Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Sweet Home Easthampton. Rent my house!


RENTED!!  Yay!!

Check out my house :)  It is available to rent as of today.   Here are the details:

Available immediately. Small, two bedroom, one bath, single family home with detached two car garage, one mile from center of Easthampton, located in a quiet neighborhood. Large fenced in yard. $1550/mnth. First/last/security. 12 month lease renewable.  (The IKEA kitchen table with stools is also available to stay in the house for your use. The top has been sanded and oiled so it looks brand new!!)

Ideal location for 5 College or Williston Northampton, or Cooley Dickinson, Baystate Medical Center. 4.3 miles to Smith College, 1.5 miles to Williston Northampton.
6 miles to Cooley Dickinson Hospital

Includes:

lawn care
trash/recycle services
snow removal
large kitchen
dishwasher/garbage disposal/refrigerator
front loader washer/dryer
New high efficiency gas furnace (cheap cheap heat!!)
newly insulated
newly refinished hardwood floors
Quiet, side street neighborhood
Large, fenced in yard

Does NOT include utilities.
And please NO Smoking in house

Small to medium, well trained dog might be considered. Cats allowed.
On a corner lot....very quiet

The porch....great three season room with a big view of the farm across the street (not seen in this photo)


The Living Room with view to the large kitchen....lots of storage space in there!


Upstairs bedroom...low ceilings, but cozy and warm in the winters


The other bedroom upstairs...I used to use this as a reading room and then a guest bedroom...


Newly finished wood floors!


Bathroom with new IKEA sink, new floor and paint, lots of storage here too.


Large IKEA medicine cabinet with huge mirrors!  Good morning!!


Important:



The garage.  It's huge, clean, and the left hand side has an automatic door opener.  Weeeee!


View from down the street.  All that fence is yours!!


Back of the house.  The dish is gone now!  Looks so much better


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Bees. 19 days



Say hello to our new little friends.




The bee compound.  We have many bears in the area, so it is necessary to build enclosures that are surrounded by electric fencing.  We were actually visited by a bear last night, who climbed a small stand of birch trees to claim his prize of a small basket of suet.  We really wish we had seen the bear up in the birch trees...he broke many branches, and there are scratch marks all over the trees.  Luckily, our fencing has kept them at bay so far.



Preparing the smoker.



We have two hives.  This is the activity after nineteen days.  We "installed" the bees on April 7, and they are already filling up four or five of the frames in our ten frame supers.



Everything is looking good so far.  We did not spot the queen during this inspection, but she is obviously busy producing many eggs.  We could see the larva in some cells.  Most of the cells have been capped off already.  The newly "hatching" bees will chew their way out of each cell.  They take about three weeks to become adults.




Bees working on brood cells (above).  They seem so docile and calm.  We've learned that we must always use the smoker when we interact with the bees.  The first time there was an accidental stinging because everyone got so upset.  It's also important to wear the proper protection, especially over your face, so that you can remain calm and relaxed while working with the bees.  They are truly amazing and kind of scary too.







Above.  I'm watching you!





Bees in 2nd hive.  Scenting.




I was hoping that our bird bath, which is about 75 yards away from the hives, would become a watering station for the bees.  We have a brook which is close by, but I hoped they wouldn't have to work so hard to find water.  And sure enough.....today  (see below)




Pretty soon....two



Frida became very interested.  Suddenly her whiskers appeared in the frame as I was watching the bees through the camera.

 

One bee flies away ........



and then.......

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Bags on SALE! 40% off


I'm discontinuing this bag style...after careful critique I've decided to redesign the project bags. The inspiration for these came from the old style newspaper boy/girl bags with the thick straps and deep pocket (oh, and not to mention my need for project bags to contain all of my various knitting endeavors around the house).

You can see all the bags that are being discontinued in this section in my shop.