Friday, April 27, 2012

Tsali IMBA Epic Trail

Tsali IMBA Epic south of the Great Smoky Mtns. Fun, fast ride. Not technical at all with decent cardio challenge in a few spots. Great views.
Trail shared by hikers and horses. Alternating day usage schedule. I was lucky enough to hit it so I could ride the Right Loop in the afternoon on one day, ride the 14 miles into Bryson City (there are hills down here!) to meet Lynn (so she didn't have to come pick me up) then come back out the next day and do the Left Loop.


 



 Nice banked turns.

 My bike rack!
Good signage at the trail head, not much out on the trail, not that much is needed.
 
Tuckaseegee river that helps form Fontana Lake (reservoir)


Monday, April 9, 2012

Package Bees

Decided to expand my apiary, going to double it from 3 to 6 colonies.

Plus I had to replace a colony that didn't quite make it through the winter.
2 packages down (empty boxes with the feeder cab on top of them lower left) and 3rd one sitting ready to go.
3 new colonies.
Getting the queen cage out and making sure she's alive and active. Attendant bees hanging on tight.

As soon as I pulled the queen cage and placed it between 2 frames, I dumped the bees from the packages into the open space in the bee box. As soon as the bees we "let loose" they literally started climbing the walls in their new homes. Never bothered with me at all. Didn't get stung once. Warm, sunny day with no wind plus I used the smoker liberally.

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Video seconds after shaking the bees into the hive box. Notice the tab for the queen cage on the top right wedged in between to frames, at the start of the clip.

All ready to start doing their thing.


Tuesday, April 3, 2012

TT heading to TN

We'll soon be heading to Gatlinburg for a week's vacation soon.


Taking Lynn's TT. Tail of The Dragon should be fun.









Not going to leave the mtn. bike behind! Glad I picked up the Salsa with the S&S couplers.
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Getting to be that time of year again. The ISLAND, Stevens Point, WI.