The Grackles Are Thriving

I don’t have any pictures of them though. My sincere thanks go to the sanctuary for saving the little critters.
I do have pictures of that weird cast off carapace that’s still stuck to the fence.
(I don’t know why but I’ve always found stuff like that fascinating.)

And the new log hive that now resides in my front yard

It came from a backyard of a vacant house in Tampa.
We had to cut the two sections from a tree that had fallen years ago. It would have been too big to move if left in one piece.
It’s a very old, healthy hive and the bees are very gentle. Only got a half dozen stings during the whole job. Which it took a big chunk of the day to accomplish.
It seemed to me that putting it under the tree that gave me three swarms this year made sense.

Sorry for the creepy carapace compulsion. Currently can’t control it.

We’re getting the last swarm of the spring down from the crook and giving it more room in preparation for it’s journey to my friend’s parents property probably pretty promptly. (Sorry again. I seriously don’t know what is going on in my head)

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For any one who remembers and cares. Life is slowly getting back to a semblance of normal after my humbling crane mishap. The insurance settlement was fair. Better than I imagined frankly. It’s proving to be a challenge to find another piece of equipment that will suit our needs but won’t put us in debt again though. And at my age, I’m really not entirely sure that I want to be in debt again. Hell, I’m not even sure how much longer I want to stay in business.
Fortunately, there are three of us. Myself, my lovely bride of 38 years, and Andrew. And since they both vote the same way, I don’t even need to bother voting at all. Democracy and all.
But seriously though. I am in such a place that I feel good about my ability to deal well with whatever happens.

I hope everyone has a great 4th if you celebrate that sort of thing.