Everybody Gets A Pergola!

The weather has been ridiculous.  We are currently in a stretch of mid to upper 90s and the sheep are hot, the horses are hot, the cats are hot, Pinot's hiding in the air conditioning and I'm...trying not to cry.  The bees are hot too.

Bees work very hard to keep their hives warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  They do this by working together to generate heat when it's cold or try to fan it out when it's hot.  There are lots of interesting articles online about this.  Here is a good one.

Stella and I had the good fortune of having a small building and some trees to provide afternoon shade for our bees when they were up on the hill.  Here's a link to a great Stella and the bees story and also a picture of our set up.  She also had an old leaky cistern and the bees gathered water there every day.  I'm not sure if I have any pictures of that.

There's no shade down here for the new hive and I had been thinking about how I would handle that.  Sure, the bees could probably take care of things on their own, but why add any extra stress to an insect that is already facing so many stressors these days.

I started with just a lattice back and top, but that really didn't help much.  I added the small shade cloth and while it looks a bit janky, it did the trick.  The front porch of the hive had been covered in bees trying to help fan cool air up into the box.  The numbers went way down almost immediately.

This picture was just after I added the cloth, but it's not very clear.  You might be able to biggify it to see more bees.

The other issue in high heat is water.  The tank I've had sitting out in the B Garden to provide water for birds, bees and plants was getting super hot and soupy really quickly.  I've tried to keep it clean and I've seen birds and wasps drinking from it, but never any bees.  I added a shade top to that as well and changed the safety landing to something hopefully more bee friendly.  We'll see.

Ideally it would be great if the weather could just cool off a bit...  

 

If You Are Looking For A Way To Beat The Heat

 Try looking for four leaf clovers.  

(Click to biggify)

There are at least eight here, but even I can't find them all in the photo.  I'd invite you to come out and look in person...but it's outside the shade cloth area so I think I'd just spend a bit more time looking on the computer screen in the air conditioning ;-).

Maybe it would help to look for them in a puzzle format.

Tabitha

Very few of our Jacob sheep get to be well known around here.  Several are remembered for their stories, but remained cookie "tossers" until the very end of their lives.  

Tabitha was loved by everyone and she loved family and visitors alike.  While she was never hugged or even touched by anyone other than us, she was very happy to come up and take cookies straight from your hand.  Everyone loved that about her.

She has not been well for a couple of years and the last month has been a struggle.  She stayed happy until the end though and went out grazing in Del Boca Vista every day and ate cookies and Cheerios when she lost her appetite for regular food.  

I knew the heat this week was going to be very hard on her and I'm glad she left us at the beginning of the week rather than struggling through several more really hard days.  She was a good sheep and we will all miss her.

Tabitha 

April 2017 - June 29, 2026

Pinot's Pergola

Several year ago I built a small(ish) shaded stand for my night blooming cereus. That worked so well and the plant has been so happy under it that we decided to build a Wool House version to try to help me get through summer as well. 

Since we have Pinot's Porch and Pinot's Patio, it's only fitting this is Pinot's Pergola.  When I was putting his fence (that you can barely see in the picture) back up, I made an extra side paddock...Pinot's Paddock :-).

I went with a pergola design because I didn't want to completely cover up the front of the Wool House. There are several most months of the year that I actually like the sun shining through the windows and front doors.  For those months that I don't...here's hoping the removeable shade cloths will help.

With some roll down side shades.

The vining flowers in the elevated (because of sheep ;-) pots are cardinal vines that the hummingbirds are supposed to love.  Can't wait!

I spotted this four leaf clover while we were hanging the side shades yesterday.  I was standing up on a ladder when I spotted it.  Tim couldn't find it.  Pinot did...and ate it ;-D.

I built this raised bed using leftover scraps from the builders.  The big nails holding the 8"x8" sides together are the spikes we used every year to anchor Maisie's "birthday cake" to the bale of straw.

The little shelf holding the not so little anymore hoya is another favorite detail.  That tiny cutting happened after the parent plant crashed during a storm last year...or maybe the year before...  It's been living in the window over the wash room sink and has done so well that it's outgrown that spot.  I hope it likes this outside location for summer.  

I also treated myself to a bird bath fountain.  I filled the basin with broken chunks of old clay pots so there are plenty of spots for bees, butterflies and birds to land.  Waiting for my first visitors!  In the meantime, I have a beautiful place to sit out with Pinot and watch the bats and fireflies.

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If you'd like to sit out with me and Pinot for a minute, enjoy!

 

A [Three]fer

Three new puzzles for the price of one ;-).