A Busy Friday

Back in September we wrote a blog entry about a hive of bees that had taken up residence in the roof/ceiling of the front porch of our rental house.  The beekeepers came out and looked things over, let us know that the bees won't hurt anything in the house or with us and said that it was our choice (actually, the landlord's choice) whether to keep them or have the beekeepers remove them.  The landlord made the decision to have them removed.  We let the beekeepers know.  They said they'd be out to get them when the weather cooled off.  Well...it really never did.

The bees in warmer and better times.

We've had some cooler weather, but none that lasted very long or got very cold.  We had one day (so far) where the high was in the 40's, but we've mostly enjoyed 60's or better, including the 70's and 80's around Christmas and New Years.

Recently the beekeepers (Mark and Ruth Mettler of Beeutiful Bees) called us.  They'd worked out the arrangements with our landlord on permission to disassemble parts of the porch and anything else they'd need to do to extract the bees.  They told us that today would bee (pun intended) the day.

They spent the better part of an hour taking great care to remove things piece by piece.  They wanted whomever came behind them to be able to put things back together with as little problems as possible.

That main piece was removed...briefly.

Along with the beekeepers, I was juggling several tasks for work and helping Robert fix his laptop, when along comes the septic tank people delivering a new top for our tank that caved in from the propane truck a couple of weeks ago.  I missed the "reveal" when they finally got into the eave to discover...no bees.  Well...some dead ones and a bunch of empty combs.

Remnants of the Donner Bee Party

The Mettlers explained that the empty combs mean that the bees probably starved to death.  They made honey to carry them through the winter, but there wasn't enough to survive on.  They cleaned out the hive.  Some probably flew off elsewhere, but some didn't.  This was a disappointing outcome.  The only good news is that it won't cost the landlord as much for the "extraction" since there weren't any to extract, and there was far less taken apart that has to be put back together.

As I mentioned, the septic tank top was delivered.  Interestingly, the lady who dropped it off used to clean the house we are renting, so she's familiar with the family and the house.  She mentioned that there were bees there when she used to clean it.  They must have come and gone over the years.

About two hours after having the tank top delivered, two guys from the septic tank company showed up to dig out the old top and install the new one.

Safely capped.  No propane trucks allowed.

This was quite the operation.  They cleared an area for the new top, pumped out the tank, then dug out the dirt and pieces of the top that had fallen into the tank.  The next step was getting a top, that weighed almost as much as the excavator, from the trailer to the tank.  That was no easy feat, but these guys were masters of ingenuity.

They lifted the top getting the excavator as close to it as possible...you know...leverage and all...then moved it little by little.  Picking it up.  Moving a little.  Setting it down.  Picking it up.  Moving it a little.  Setting it down.  It took four or five steps, but they got it in place, and the yard looks good as new.

It'll green up in no time!

So that's our Friday!  Saturday is shaping up to be interesting I hope.  Hint...I get the tractor back from the repair shop and Neta and I are going to the Savannah Home and Garden Show.  Should be a fun-filled weekend.  If anything really excites us, you'll probably read about it.