Bees, Dock, & Shore Station

                                               June 2015

Shortly after we arrived, as I walked around our house, I notice a swarm of bees. I told Joe about it and told him he needed to call a exterminator. So what does my husband do, but grab a can of wasp killer and goes into "killer mode". Being unsuccessful after a few days he ask our contractor of a name of a exterminator. Our contractor takes a look at them and tells Joe they are honey bees, and he should call bee keepers and they might be able to extracted the hive without killing them.

That day I noticed them congregated on the chimney.

There were thousands of them on the chimney. ( Later I was told this is called bearding- they do this to cool down) Here is some info I found on the internet about  bee bearding:
It's called bearding, as the bees seem to form a fuzzy beard on the hive and hang out in a cluster. Almost all of the time this is totally normal, and even a good sign. You will see this in strong colonies as the population is at its height and as the bees are storing and ripening honey at a blinding pace. To keep the honey at correct temperature and allow for airflow in the hive, a small to large number of adult bees will hang out in the front, helping the internal temperature to stay cool. You might even see some fanning of their wings, pushing air into the hive on the hottest days.

Meanwhile that day, our dock was being put in.

On our side of the lake, our water gets deep pretty fast, so the docks don't have to be too long. Joe says that is good, because it cost $20 per section to be put in and out per season. I think we have 7 to 8 sections out this year. Two sections are still on the bank. 
Later I asked Joe if  he had heard from any of the bee keepers he had called. He said no, and it was frustrating him that no one was calling him back. I asked if he had seen all the bees on the chimney, and he said yes, and since no one called him back he had sprayed them. I said, "You did what? How could you do that when you know they are honey bees, and they are important to the production of our food". I will let Joe tell his response when he proof reads this blog.  This is Joe, the reason I killed all the bees, is that I saw an opportunity to kill a lot of bees that might have posed a problem to our living in a big way at one time, I'm sorry but I'm not a bee lover, wasp or honey bee.

I went out to see what my murdering husband had done. Thousands of bees dead in the grass! I was so mad at him, and he heard it throughout the day. I am sure he had wished he had not done that, because I ragged on him the rest of the day! There were still bees flying around, so I called the extension service and found some bee keepers myself.

The next day, a bee keeper couple came to see if they could help. They checked the attic to see if the hive was there, but it wasn't

Then the bee keeper husband and our contractor took off some of the roof singles and couldn't find them in the soffit. They decided the bees had got in a crack in the chimney and there was no way to get them out alive. Joe called an exterminator after all. He felt better about being a bee murder now. One interesting facted I learned from the bee keepers is that all the worker bees are females. Doesn't that just make sense. So Joe killed all female bees. All the male bees do, is scout out for new places to build a hive.

Mallery is really enjoying her walks down the alley, and enjoys our neighbor Mindy's yard. She is enjoying the stability too I think.

I am enjoying Mindy's flowers. Mindy and Larry live in Flint, MI and are here off and on through out the summer.

We had about 10 trees taken down on our property, but couldn't decide on one of the maple trees down by the lake. Joe wanted it down, and I liked it because it is beautiful in the fall. We decide to have both of the maples trimmed up much higher, giving us better lake views. Our tree trimmer, Carl, came back to trim our last tree, instead of cutting it down.

Carl left with our view being much improved and my maple tree still intact. Our new "used" boat lift showed up from East Jordon, after Carl left.

There was a crew of 4 guys to get the shore station in the water. Joe was down there supervising.

We have a small spot that is not rocky along our shore where the shore station can be muscled into the water. Then it was floated over to the dock on the blue barrels.

While the shore station was going in, Mallery reminded me that it was time for her 4PM apple snack. She always like this time of the day when she gets an 1/8 of my apple.

Because we didn't have a car or truck that could pull our boat out of our shed, Joe asked the business owner of Swan Valley Marina in East Jordon, who he bought our shore station from, if he would pull our boat out of the shed and down to the marina, 2 miles down the road. He was so kind to help us out and even drove the boat from the marina to and on the shore station, as Joe rode along. He gave Joe instructions on how to operate the shore station and how to dock the boat onto it.The shore station is run on hydraulics power by a solar battery.

Dock in, shore station in, and boat on the lift. All is well in Joe's mind now. He is a happy camper, or should I say, Happy "Lake Home Owner" now.

It's not the biggest boat on the lake by any means, but it is a boat that works for us. Joe is happy with his boat,

Mallery's happy with her yard, and I am happy to be in one place and to have a home that has a little more room.

The weather changes very quickly here. You can have rain in the morning, sun in the afternoon, and fog in the evening.

This guy is not giving up his fishing, even in the fog.

This evening it was so foggy, you could barely see across the lake.

Settling In, In A Construction Zone

                                     Saturday May 30, 2015

The community of Advance is just a couple miles from our home.

It has a small deli and a Point Health Club (maybe someday when our life is not so chaotic I might join it and take some yoga classes).

For now the deli has been a life saver, especially the first week we arrived. The deli opens May 1, so it was perfect timing for us. The first week we were so busy unpacking that we ate there every lunch. For dinner we got one of their pizza's. We will need to join the health club soon at this rate of eating out!

Across the street from the deli is another community called Summerset. Summerset has a marina and  very upper class homes. It also has a restaurant which we have not tried out yet. It is on the list of tries soon.

In a picture in the deli Joe points to where our house is located on Lake Charlevoix. The big body of water at the bottom of the picture is Lake Michigan.

This is a picture of the building the deli is in now in Advance, MI which was in 1881. After doing a goggle search, it looks like we are in the Advance community according to the map, but have a Boyne City, MI address.

Because our house was still in partitioning plastic, we just lined our dinning room with some of our stuff. No other place to put the stuff. Mind you this project was suppose to be done May 1.

Because our bedroom was also walled off, we decided to set up our bedroom in the living room. In this picture the living room is walled off also, but we used that to our advantage, as a semi visible privacy wall.

We set up the bed rail to keep Mallery in our bedroom, and is also our entrance to our home in our home.

We have a great view of Lake Charlevoix from our bed as a concession prize!

On the other side of the wall down from our bed we set up our dinning table/makeup table.

Mallery's crate and food is next to our bed, though she sleeps with us most nights.

We found a veterinary the first Monday we arrived. Even though Michigan is not a state with medical exceptions, she allowed working with her without the shots. All she had to do was look at her records for the year to see that it wasn't because of money that I wasn't giving them to her.

I had her kidney valued rechecked and they have improved greatly. Last summer they were normal when she saw the surgeon at Michigan state. In Iowa her BUN was 81, and they tested at 72 now which is still high. Her CREA in Iowa was 3.6, which the Eastern Iowa Specialist said was her permanent kidney damage and would not improve. Today it is 2.2, with normal being between 0.5 to 1.8. My veterinarian in Boyne was very impressed with her improvement. She said I was doing miracle work on her. I give God all the glory for His blessings and direction on what daily care she needs. Mallery was always 7 lbs for her 13 1/2 years. She got down to 5 lbs but is back to 5.2. Not much of a gain,but at least she is not going downhill! We have been giving her fluid treatments every 3rd day verses the 2 times a day that she got in the beginning.

After 3 days of unloading the moving truck which took much longer because our drive is on a slant making the truck ramp  at a much steeper slant-not to mention we were both exhausted from the prior week loading and driving to Michigan. After the truck was unloaded the yard needed to be mowed because the girl we had hired only did part of it. Her mower broke down half way though. Probably because the grass was too tall by the time she got to it.While Joe mowed, I weeded. The weeds had also got out of control while we were gone.

Mallery enjoyed her yard while Joe mowed and I weeded.

I enjoyed the lake views as I weeded and seeing Mallery enjoy her yard.

Every once in a while Mallery would get out from under the umbrella and sun for a while. I had to keep her dress on because her fur has become so fine, she would have got a sun burn otherwise. We still have ups and downs with Mallery, and still live day to day. She has been hanging in there for me so I could get her home. That was my biggest prayer, to see her in a sable environment with her own yard again! Thank you Jesus for answering my prayers

There have been a ton of fisherman trolling past our yard. We found out there was a Bass Tournament going on. Must be bass out from our place.

Someday when we get settled we want to go fishing too!

Each evening we would enjoy our deck after the many chores of home ownership and moving. The first week we were here, the showers were still not done so we had to go a week being grubby. We did have our airplane size 1/2 bath that we could use to wash our face and brush our teeth. The remodeling is almost over now. We just have a few odds and ends that we are waiting for, like a window that needed to be redone because our contractor put in one that was too small (at least I thought so). We also are waiting for shower doors that we couldn't decide on. But all in all we can pretty much use our new bathrooms. Praise the Lord! Remodeling is not fun when you are living in the mess.

"On The Road Again" But In A Movig Truck

                     Wednesday May 27, 2015

A few days after I got back from my 4 day jet set trip to Gulf Shores, AL for my granddaughters graduation, it was time to get serious and pack up all our stuff we had wished we had sold years ago. Joe had a 26 foot U-Haul rented for the following Wednesday.

We were out at the storage unit by 9AM, which is early for us! We worked hard carrying stuff from storage to truck. I took many breaks because my right foot kept going to sleep. (One of the many problems I have had for years. This happens when I am on my feet for more than hour. No Dr.s seem to know the cause). Joe on the other hand never took a break except for lunch.

We had Mallery with us because I didn't want to leave her all day with Joe's mom. We found her big kennel in the storage and put her in the shade. She really wasn't happy because it was a very long day, and she didn't understand what the heck we were doing. Joe was getting really exhausted from his nonstop packing and lifting, so I finally convinced him he needed to take a 10 minute break. He was worried if he stopped, we wouldn't be done until after dark.

At around 8 PM we finally saw the back wall of the storage unit. By the time we got everything packed into the truck, it was getting dark, and the truck was plum full with no extra room. Our storage unit was 40 minutes from Cedar Rapids, so by the time we got home for dinner it was 10PM. The next morning we were up by 7AM and had to figure out where we were going to put all the stuff that we had packed in the Honda  from the bus we had just sold a month prior.

We left Cedar Rapids, IA by 12PM and
headed east. In an hour and a half we crossed into Illinois.

We hit Chicago around 6PM so it really slowed down our schedule driving time. In Chicago we had a truck driver pull up along side us, pointing at our towed Honda. The U-Haul truck didn't have the right towing system for our Honda, so Joe figured a way around it by having a added tow bar custom made just for our situation. He was saving $50 a day, which was $200 since we had the U-Haul scheduled for 4 days. Joe had told me prior to leaving, he didn't know how the custom towing system was going to work, so we had watched it carefully out our rear view mirrors.  The Honda was wandering from side to side, especially going down hills and breaking, but it seemed to be OK. Joe waved to the trucker and said he knew about the situation and it was OK. We were so glad to cross over into Indiana!

A couple more truckers tried to wave us down as they passed us, to tell us our car was wandering, and Joe just waved and nodded he knew the situation. Oh we were so glad to cross over into Michigan.

In Michigan, we stopped for another potty break and to check the Honda.

The U-Haul had a ball hitch, but we needed a receiver hitch. The towing system that hooks to the Honda is what we had used for 6 1/2 years to tow it behind the bus. The tow bar that is attached to the U-Haul is what Joe had customized for this trip to Michigan

Now you can see why we were having so many people trying to tell us something was wrong.

Mallery was exhausted too, from the long, long day of driving. Before we left Iowa, I had wanted to get Mallery groomed. I normally groom Mallery, but I didn't have all my equipment or the time to groom her. Petsmart told me I needed her records of shots to have her groomed. I had not had Mallery's vaccinated since last summer when she became very ill. I was told, if I could get a Vets permission slip of her being too sick for vaccination, she could be groomed. I called my vet and she said she couldn't give me a note because by law she had to have her vacinations. I said,"Well I won't give her any shots, so I guess she will not be groomed".  Joe had taken Mallery into the vets while I had been in Gulf Shores, AL. to get her fluid treatments. A few days before we left, I made a appointment to pick up some more fluids, medicine, and to have her kidney values rechecked. The tech had taken Mallery back, to get her blood work done, when the Dr. came out and told me by law Mallery had to have her vaccinations. I told the Dr., "no I won't let her have them". The Dr told me 3 times, "By law, she has to have them"! I finally said, "Fine I refuse any treatment then, because she is not getting any shots"! The Dr. abruptly turned around and left, and soon returned with Mallery. My sister's old dog died the same day he had two shots, and since then, I have heard that any old and sick dog should not have shots as it lowers their immune system, and can put them into anaphylactic shock. I looked it up on the internet, and Iowa does not have a medical exemption on vaccinations. My question is why then had my vet and the 24 hour specialty animal service been treating her for the last month while I was in Iowa. Maybe because it profited them at nearly $2000. Since I was leaving, they thought they could get a few more bucks out of me whether, it killed my dog or not!

 We had booked a room at a hotel near Grand Rapids, MI., but because we figured our driving time wrong, due to Chicago traffic, we had to drive an hour and a half in the dark before we arrived. It was 10PM before we got to the hotel. For some reason Mallery woke me up at 3AM and would not go back to sleep. I took her outside several times, but she just would not stay in the bed and then started to whine and bark constantly, so I had to leave the room so Joe could sleep. Unfortunately I only got 4 hours of sleep that night.

The next day we left Grand Rapids, and drove another 5 hours to Boyne City, MI. During that 5 hours we had at least another 5 cars trying to pull us over to tell us something was wrong with our tow car. One guy literally drove ahead of us and got out of his car to wave us down, when Joe didn't stop the first time he tried to wave us down. Because we still didn't stop, he got back into his car and caught up with us (we were only driving 55mph) and tried waving us down again. His wife in the passenger side yelled our tow car look very bad. Joe nodded and said he knew. At about 1 1/2 hours before we arrived in Boyne City, I told Joe I had had enough from  the stress of having at least 10 people trying to wave us down during to entire trip. I told him I wanted him to stop and to unhook the Honda. I would drive the rest on my own. I also told him to pay the extra $200 for a car dolly next time. It would have been well worth the stress less drive. I would have drove earlier that day but I couldn't keep awake, from lack of sleep the night before. Five minutes after we unhooked and were driving separately, a down-pouring rain storm hit, forcing us to pull over for about 10 minutes, after trying to drive for about 30 minutes with very little vision at times, especially while Semi's passed us. We were so glad to finally get home, only to have to unpack at least our bed and some essentials. Needless to say, we both were exhausted from the last two days of nonstop working and driving under very stressful conditions.