Hey, how's it going?

[Josh]

I want to be more active here. So, here I am!
Last night I went to the home opener for the LA Angels. We lost to Boston RIP but we did get to see a grand slam!
What are you all up to? I'm hoping to spend some time in the garden with the chickens and tortoises. It's feeling springy!
Hope everyone's having a good weekend.

 

[Tim Carlisle]

Hey Josh! Spending part of the day reinforcing the floor in my tortoise house. Wife wants to go to DQ for lunch, then grocery shopping. I took off work to get a bunch of projects done around the house. I watched the Reds opening day game and the consequential games that followed. Exciting times!

 

[Josh]

Thanks for the reminder, I definitely need to get groceries today!
Projects sound potentially fun!

 

[Tom]

Josh, you skipped over the most important details... How are your tortoises?

I'm being over run with weeds from all the rain. I have hours and hours of weed whacking ahead of me. Falconry season has ended, and bee keeping season is underway. Got some new puppies keeping me busy, and work has finally picked back up.

 

[Josh]

The torts are good! I did my weeding last weekend and they loved me for all the snacks. I'll have to get some new pics.
Tom I want to keep bees so bad but I'm a tad allergic

 

[Yvonne G]

We've had a pretty wet winter, so the weeds have been growing like. . . well, WEEDS! It's kept me pretty busy with the 'strimmer.' I only have a few species left, after having thinned the herds down quite bit, so not much going on in that department. Besides the box turtles, I have three brumating tortoise species and a creep of Chelonoidis denticulata. I'm bound and determined to learn what it takes to get them breeding and hatching. This year one egg hatched with two dead in shell.

 

[SinLA]

Driving an hour and a half each way to check out a tattoo artist, then working 8-(

Did some gardening. I planted a Mallow bush about 2 years ago that was thriving, but all the rain made it get overrun with "rust". I don't think it will survive. Hacking off as much as I can to try to save it

 

[Tom]

Driving an hour and a half each way to check out a tattoo artist, then working 8-(

Did some gardening. I planted a Mallow bush about 2 years ago that was thriving, but all the rain made it get overrun with "rust". I don't think it will survive. Hacking off as much as I can to try to save it

My mallow gets that rust and dies off every year. It always comes back. Curiously, it also won't live very well up here except in winter when we get our rain. It dies off this time of year and there is no sign of it until the rains return next winter.

 

[Tom]

The torts are good! I did my weeding last weekend and they loved me for all the snacks. I'll have to get some new pics.
Tom I want to keep bees so bad but I'm a tad allergic

Its a curious thing, that bee allergy stuff, and I don't understand it. It makes no logical sense, and no one can seem to explain what I've seen. Some people seem to get more sensitive with each sting, while others seem to get desensitized to it with more stings.

I've worked with bees for film for almost 30 years. We bring in top professional bee keepers to assist us and tell us how to accomplish what we need for the project. I get stung about once a year on average. I never used to react to the stings, but over time the reactions got bigger and lasted longer. I was beginning to worry and it was getting more serious each time. Then one day on a job with a new bee guy that I hadn't worked with before (my old guy retired), he had me do something that we should not have been doing, and I got stung in the face and head about two dozen times. Took some Benadryl, swelled up a little, and that was that. Fine the next day. That experience pushed me to do what I should have done many years ago: Get my own bees. I now have six hives, soon to double up to twelve as I do my spring splits and re-queen some nasty feral hives that I've rescued. Now, during bee season, about March through November, I get stung on average about once a week, sometimes twice a week. It does nothing now. The initial insertion of the stinger hurts as it always has, but I really don't feel any pain from the venom anymore. No swelling or soreness at all any more. Within 30 seconds of being stung, I forget I was even stung, and just carry on with my business.

I can't understand this phenomenon. I never reacted to the stings for two decades, then started having progressively worse and worse reactions each time over a period of several years. I was seriously worried that I'd have to stop working with bees. Then, that trend started reversing with more and more stings that were happening closer together. Its so very odd.

On the bright side, my bees make the most wonderful and unique tasting honey out here in the hills. No agriculture out here. Just lots of trees and all manner of seasonal wildflowers. You are welcome to come visit. I've got extra bee suits...

 

[wellington]

Hey Josh, good to see ya here. Chickens and tortoises, sounds like my place.
Didn't go, but watched the Chicago Cubs beat the Dodgers yesterday on TV, too cold here yet to go too a game.

 

[Yvonne G]

Driving an hour and a half each way to check out a tattoo artist, then working 8-(

Did some gardening. I planted a Mallow bush about 2 years ago that was thriving, but all the rain made it get overrun with "rust". I don't think it will survive. Hacking off as much as I can to try to save it

Mallow is quite susceptible to that problem. But harvest some seeds before you sh!t can the bush. They sprout readily!

 

[Cathie G]

Hello 🤗 I'm raising a little puppy that thinks he's a baby bear 🐻 right now and doing a balancing act with the bunny , cat, and tortoise. Then there's Joe and he's somewhat learning he has to watch where he's walking because My puppy loves him too much.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The new roof on my house is finally finished. Right in time for Hurricane season.
I spent the morning picking up nails in my yard and my tortoise enclosures.
From my experience, I'm thinking a Redfoot would indeed try to eat them!