them.  I can’t make myself spend the large amount of cash wanted for binoculars that I may use once a year.

As for spotting scopes I have a Bushnell Spacemaster 25x that I have owned for decades now.  It is too heavy to pack around.  I have a BSA Down Range rifle scope that is 8-32×44.  I modified a rail mount to fit a tripod and it is a lightweight package and the clarity is very good on it.  I have packed it in the hills of southern Arizona on border watch ops.  I bought this scope at a gun show for a very cheap price and am very pleased with it.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatch Got Going 2022 #158283

Had another follow-up appointment with the Dr today.  They took some x-rays and he said everything was looking good on the fusion.  Now I am waiting for my throat to get better so I can swallow better.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatch Got Going 2022 #158087

My shoulders are still achy but not much more than usual.  The tingling in my right shoulder and arm and the heavy feeling on my shoulders hasn’t come back which is a great improvement.  The bad part is I still have a hard time swallowing any solid food.  Unless I can chew it up to a liquefied state  it doesn’t go down with a lot of trouble.

It’s been five weeks and right now I would rather be able to eat normally and just put up with the shoulder pain.  They keep saying that will improve but I’m not too sure.

My last appoi8ntment was two weeks ago.  We could have done that over the phone and saved me a 58 mile one way trip.  My next appointment is March 2 which is my birthday.  They said they are going to schedule another xray and MRI to check the progress.

The Dr also prescribed a bone growth stimulator.  According to the manufacturer it emits magnetic fields to make bones grow.  ??  I have been an electrician all my working life and the last 19 years before retirement I worked as a substation journeyman.  I was exposed to magnetic fields from everything from 13kv to 138kv.  I should have bones growing out of every part of my body.

I told them unless the stimulator was free don’t send it.  It is far from being free.

Otherwise I am doing fine.  I just had a session on my Bowflex and am now going to stare at all the snow we got last night.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatch Got Going 2022 #158043

Well the bottom fell out of the thermometer last night.  I saw a high temperature of 71* here yesterday.  This morning it was 18* when I got up.

When I was working construction back in the 90’s we were building the Cessna plant in Independence, KS.  We had a 63* temperature drop in an 8 hour period one day at work.  Some of the travelers didn’t watch the weather forecast and showed up wearing T-shirts and didn’t bring any cold weather gear.  I sure got tired of listening to them moan and groan.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatch Got Going 2022 #157961

Woke up around 5:30 this morning and I could see a thin layer of ice on things.  Then it started raining and the wind started howling.  Now there is about 1″ of snow on everything and the wind is still blowing.  I think the only outside journey I’ll take today is to get the mail if any shows up.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatch Got Going 2022 #157780

The storm hit here last night and is still threatening 3-5″ of snow.  We are on the south edge of it and got a skim of ice and about 1/2″ of snow so far.  That’s enough.

My surgery follow-up appointment was this morning.  Didn’t really want to travel 50+ miles to the dr’s office in this so they rescheduled me for next Monday.

Right now I wish the wind would die down to a gale force.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatch Got Going 2022 #157690

I’ll give a short update on my happenings.

Two things I hope will pass by soon.  The Dr said it would be hard to swallow bread.  Yes, it is, along with other foods.  That is getting a little better but not soon enough.

Second is the shoulder and neck cramps.  My incision doesn’t bother me at all.  They pull your arms up and back so they can get to their work easier.  The incision is at the front of your neck, not the back.  It feels like they tied my arms in a knot.

I went out to feed the dog and do my driveway walk a while ago.  While out I spotted a duck setting its wings and landing in the crop field across the road.  I could see a lot of movement in the field without any problems.  It is nice to live in the country and have a front row seat to nature.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going 2021 #156368

I finally had my MRI done yesterday.  Laid inside of the machine and listened to it buzz and beep for fifteen minutes and for the rest of the day my upper teeth/jaw hurt.  You can’t have any metal in there but does it affect teeth fillings?

I spent last week in Tulsa, Ok at the ABABMX (American Bicycle Association Bicycle Moto Cross) Grand National races watching my youngest daughter race.  This is her 11th year.  Saw a lot of old friends and made some new ones too.

She is riding as a team member of Bombshell Bicycles and her points standing is high in her class so they traded her old bike out for a new one free of charge.

She qualified for Wednesday’s Race of Champions and did pretty good in her class.

3711 riders had pre-signed for the Race of Champions and there was a long line at the registration trailer signing up that morning.  I don’t know what the rider count for the Grands event that started on Thursday and finished late Sunday evening.

I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going 2021 #156056

When I was younger we used to go out to our river bottoms in the evenings and watch the ducks and geese fly to the fields to eat by the tens of thousands.  The flyways have changed over the years and now it’s just smaller bunches we see.  I sure miss that.

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