Pinetree, when all is said and done, it will have been about 3 months start-to-finish with the nursery, which is ROUGHLY what I planned for. But PART of why I'm not staying on the extra two weeks until school lets out is that there's a pretty bad vibe going 'round that place right now. The very sweet manager that hired me got replaced several weeks ago, and the woman they replaced him with... well, she's not without potential, but let's just say she had not yet hit her stride and has problems with the words "please and thank you." One of the reasons why I agreed to take such a low-paying job was the intangible benefit of working somewhere upbeat and fun... and that's been lacking lately. But yeah, that's why I checked both "seasonal" AND "temporary" on the application.
But that will give me three good weeks between the time we get back from the wedding and the time that school lets out to do anything I need to without the kids (hello-o-o-o Smithsonians!) before summer madness starts.
As for the bees, they've pretty much been doing their own thing since day 1, I just have to keep an eye on them. The first thing was to feed them, which I've been doing. The second was to make sure the queen got released, which she didn't, so I had to help with that. Today I noticed ants were getting onto the hive to steal sugar syrup from the feeder, so I put powdered cinnamon around the hive, which is supposed to stop that. You don't want the ants getting into that habit because they'll steal finished honey just as fast as sugar water, and the bees need their supplies. When I check in this weekend, I'm looking for evidence that the queen has been doing her queen-thing and laying eggs... I should also be able to see some of that pollen they've been bringing in stored in the cells, and cells filled with nectar/sugar water. I'd be surprised to see any finished honey cells quite this soon. As long as I see evidence of the queen, then that's all I need-- if there's no babies, I'll have to look for her, and if I can't find her, I'll need to get them another queen, quick, before they all die of old-age with no babies to replace them. (fingers crossed!!!) Assuming that that's all good, then all I'll need to do for the next few months is occasionally check in to make sure they're not having problems with hive-pests, make sure they are not getting overcrowded (in which case I just add another layer to the hive) that sort of thing.
So anyway, today 1 was either 1.75/3 or 3/3, depending on whether doing a half-assed job counts
I worked at the nursery, but all I did for cleaning was a load of dishes, and the only seeds I planted were some pumpkins in small pots that I will move into the ground later when I know where I have room amongst the other things. DD6 was dying to go to the spaghetti dinner at her school, so we did that, and then I worked in the herb garden until it got too dark, which was coincidentally when I was done anyway.
Saturday:
- store meeting at the garden center wayyyy too early
- check out the community yard sale and church rummage sale near my house
- go to the farmers' market
And then I'm hoping that Hubs will help me dig some holes for the last part of the fence... and there's still PLENTY to be done in the yard, lots of seeds still needing to go in to the veggie garden, etc...
Have a good weekend!
