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West Nile Virus – Aerial Spraying

As if insult was not bad enough when they started spraying for West Nile Virus infected mosquitoes.  Now Dallas County plans to move forward with aerial spraying of Dallas.  That’s definitely adding injury to insult! (Yes – I know it’s backwards – but it’s how it is)

WNV is reported to give the same symptoms as the flu or a “summer cold”  including fever.  There are 9 (so far) reported “confirmed deaths” from WNV in Dallas county.  In EACH of those cases – they have refused to give basic information about the deaths.  What was the victim’s age?  What other health issues did they have?

Well – What health issues are the “powers that be” going to spray onto us?  they DON’T KNOW.  They say “Bring your pets in, Stay Inside” and in the same sentence they proclaim that it’s “Safe”.  Huh? Do you really think that we believe this line of dialogue?

Even the EPA recommends using spot control to eliminate mosquito larvae at the “local levels”. (See document here: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/mosquitoes/mosquito.htm )

The EPA lists steps as:

  • Surveilance
  • Measures to Control Mosquitoes –
  • The first method listed by the EPA is:Controlling mosquitoes at the larval stageLarvicides target larvae in the breeding habitat before they can mature into adult mosquitoes and disperse. Larvicides include:

    Bacterial Insecticides

    • Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis
    • Bacillus sphaericus

 

Folks,  please… Contact your local city representative and OPPOSE the blanket aerial spraying of YOUR city for West Nile Virus.  It is my position that the people that do unfortunately succumb to the symptoms of the WNV – *really* have other underlying health issues that make them susceptible to an additional stress upon their body.  We saw it with H1N1 (Swine Flu).  The people that died and were confirmed as having been tested positive for H1N1 – ALREADY HAD MAJOR MEDICAL ISSUES THAT THEY WERE DEALING WITH.    I have a close friend that had H1N1 at the time of his death.  He also suffered from stage 3 emphysema.  Who got the blame for the death, though?  Piggie Flu.

What can YOU do to help?

  • Be an EDUCATED resident.  Ask pertinent questions (like: “WHAT is the chemical that will be sprayed?”, “What time of day will it be sprayed?”
  • Research the active ingredient.  See what it’s history is for human contamination.  Does it cause birth defects or in ANY other way disable the human nervous system or body?
  • Take action after you learn the answers.  Contact your city rep.  Contact your State Rep. – and voice your opinion.  I highly recommend that it be an opposition to blanket spraying of a city.  Also available are petitions that can be submitted to your city.  Here’s one:  http://www.change.org/petitions/dallas-stop-the-spray-combat-mosquitoes-the-intelligent-way

Folks – PLEASE – be an educated resident of your locale.  CARE for your family and neighbors.  Don’t let your city become a gas-chamber for a slow-release cancer than may not show up for years – or it may show up in the upcoming fetal generations.

 

 

Score at an estate sale

Shannon and I visited a Tyler area estate sale last weekend.  I’d gone through the house – as well as the tool shed, and didn’t really see anything that caught my eye.. until we were leaving – I glanced down at a brown box.. that simply said “bee box” on it.

Of course, my interest piqued, and I looked into the box.  It was tagged at $20 – and this day happened to be a 25% off day.  So – a $15 “bee box”.  Upon further looking, this looks to be a vintage kit.  Bottom board kit, a 10-frame deep, and a split lid with center-cleat.  Also 10 deep frames.  Take a looksee at the pictures, and see if you recognize who may have manufactured a kit like this.  The wood is all cedar (and smells FANTASTIC!) – and the real thing that sets this box aside from any others is the top cover – with it’s strange end overhangs and the center-rail that covers the split between the two boards that create the top cover.

I assembled the kit today – and it’s 100% complete.  But I’m still wondering who manufactured it, and what approximate year it would have been sold.

The instruction sheet was in the box – falling apart – but legible.  I’ve taped it back together.  There is no identifying brand on the instruction sheet either.  BUT – The cardboard box has a stamped “624” on it – which I presume to be a stock number or a kit number.

Any ideas?

Trapout – for naught…

The trapout posted several days ago will not work.  The bees have another entrance/exit about 10-15 feet in the air in the tree…  There were no foragers from the bottom, because they were simply there for ventalation.

I’ll re-evaluate the tree later in the week, and see if I can close off the main entrance, so that the trapout can be effective.

New Trap-Out Started

Here are photos from a trap-out that was started this morning.  These bees were VERY gentle.  I believe that they have been here under 72 hours, and are still in comb-building mode – as there were NO foragers exiting & returning.

 

 

 

 

And a MORE close up shot:

 

 

Here is the trap-out setup:

More Kitchen Work…

Another update for the work on the house:

7/25/2012

  • Removed kitchen sink and countertop and back-splash
  • Removed rotten wood (36+ years old home with particle-board cabinets that had gotten wet)
  • Ordered cabinet hardware (hinges and pulls)
  • Replaced all rotten wood on the cabinets
  • Repaired my compressor
  • Repaired water line after shooting a nail through it (don’t ask! I measured 2x for stud spacing!)

7/26/2012

  • Finished replacing all cabinet wood that required it
  • Started scraping cabinets of old paint

Only 6pm,  and more painting prep to go for the evening.

High Gear – Home repairs

My motivation for getting the house repairs completed has been given an adrenaline shot.

7-19-2012:

  • Finished tiling master bathroom tub surround & floor
  • Grouted master bathroom tile & floor

7/20/2012

  • Removed about 3/4 of the 2-layers of linoleum flooring in the kitchen
  • Scraped adhesive to bare concrete floor

7/22/2012

  • Removed all wallpaper and paper backer from kitchen
  • Removed all cabinet doors from kitchen
  • Scraped popcorn from kitchen ceiling to repair settling cracks in drywall
  • Removed fluorescent light cover & grid to repair (will repair later on – maybe next week)
  • Found supplier for replacement hinges and door/drawer pulls for all cabinets through the house
  • Found local tub re-finisher for re-surfacing the kids’ bathtub

7/23/2012

  • Removed all hinges and screws from the cabinet doors and drawers
  • Boxed and removed all kitchen items left in the kitchen drawers & cabinets
  • Removed backsplash and counter tops along south wall of kitchen
  • Sealed grout in master bath with 2 coats of grout sealant
  • Tape & bed ceiling settling cracks in kitchen
  • Primer (Kilz) walls that were wallpapered – to texture afterwards
  • Contacted contractor to get pricing for replacement carpet in bedrooms and closets
  • Repaired can-light over kitchen sink

That said… I’m tired.  It will be a long night finishing up today’s tasks – then tomorrow begins the work again.

The ladies are hot!

  The ladies are HOT!  We’ve finally – now that we are in late July – hitting 98 to 102 degrees outside.  Bee sure to provide fresh water for your honeybees – just like you would for your dog or cat.  The honeybees use the water to help cool the hive (evaporative cooling) – to maintain appx. 95 degrees F.

Subscriptions

Just a quick note to announce that followers of this blog can now subscribe to my blog, and receive instant updates whenever I update the Harmony Hollow Apiaries site.

Thank You
Rex & Shannon

New Face for Bohemian Utopia

Be sure to take a looksee at the new face for Bohemian Utopia at BohemianUtopia.com. There’s still many updates and cleaning to be done… but it’s made it a long way!

Rex

Plug on Podcast – BKCorner

I wanted to send a special shout-out and thank you to Kevin Inglin of Beekeeper’s Corner.  Kevin noted this blog (and Harmony Hollow Apiaries) in Episode 31 of his podcast BKCorner.  He also has a Facebook page HERE.

I have yet to build the hive-stand of Kevin’s design – however, I do plan on doing so in the near future.  (Possibly in the Fall or winter “rebuild time”) I’ll keep you tuned in and will post photos as soon as I have it built.

On a separate note:  My rescue line for the Dallas, Texas area will be inactive as of the end of June 2012.  I will update the page to list only the line from our Tyler, Texas location.