Other B's this week: brown bat (flying around my house), bugs (the kind that make you sick) and -- Chipmunk's birthday (much nicer than those other two B words). But backing up...
Bees
Katydid and Farmerboy discovered the beeswax I laid in back in July. The picture turned out a bit blurry, unfortunately, but here you have a tree, a few flowers, and a duck on a pond.
Farmerboy has been enamored of bees all summer, largely because of a beekeeping display at our local Agway. The display includes the frame for the hive, a hat, and smoker. Every time we go to Agway, Farmerboy tells me how we're going to keep bees next year, and he's going to get a small hat and a little smoker, sized just for him. I have no idea if they make kid-sized bee gear, but since my husband has been reading bee books, I have a feeling the Agway display is doing a pretty good job of advertising.
Because of the bee interest, I collected some bee books to fill in the time between the summer book basket and the harvest book basket (which I'm planning - hah - to put together this week.) Of these bee books, Happy Bees is a favorite, mostly for the pictures of the bear who keeps trying to sneak into the hive. And we all like When the Bees Fly Home, which would be at home in either a bee basket or a harvest basket, and ties in nicely to the use of beeswax: it's about a boy who discovers that his pastime of making small beeswax animals is more help to his family than being able to lift the heavy boxes of honey. (Actually, I think this book is the best of the bunch.)
Which leads us to the next B of the week...
Books
Katydid and Gareth have been reading a lot, too -- nothing assigned at this point. Gareth's books this week include The Lighthouse War
Before I go on to Bronchitis (and other Bugs), I should probably mention the Bat. We had a brown bat in the house one day this week, and I have to admit that even as I was trying to herd toddlers out of the way, I was thinking, I should get a picture of this! But then I regained my sanity. So -- alas -- no pictures of the bat, which Andy chased outside with a broom.
I did get pictures of another critter in the yard on the same day, though.
You can click on the picture to try and guess what it is, or I can tell you.
(All right, it's a mole. Outside in broad daylight. We watched it for quite a while.)
I did not take pictures of the mouse we caught in the kitchen this week either. But I bet you probably didn't want to see those pictures anyway.
Aside from critters (and Beans -- 5 pounds of green beans from Gareth's garden, how could I forget?) -- there were Bugs. I don't think anyone was a hundred percent this week, but whatever I have been grappling with for the past couple weeks finally sent me to the doctor, where I got a nebulizer treatment and an inhaler and was sent home with the directive to come back the next day if I was still having trouble, because "it's good to breathe."
Now I'm doing better, but Andy is recovering from a wicked bug which we are hoping is not related to the undercooked meat we were served at McDonad's this week, on our way home (ironically) from buying a whole bunch of locally raised, grassfed meat. He seems to be doing much better this afternoon, though... so cross your fingers. And, if you would, say a prayer that this isn't passed on to anyone else?
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