We had hoped to finish a whole bag of mortar today, but since it still takes Phil almost four hours per half bag, and since it was almost 3pm before he was set to start the second half, we opted to send him off to replenish propane before the holiday, as well as get more appropriate gloves, a pointing tool for mortar joints, and a few other minor errands.
Really, if he had had 35 easy blocks left to lay, we probably would have tried to carry on, and hope for the best in the propane department, but because he had only 20 easy ones before he has to build up corners, and corners in the dark and cold sounded exceptionally un-fun, I think we chose well, even if 35 blocks seems like minor progress for a beautiful day.
As Phil built today, he passed my height. With the camera at eye level, the wall was just a bit shorter than me at the start of the day. But Phil built up two levels more at that spot.
The window is coming along. Yesterday we poured grout into the bond beam.
Today Phil started to build up the side. You can see the half-block, then the smooth-edged regular block. We are thankful the concrete people don't make us chisel off the normal, jutting edge, but make smooth-edged blocks for windows.
In totally other news, my bees were flying today, and I realized, with some guilt, that I have basically abandoned them since early September. I really didn't want a fiery fall sting, so I prepared extra well, even putting on a second pair of nitrile gloves backwards, so the backs of my hands would be covered. (Almost every sting this year has come on the back of my hands, where the gloves do not protect well.) I realize that such invincibility perhaps gave me an unfair advantage, but I was grateful to relax as I opened the hives for the first time in months.
I put a mouse guard on my oldest hive, but I could not make the guards fit on the other two hives. I'll be interested to see if that makes a difference. I wonder if it's not usually so cold to make the bees entirely hibernate.
I needed to take the feeder trays off two hives. I had considered leaving them on as a layer of insulation, but on the whole, I think it's better to take them off: less space for the bees to heat.
The Daffodil hive had probably about 50% of the upper deep filled with honey (hopefully the bottom was entirely full, but I didn't check: they had put propolis on the cracks to seal it tight for winter, and how mean to break that bond now). The Damaris hive was much better: it appeared entirely full on the upper deep, and had the most activity at the front entrance.
My oldest hive, the Celadon hive, had almost no activity at the front entrance. But when I pulled off the cover, the bees bubbled up from the inner cover. I figured that if there were that many bees hanging out up top, they were probably going to be just fine.
Abraham prays almost every day that God will protect the queen bees through the winter and that we will have "a lot of honey next year" (along with much milk, and many berries). I have had a good deal of guilt for neglecting the bees all fall, but I feel hopeful now: they appear hearty for surviving the winter.
I do hope his prayer is answered.
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