A Southern Daydreamer ~ Outdoor Wednesday

I'm joining A Southern Daydreamer's Outdoor Wednesday again with my post about the Hippy Bees ~ Revisited. Be sure to read my post then click here to head over to visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer for all the other Outdoor Wednesday participants.

The Hippy Bees ~ Revisited

I've received quite a few (two) emails asking about the Hippy Bees? Did the Bee Whisperer kill them?

So I thought I would update everyone with the story of the bees and photos.

My bee whisperer showed up the day after he said he would, but this time instead of arriving on his white horse (big white truck) wearing his Knight in Shining Armor outfit (jeans and a tshirt), he came in his small politically correct green car (I don't mean the color green but the gas saving, energy saving, save the planet "green" car). And he wearing his Young Republican outfit, dress slacks, white shirt and a tie!

Ack! I was shocked, but then he smiled and all was right in my world once again. My muse was still...my muse!

We went into the backyard and he's checking out the hives and he can't believe how much bigger they are. He tells me he will be back around 8:30 or 9pm with a ladder, his Bee-Man suit and the poison because there is no way he can save them, the hive is just too big.

He comes back about 45 minutes later with a posse of Bee-men (ok, one - one bee man). His posse is an expert bee keeper and he comes out and says, "Yep, those are a whole lotta bees!" Don't you love experts? So they Ooh and aah at the bees and they decide it's going to take about three times of spraying the poison and then the tree trunk will have to be filled with some type of air foam that sprays out of a can and fills in big holes so that the bees won't come back. I'm all for it...I sure don't want them to come back.

So the Bee Whisperer comes back at about 8:30pm with his ladder and full Bee-man regalia and he asks me to turn the back door light on and go inside. I do, cause I really don't want to be anywhere near those bees when he irritates them.

I watch by the window and he keeps telling me not to come out...and I keep telling/yelling at him, "Don't worry...I won't". And he places the ladder on the tree and climbs up about 10 feet and starts to spray them.

And oh my gosh! Did those bees ever get mad, all of a sudden they fly towards the backdoor light where I am standing by the backdoor, safely inside and I can hear them buzzing. It sounds like a chain saw and the sky is filled with them.

My Bee Whisperer finishes his job, loads up his ladder takes off his suit and comes to the front of the house to the front door and advises me that it might be a good idea not to go out back tonight at all and maybe not tomorrow either and he will be back in a couple of days to spray them again.

So I kept an eye out to see what was going on, safely, through the window for the rest of the night until I went to bed. I could see tons of bees all over my back patio. I finally turned out the light and went to bed.

This is what I saw the next day. . .

A pile of dead bees near the trunk of the tree... click on the picture and it should enlarge.


You can see little bee carcasses all over the cement there by the tree trunk, they were like that all over the patio, you had to sweep them out of the way to get to the trunk.

The Bee Whisperer is definitely going to have to come back again, because even though those are a lot of bees on the ground there are still a bunch in the tree.

Here's a shot of before the Bee Killing . . .


And here's a shot of the hive today. As you can see there are a lot less bees, but there are still some there. More than likely the queen bee is still there and these bees that are left are there to protect her and won't leave.

So my Bee Whisperer is slated to come back tomorrow. Hopefully he can get them all, but I will keep you all updated.

Bee Happy!

Thrift Shop Treasures

Whew! I just barely made it.
For what you ask?
Well of course for Rhoda's final "Today's Thrifty Treasures" event!

She's going to be taking a break now that fall is here and yard sale season is almost a distant memory.

I barely made it because I just got off a train and raced like a bat out of "H E, double toothpicks" to my computer to write my post to link up to Rhoda.

I just got back from visiting my daughter in Turlock. My mom and I rode the Amtrak! That was the first time for either of us and I'll post stories and pictures later, but let me tell you...I found lots of treasures. The ones below though are from last weekend.

Hey...Happy Easter! I know, I know...it's almost time for Halloween, not Easter, but I just couldn't pass on this! Isn't it adorable! I can't wait for Easter now!


And I finally found a real cloche. This one is pretty small, you could probably fit a cupcake into it. I still want to find a beautiful, ornate stand for it. But it was a great buy and they are hard to find in our area!

And I found this gorgeous bird cage. Still don't know what I am going to do with it. Any ideas? For now I moved the Russian Nesting Dolls and my daughter Tea Cup from the upside down hurricane/cloche and displayed them in the bird cage so the photo would have more than just an empty cage.

I found another beautiful birdcage today at a Thrift Shop in Modesto, but unfortunately because we were on the Amtrak I couldn't bring it with me as I already had my suitcase full and it wouldn't have fit anyway.

So that's it for today. I found lots of goodies this weekend as well; including many pumpkins and fall display items, but unfortunately I've had no time to clean them up and get them photographed and posted. I'm going to have to find another wonderful hostess like Rhoda to get me through the winter months. Anyone?

Be sure to go see what treasures everyone else found. Just click on the button below.

Iwanna Wednesday

Hey...thanks for all the comments and emails I received regarding my Hippy Bees. Unfortunately they are still out there because my bee whisperer was unavoidably detained and then I missed his phone call, but he promised to come tomorrow.

But, this is Iwanna Wednesday...the day I can want anything. My sister and mom call me Iwanna because the second I walk into ANY STORE I instantly see something I want. Sometimes it's not even a store, I can just drive by a house and see a rock or a window or a lawn jockey and Iwanna it. I know; it's a gift.

I'm sure you've all seen or may even have a wall saying on your wall, such as these:




I love those, they're sweet...but I'm not a the sweet, mushy type. I'm more the sarcastic, funny type, so what Iwanna today, for Iwanna Wednesday is to see some made up that say things such as these:


FYI...this is my bed, I just whited out the wall display and put the sayings on the now blank wall, and no...I don't have a two toned wall, I'm just not a great Paint Shop Pro, Pro!



And my personal favorite. . .

What's your favorite saying? Do you have a wall saying? What's it say? Inquiring minds Iwanna know...lol. Get it? A play on words.
What? You don't get it? Ok, well moving on. Til next Wednesday, Cya!

Outdoor Wednesday with A Southern Daydreamer

I'm taking my Hippy Bees on the road all the way to A Southern Daydreamer's Outdoor Wednesday. Be sure to go see what everyone else is finding in the great outdoors!

The Hippy Bees

"Imagine a dark bar, beatniks, candles, incense in the air, the sound of the bongo as you read this poem"

Aren't we all like the Hippy Bees? *bongo*
Trying to find where we belong. *bongo*
A place in the swarm where we feel it's warm. *bongo*
Away from the hive and the bees that thrive, *bongo*
with the queen and the drones.

*Finger Snap, Finger Snap, Finger Snap*
Taking a bow...Thank you, thank you!


WHAT THE HECK!!!
Is that what you are wondering right about now? What's all this talk of Hippy Bees and Beatniks and Bongos and poetry?

Actually I was just setting the stage for my first formal poetry reading.
What?
You didn't notice that was a poem above?
A poem about Hippy Bees?

Well it was. It was my first Blog poem ever, and I'm sure you are hoping my last :-)

I was inspired to write that poem a few months ago. I believe I've mentioned in previous posts that I have a bee problem in my back yard!

My whispering beekeeper came back a month or so ago and tried to climb up into the tree to place a portable beehive in the branches in hopes that the bees would move into the portable beehive and then he could just take them away rather than kill them. Unfortunately he wasn't able to get the portable beehive up into the tree because of the branches.

My bee whisperer then coined the phrase "Hippy Bees". He said these were unsociable bees that weren't happy in the hive so they left and began their own little commune where they live happily. And that my friends, is what promoted me to write the poem above. This gorgeous bee whisperer was my muse :-) Alas, my muse said he would be back later in the week to trim the branches and place the beehive in the branches...he never came back.

My bee problem has gotten bigger since that day...just take a look at these photos, you won't believe it. (click on photos to enlarge, and be careful they don't sting you!)

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!


Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!


I told you you wouldn't believe it. It started as a small little honeycomb about 6 inches by 8 inches, now it looks like there are 8 or 9 honeycombs! Up to now they haven't been a big problem. You don't see them flying around the yard much...not only are they hippy bees, but they are lazy hippy bees!

Unfortunately, now in the morning when I get up it's still dark outside and I usually always open the bathroom window while I take my shower. Well bees like the light and they squeeze themselves through the bottom of the window screen and the ones that don't make it in just sit there on the screen buzzing and scaring the crap outta me! So ...they gotta go.

I called several apiaries. The least expensive price I was given for a beekeeper to come out and take them physically away was $450.00!!!! These are bees people; not terrorists...geesh! The lowest price I was given for someone to just come out and kill them was $150.00, but they can't guarantee they won't come back. I was devastated. That's quite a bit of thrifting treasures cash money I won't be able to use if I pay the apiary guy :-(

So I called the whispering beekeeper...and just like the gorgeous prince I've always known he was he said he would just come kill them for free and all I have to pay for is the poison which is around $20.00. Tomorrow he will come and my bee adventure will be...a distant memory.
*bongo* Aren't we all like the Hippy Bees? *Finger Snap, Finger Snap, Finger Snap*
*Silence*

Who Do I Love?

You know who I love? Ann Curry. For those living under a rock that have never watched TV, Ann Curry is the News Anchor on my favorite morning show, which airs on NBC...The Today Show.


On Friday, September 19, 2009, NBC aired an interview which Ann Curry did with the president of Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I didn't get to hear much of it as I had to head to work, but today I went to NBC's website and listened to a little bit of it and then just read the transcripts instead as it distracts me to hear the President talking and his interpreter talking as well.

She asked some very valid and brave questions and to me got a lot of avoidance and double talk by the president.

It is not only because of this interview that I think she's brave or that makes me love her. But because of many other interviews she has done. She's also had some daring adventures. Last year in November she made it to the absolute end of the earth after trying for eight days. Ann made it to the South Pole and at 1am New York time she did a live feed by satellite in which she said,

“We can feel the altitude,” Curry reported. “I can feel all the moisture on my face freezing as I’m speaking to you. We’re the first NBC News team to make it to the South Pole. We’re feeling really lucky. The sun is shining. It’s absolutely beautiful here. It’s flat. Lots of great people. We were actually, if you can believe it, greeted by ‘Welcome Ann’ signs. I can’t believe that.”

Ann also cut her hair...for charity. Ann grew out her hair specifically for the reason of donating 10 inches of her beautiful, gorgeous, jet black hair to Locks of Love, the charity that makes wigs for children who've lost hair because of alopecia. There's a beautiful video of Ann, her daughter, and her daughters friends as they all donate their hair and you can see it here.

For so many reasons, I love Ann Curry. She always gets my day off to a great start and she's my hero!

Thrift Shop Treasures

Ok, I admit it...I'm a Thrift-a-holic. You know you're a thrift-a-holic when you start visiting thrift shops on your lunch hour and after work on your way home. Gone are the days that I used to get my thrill only on Saturday mornings. Now I feel the need...the need for thrifting. I can hear the thrift shop treasures calling to me at all hours of the day. Yep...it's true, I admit it. . . "My name is Alicia; and I am a Thrift Store Junkie". Hey that's catchy, I wonder if anyone is using that as their blog name?

Ok, I'm back, I had to go check and that name is available. There is a website called Confessions of a Thrift Store Junkie though; and her blog is really cool, lots of treasures, go visit. *sigh* It's so sad, someone else with the same addiction as mine...oh well, at least I'm in good company!

I know there will be more than 100 other junkies linked up to Rhoda at Southern Hospitality's Thrifting Treasures. So take a gander at my treasures and then be sure and head over to Rhoda's to see what everyone else found.

This post is going to be about an American Cancer Society Discovery Store discovery. It started as I was wandering around a week or so ago on my lunch hour (see, told you I was addicted). I saw this little yellow box and what called my attention to it was the little latch that look like a tiny ivory tusk...so I had to investigate further.

I opened it and saw this . . .

Here's a close-up. Looks like an egg of some type and there's a little card in there with some writing and what looks like a stand.

Yep, it's definitely some type of stand.

Oh....the stand is for the egg. Cool! I love it. It's beautiful. But what makes it so special that it would be in a cool little box like that with a miniature tusk?

Hmmm, maybe there's some information on the little card with writing on it?


Wow, hand painted from the inside??? But how? Oh, I see, there's a little hole at the bottom. How cool is that!

So here's the whole set...and it's only a few buck. Surely I need this. Ok, well maybe I don't need it, but I definitely want it. So I bought it and here is it. The whole thing together. Beautiful!

Drive By Yard Sale

I had a lot of things planned for today. A plumber was coming by because my toilet, that he fixed three weeks ago started leaking again. I had to change the oil in my car. I needed to pickup a prescription at the drug store. I needed to get groceries. I needed to make a Wal-Mart run for things like shampoo, toilet paper, laundry detergent, etc, etc. So I didn't think that I was going to have much luck in making this a thrifting Saturday. I was pretty darned bummed.

I woke up pretty early, 7am and by 8am I was out the door to take my car to get the oil changed. Once that was over I figured since I was out I would go by the drugstore and get my prescription. That done, I started home and I drove by a house that had a couch in front with a big sign saying "FREE". Behind that couch I saw some floor lamps. I flipped a U and came back wondering if the lamps were free.

Of course they weren't. The free item was the couch, which I didn't want. It was in decent shape, for free...but pink, flowery, not my taste at all. The lamps however were $5.00 each. SOLD!!! I quickly called my sister and she came with her husbands truck and we took them home. My sister and my mom both think I'm crazy because I have no need and no room for more lamps.

And I don't, but c'mon, they were only $5 each. I was hoping my sister would like them. But she didn't. But don't despair...as usual I found a place for them.

These are étagère Torchieres with Frosted Glass Shade. I looked them up online and Target has them for $39.99. Mine are practically brand new. They were a bit dusty and spiderwebby, if that's even a word. But a little elbow grease and TLC and gorgeous!

All lit up! I immediately put my Angel's that were on the mantle on the shelves, but that's just temporary until I make some new thrift finds to decorate them with.

This one is by my bike to light my way in the dark when I'm riding it at night :-)


I tried out this one next to the fireplace, but didn't like it there at all, it stuck out. I've since moved it to the other side of the couch and taken the lamp that was there to my bedroom as I needed a new one there anyway because I broke my bankers lamp that I adored :-(

I have to confess now, I didn't get any of the other things on my list done. But that was because it was over 100 degrees today and too hot to go out and do anything. So for sure tomorrow. I'm going to post this over on K + J's Trash to Treasures, because it was that trashy, flowery couch that led me to these treasured lamps. Please go visit and see what others have found.