# Back in the Ozarks



## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

I have finally completed the drive from coastal Sinaloa Mexico back to the Missouri Ozarks. I had lots of folks pass me on the interstate...slow down so they could look at my plates again and then go on. Guess they don't see many trucks with Sinaloa Mexico plates lol. 

After being isolated in my townhouse in Mexico with no yard and not getting outside except in an enclosed courtyard for months...albeit a lovely townhouse and courtyard...I am so happy to be where I can see trees and grass and have space around me!!! My place in Mexico was the first time I have ever lived in town. It was ok until the pandemic because I was always going sailing or to the beach or the aquarium or the boardwalk or walking along a palm tree lined street. I have always missed having open space and especially having a garden and bees. Unfortunately due to the cartels it is not safe to live outside of town....especially for a single woman. I love Mexico but I am a realist and that is the reality. 

I am buying a small property on the edge of a tiny town in SW Missouri. No close neighbors woohoo!!!! Just so happens I close on the property on my birthday which I take as a good omen. I have already ordered thornless blackberry root cuttings, fig trees and strawberry plants. I'll be planting fruit trees this fall. My heirloom seed order arrived a couple of weeks ago. 

The realtor is having a fit wanting me to have a septic inspector come out and verify if there is a septic system or not. It's a bit of a eclectic property. He doesn't understand that I have used one form or another of composting toilet for about half of my adult life and don't actually care if there is a system or not. I looked up the county health regulations and there will be no problem. I have never minded being unconventional and it is amusing to me to watch the people around me pulling their hair out because I am not doing things like everyone else does. 

The property has several buildings on it and a large concrete slab that I am thinking will end up being a hydroponic greenhouse. 

Some wonderful kind people that have my bee genetics are going to let me raise queens from their hives so I can get the line of genetics I developed back. I am going to be able to raise queens from several different yards. A couple of those yards are made up entirely of my line of bees. I am feeling so blessed! The line of bee genetics I developed is the accomplishment I am most proud of and I am so excited to get my girls back and pick up where I left off. I have been brainstorming with several other beekeepers on techniques I can use to compensate for my not so great health and I think I have it worked out.

Amazing how happy I am to be coming back to the homesteading lifestyle. I was literally living in paradise but I missed and needed to be productive. Also with the world going crazy I felt terribly insecure being somewhere I had to depend on others for my basic needs. You can take the girl off the homestead but you can't take the homesteader/prepper out of the girl. Also very happy to be starting over again after my divorce. This will be my place with no bad memories or bitterness. 

Y'all wave if you see a white Chevy with Sinaloa plates


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

Welcome home


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

Glad you made it safely. I'll send you a birthday wish when the time comes, I DO know what day it is, lol. Where you get your seeds? Some places are way behind.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

whiterock said:


> Glad you made it safely. I'll send you a birthday wish when the time comes, I DO know what day it is, lol. Where you get your seeds? Some places are way behind.


LOL....how could you forget my birthday  You are from Texas! About now other Texans are going oooooooh ok.

I ordered from Baker Creek and Annie's Heirlooms. I had to order from 2 because Bakers Creek is sold out of a lot of stuff. Also I liked some of the varieties from Annie's. Annie's had fast shipping too. Hoping the quality is good.

I'm going to see if I can take clippings from friends blueberries and get some started. Maybe one of them has pee gee hydrangeas too.


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## Elevenpoint (Nov 17, 2009)

No place quite like the Ozarks, I've gone north south east and west camping fishing hunting canoeing etc and I've covered most of it.


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## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

WHATEVER LOL. But I agree with you. No place like the Ozarks lol. TM, What town you near by? I lived in between W Planes and Alton in Howell Co. Im SOOOOOOOOOOO glad I now live in Okla lol


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

My place is east of Alton, toward the Elevenpoint River. 

Glad to see your posts! 

There is a good seed place in San Antonio. 
https://www.davids-garden-seeds-and-products.com/


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

I borrowed my wife's SUV for a business trip a few years ago. A big fat turkey jumped out of the ditch and tore off the driver's side mirror. I was just west of Alton on my way to Tecumseh.
I was speaking with a local broker there and asked if that area was still in the path of most tornadoes.
She said "Oh isn't bad where we are. I think we only had 11 warnings last summer."
Lol.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

I timed it today. My new place is 17 minutes from the new Harbor Freight in Springfield....without speeding! 

Installing a tornado shelter is towards the top of my priority list for sure. 

Now to find a competent carpenter to do the work that I am no longer able to do. I've got about 2 days worth of work that I need someone to do.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> My place is east of Alton, toward the Elevenpoint River.
> 
> Glad to see your posts!
> 
> ...


That's pretty country through there. Many years ago I lived between Mountain View and West Plains.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Tex: Glad you are back in the saddle. On the fig trees; I think your only choice will be Hardy Chicago. I am just N. of Harrison, Ar. and fig trees here cannot survive the winter. (Of course if you are willing to devote greenhouse space to one you'll do fine) Hardy Chicago will freeze to the ground and still produce figs on new wood from the roots. 

A friend in Arlington bought a little hydro kit and is raising all sorts of veggies. I got interested because of my age and decrepitude, and made my own prototype system that is working like a charm---I'll build it out this Fall and winter. Son's brother in law is tied in with some big-time pot growers and has a monster hydro unit under what was once a covered softball field.

Bees; you are hooked like all bee aficionados. Keep us posted on your progress. I will be interested in your handling the mites and beetles. I've been reading what the Europeans do with mites, but so one seems to have a sure cure for beetles other than trapping. 

I would also like to see you post sometime about nuc boxes. My bees came in a plastic nuke box totally unsuited for cool weather and I wound up watching the bees pull out mummies---I put them in a warm hive, fed them heavily, and in a week the mummies were gone. Never before have I had to deal with chalk brood or beetles.

Hope to see you post often. ,


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## Elevenpoint (Nov 17, 2009)

TxMex said:


> I timed it today. My new place is 17 minutes from the new Harbor Freight in Springfield....without speeding!
> 
> Installing a tornado shelter is towards the top of my priority list for sure.
> 
> Now to find a competent carpenter to do the work that I am no longer able to do. I've got about 2 days worth of work that I need someone to do.


I have 30 plus years experience building but I'm not close.
I'm moving soon but doubt that way.


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## Elevenpoint (Nov 17, 2009)

GTX63 said:


> I borrowed my wife's SUV for a business trip a few years ago. A big fat turkey jumped out of the ditch and tore off the driver's side mirror. I was just west of Alton on my way to Tecumseh.
> I was speaking with a local broker there and asked if that area was still in the path of most tornadoes.
> She said "Oh isn't bad where we are. I think we only had 11 warnings last summer."
> Lol.


My farm was 8 miles west of Alton, one of those big toms that called my place home probably got you.


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## Elevenpoint (Nov 17, 2009)

FarmboyBill said:


> WHATEVER LOL. But I agree with you. No place like the Ozarks lol. TM, What town you near by? I lived in between W Planes and Alton in Howell Co. Im SOOOOOOOOOOO glad I now live in Okla lol


Bill, you were by Thomasville if I remember. 
Wiped out by a flood in 2017.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

If I recall, Route160 over to Route 63 is a pretty drive all the way thru.
Used to be a restaurant just over the Arkansas line called Chupacabras. It might have been outside Mountain Home, Ark.
Hole in the wall but great food.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

elevenpoint said:


> My farm was 8 miles west of Alton, one of those big toms that called my place home probably got you.


I can pay you for the Turkey but you'd owe me for the mirror and I'd need you to call my wife and swear it was a Turkey and your bird that did it.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Oxankle said:


> Tex: Glad you are back in the saddle. On the fig trees; I think your only choice will be Hardy Chicago. I am just N. of Harrison, Ar. and fig trees here cannot survive the winter. (Of course if you are willing to devote greenhouse space to one you'll do fine) Hardy Chicago will freeze to the ground and still produce figs on new wood from the roots.
> 
> A friend in Arlington bought a little hydro kit and is raising all sorts of veggies. I got interested because of my age and decrepitude, and made my own prototype system that is working like a charm---I'll build it out this Fall and winter. Son's brother in law is tied in with some big-time pot growers and has a monster hydro unit under what was once a covered softball field.
> 
> ...


Oh good! Hardy Chicago are the ones I ordered. I did good and didn't know it. I am used to brown turkey figs in Texas. If need be I will give them some greenhouse space. I love figs. 

I have been doing Kratky hydroponics for a while now and love it. The thing that made me a complete convert was no more squash bugs! I wouldn't raise squash any other way now. When I was raising queens and nucs for sale I was working 12+ hours 7 days a week for about 3 months with no break every spring. I couldn't get a garden planted in time. So I needed something that was simple, fast and required only brief care about once a week. The Kratky method was perfect. 

I do plan to make some nft pvc pipe systems for lettuce and strawberries. I plan on building a raised garden area and hauling in compost, rabbit manure and other materials for root crops and corn. I have an area that is just about perfect with lots of gravel that I can level out that will make for good drainage. 

If you break ground in the ozarks you grow rocks. I don't care what you intended to grow....you end up growing rocks. So I'm not going to fall for that again!!! I am going to be researching the best weed block available and then assemble my growing soil from the best materials I can. Small and intensive. When I was younger I thought I needed lots of acreage. Now I know I am better off working small and using the best materials.

I have been hooked on bees for 30 years  For the last 10 years of so before I moved to Mexico I was a queen breeder. I have already got the mites handled genetically. My girls are very hygienic. They even groom the mites off of visiting drones. I have bred strictly for quality. I observe a potential breeder queen for a year before I use her for breeding. She must meet my standards before she is anything but a donar of brood. Handling mites is just 1 of my criteria.

I have been chemical and treatment free for all but the first 2 years I kept bees and didn't know any better. I normally have 0% winter losses. Occasionally I will lose a hive to robbing in a remote yard. When I was doing bees full time I raised bees in Texas and Missouri to lengthen the season. I would start off in Texas...get everything going and have queens in nucs getting mated then I'd run hives up to Missouri and get them set up to build in preparation to raise queens here. Then I'd go back to Texas, put mated queens in nucs and fill my orders then move up to Missouri for the rest of the season. Then back to Texas for the fall honey flow. In addition to that I traveled and talked at beekeepers clubs. if I can hold up to it I plan to start doing that again. Even while in Mexico I was still mentoring lots of folks via email and phone.

Keep your hives away from trees and on top of something impermeable and you will find that your shb are much less. My personal favorite material for underneath hives is used conveyor belt.

Plastic nuc boxes are only designed for transport. They are not a healthy environment for bees. You likely had JZ BZ boxes. I have assembled hundreds and perhaps even thousands of those. There are several great uses for those boxes. They are great for throwing into your vehicle to go grab a swarm. if you buy a cheap net laundry bag with a drawstring the boxes fit perfectly in them and you can then transport them inside of a vehicle with no excapees. They are also great to carry with you when you are working bees. I always take the frame the queen is on and place it into a plastic nuc box and close the lid so I know absolutely for certain where she is before I start rearranging the hive and stealing frames of brood for nucs....which is what I was usually doing. 

If you had mummies and chalk brood when you got the nuc, then the breeder had them in it for far too long. I always assembled my plastic nucs no more than 2 days before my customers were coming to pick them up. I had designated pick up days or I never would have gotten anything done. I had 8 hives set up for beginning beekeeping lessons and included lessons if folks bought bees from me. I would work them earlier in the week so I knew what was going on in each and sometimes set up 'problems' to point out to my students. If I can get a kidney transplant I look forward to getting back to working 100+ hives again. I'd probably go all the way and get the equipment to handle hives on pallets and go professional. Yes I have bee fever rather badly and I have been having terrible withdrawal!


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I have a Hardy Chicago fig in Alton. It does fine. 

I am new to bees. They are lovely.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> I have a Hardy Chicago fig in Alton. It does fine.
> 
> I am new to bees. They are lovely.


They are very addictive! It's the one thing that I never get bored with. I am always learning something new and doing experiments with them.

Good to hear that the fig will do well here.


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## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

11, I worked for a sawmill that was centered in Thomasville. They had another sawmill around a mile or 2 from where I lived and I spent most of my time there. We made RR ties, and wood parking stops. They would haul them to TVille and creasote trhem by running them into the end of a RR tank car that they had cut the end out of and hinged it. The mill near home, the logs were pushed up to the mill, and then a motorized chain conveyor on the ground would bring them up to me once I graduated to log turner. Once I had a log in front of me ready to put on, and the sawyer turned on the chain and another behind me nearly pinched me in 2. The BIG D8 Cat engine quit one day so they had us go to T Ville and run that mill. It had a little AC engine like you usta see at carnivals running rides. They had a ramp made of 3 telephone poles that they would push the logs up to the mill on. It had a center brace. Once, I got a big log on the carriage and we thought we had it dogged down good. I went down to the brace, sat on it and took off my shoe to get something out of it. All of a sudden I felt a bump, and the sawyer shouted, LOOK OUT BILL. I did a flying dive forward to the ground and the log rolled over me.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Tex;


TxMex said:


> If I can get a kidney transplant


Hate like hell to hear that you need that. Wishing you luck.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Are you on dialysis? Hubby was on peritoneal dialysis for 5 1/2 years.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Are you on dialysis? Hubby was on peritoneal dialysis for 5 1/2 years.


Not yet but I'm pretty sure I need to be. My kidney function has been going downhill pretty quickly for the last year. I haven't been able to get lab testing this year due to the coronavirus. I've been borderline for a while and I'm quite a bit worse now. This is the main reason I moved back to the US. I cannot get on the kidney transplant list in Mexico because I am not a Mexican citizen...though I am a permanent resident. I really, really, really don't want to do dialysis. It's pretty much my personal nightmare to have to do that 3 days a week.

Unfortunately I have to start jumping through hoops in order to get in to see a kidney Dr. In Mexico I simply called the Dr I needed and made an appointment. I've been trying to make an appointment with kidney Drs here for the last month and all of them insist I need to have another physician refer me in order to make an appointment....no matter what my test numbers are. I am really hoping I will just need to see 1 Dr in order to get the 'referral' to see a kidney Dr rather than being passed around for maximum profitability.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I understand completely. 

Huggs.


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## frogmammy (Dec 8, 2004)

Look for an old doctor. The young ones will tend to pass you around like marshmallows at a Girl Scout camp....it's all they know.

Mon


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

LOL. I never shared marshmallows at Girl Scout camp. That is, however, a marvelous simile.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

For heavens sakes., Tex; you sound as if you need a keeper. Do you not know that now dialysis is simple? Nephew has a kit at home, does his own dialysis and I think he does it while he sleeps. Not every kid's dream, but it beats hell out of dying from kidney failure. Get on the stick and find a doctor pronto. Of course there are still the dialysis clinics where you show up for appointments, but most of those, I think, tend to people who are incompetent to handle their own affairs.

I do not understand these backward areas. In Tulsa I could get a referral in two or three days., Here I travel 50 miles to see a doctor and he gets me a referral to a Rheumatologist two and a half months out. Some of my vet friends go to Mountain Home rather than the local hospital, a real vote of confidence for the locals. Neighbor went to Springfield to have the tendons in his hands relaxed, some 70-odd miles from here.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

The Mountain Home hospital is fantastic.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Peritoneal dialysis can be done overnight at home. EXTREME care must be used during the hook up and detach processes in order to avoid peritonitis.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Tx/Mex,
Glad you made it back to where you like it. When I got my chance I couldnt get back home to my Appalachian range foothill end mountains just far enough away and above the nearest towns for country comfort fast enough for this low altitude hillbilly LOL.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Oxankle said:


> For heavens sakes., Tex; you sound as if you need a keeper. Do you not know that now dialysis is simple? Nephew has a kit at home, does his own dialysis and I think he does it while he sleeps. Not every kid's dream, but it beats hell out of dying from kidney failure. Get on the stick and find a doctor pronto. Of course there are still the dialysis clinics where you show up for appointments, but most of those, I think, tend to people who are incompetent to handle their own affairs.
> 
> I do not understand these backward areas. In Tulsa I could get a referral in two or three days., Here I travel 50 miles to see a doctor and he gets me a referral to a Rheumatologist two and a half months out. Some of my vet friends go to Mountain Home rather than the local hospital, a real vote of confidence for the locals. Neighbor went to Springfield to have the tendons in his hands relaxed, some 70-odd miles from here.


I probably actually do need a keeper lol. 

At home? The only person I know that had dialysis was my great Uncle who had the same hereditary kidney problem and he had to go to town 3 days a week. I have a horrible phobia of needles...specifically needles that add to or take something out of my body. I can do acupuncture no problem...solid needles. I do not think I could do my own needles for dialysis. I always warn the technician to make sure I don't see the needle or I'll have to come back later.....in like a week when I have quit shaking. Rattlesnakes, grizzly bears, burglars, any random scary thing no problem....needles are my kryptonite. 

I will be trying to contact a Dr I saw when I lived in this area several years ago. He is actually the one that told me I was in end stage kidney failure so he is aware of my problem. If his office isn't open(he was semi retired and not in his office much) I will start calling around.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Peritoneal dialysis has no needles.

We need to talk


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Peritoneal dialysis has no needles.
> 
> We need to talk


Sending a pm.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Tex; quit fooling around and find a doctor who can treat your condition. You will play the dickens trying to keep bees if you ignore your health. Good grief; a woman who knows how to use knives and axes afraid of needles? Go do what has to be done.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

https://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_Grant_Mathews.html


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Oxankle said:


> Tex; quit fooling around and find a doctor who can treat your condition. You will play the dickens trying to keep bees if you ignore your health. Good grief; a woman who knows how to use knives and axes afraid of needles? Go do what has to be done.


That's the thing about phobias....they do not respond to logic. It was something that was formed when I was a child. I've had a therapist and several nurses try to talk me out of the 'fear'. It just doesn't work that way. 

I used to be really good with an ax....hatchet...chainsaw. Log splitting therapy is awesome.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Oddly enough, Tex, my Pat thought helping me split wood was fun---about the only farm work she cared for other than her flowers and the garden. Barb would do it all and still does all she is able. Fell on her face planting leeks a few weeks back and laughed about it as we got her back on her feet. She will risk falling to pick asparagus.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

TxMex, don't be wastin time. You know better. We have discussed enough for me to know that.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I gave her info about options that she was not aware of. Progress is being made.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

I have an appointment with a Dr that can hopefully give me a referral to a kidney Dr on Thursday. It is via an app but I think I may prefer that. I have all my laboratory results for 2019 on my computer...though US Drs tend to dismiss anything that isn't done in the US. Got my fingers crossed that this Dr will be good.

Thank you Alice you have been incredibly helpful!


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## gleepish (Mar 10, 2003)

Welcome home from one Missouri Gal to another!


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Hey, Tex; Thought I'd give you an addendum to my "chalkbrood" hive. The weather has finally turned to Summer, the bees have had two gallons of syrup and all the nectar/pollen they can gather, so I thought it safe to finally pull the frames one by one and see what I had. 

No more mummies, only a couple of beetles in the oil tray, not an egg to be found and all the brood hatched out. I bought a queenless nuc. 

Weather or no weather, I should have pulled those frames one by one and looked for the queen. I thought it rather strange that there would be five frames with almost all the brood capped but I could not imagine someone selling a queenless nuc and I did not spend time in the cold looking for the queen. Silly me.

So now, unless I can find a frame of eggs and brood, or a queen quickly, I am stuck with a mess to clean up.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Oxankle said:


> Hey, Tex; Thought I'd give you an addendum to my "chalkbrood" hive. The weather has finally turned to Summer, the bees have had two gallons of syrup and all the nectar/pollen they can gather, so I thought it safe to finally pull the frames one by one and see what I had.
> 
> No more mummies, only a couple of beetles in the oil tray, not an egg to be found and all the brood hatched out. I bought a queenless nuc.
> 
> ...


Well dang it! Next year once I start breeding queens again I could help you out. Check craigslist. I am seeing quite a few bees and queens for sale. Once I close on my place I will probably buy a few nucs and requeen them to my genetics to get a jump start on getting my girls back up and going.

I'm guessing it has been too long to contact the person you bought the nuc from to see if they will get you another queen. The nuc may not have been queenless....she may have gotten squished in transit. However if the beekeeper was making up lots of nucs they could have missed putting a queen in one. Considering you had chalkbrood though I'd say they are a beekeeper to avoid in the future. 

I always got a premium for my nucs because they were not just stuck together willy nilly. It was put together several days before delivery. I made sure the queen was laying strongly. They were absolutely busting full of bees and had lots of capped brood. I always warned folks to put them into a regular hive and not leave them in the transport box. Had a few not listen to me and just leave them in the nuc box and sure enough they swarmed. 

On the positive side....a brood break can be great for knocking down mite numbers. Hope you can find a queen.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Tomorrow is the last day I wait. The seller told me they would "see what they could do". 

I have either to find a frame of eggs and brood or a queen. 

Swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay.
Swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon.
A swarm of bees in July isn't worth a fly.

Learned that from my Daddy. He was born in 1902 when bee keeping was way different.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Oxankle said:


> Tomorrow is the last day I wait. The seller told me they would "see what they could do".
> 
> I have either to find a frame of eggs and brood or a queen.
> 
> ...


Dang it. I really wish I had my bees already. I could do something to help. I close on my new place this Friday. I've got some soffit coming down and I have a fella coming next Monday to put it back up. Definitely don't want any cavities open when I bring the bees home. 

Good luck! I hope you are able to get eggs or a queen soon!


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Congrats on the new place. LOL about the cavities. 

The place in OK had a nice house, but the builder put trim down over the brickwork without a solid barrier between brick and attic. At one time there had been an open air colony next to the back garage door and later a swarm in the attic. I found the comb marks over the back garage door when I bought the place. I had to seal all the brick seams along the trim, any place a bee could get between brick and trim.

You are going to be one busy woman for the next couple of years.


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## Mars Hill Homeschool (Jun 9, 2020)

TxMex said:


> Amazing how happy I am to be coming back to the homesteading lifestyle. I was literally living in paradise but I missed and needed to be productive. Also with the world going crazy I felt terribly insecure being somewhere I had to depend on others for my basic needs. You can take the girl off the homestead but you can't take the homesteader/prepper out of the girl. Also very happy to be starting over again after my divorce. This will be my place with no bad memories or bitterness.


We don't "know" each other (yet), but I want to say, "Welcome home!" And it sounds like you are IN your paradise, finally. 

I also know what it is like to be starting over after divorce.  I wish you all the best, and will be praying that you find a kidney soon (and that the transplant goes very smoothly and that you and your donor recover well with no complications whatsoever). I will remember where to find you when I am finally ready to start keeping my own bees! And finally, double-congrats on your birthday and house closing! 

MHH


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Oxankle said:


> Congrats on the new place. LOL about the cavities.
> 
> The place in OK had a nice house, but the builder put trim down over the brickwork without a solid barrier between brick and attic. At one time there had been an open air colony next to the back garage door and later a swarm in the attic. I found the comb marks over the back garage door when I bought the place. I had to seal all the brick seams along the trim, any place a bee could get between brick and trim.
> 
> You are going to be one busy woman for the next couple of years.


I am always busy. I am pretty much incapable of relaxing. At my place in Texas I have a gorgeous huge oak tree up on a hill that I went to a lot of trouble to hang a swing from. I would look forward to sitting in that swing and doing those big boundless swings. I could do about 3 and then I would spot something that needed to be done. I could ignore it for about 2 more swings and then I had to go do something about it. It would be nice to be able to sit and swing and just enjoy the day, but that isn't me. I am happy when I am busy. 

I am on a LOT of bee lists, bee club lists....anything having to do with bees. Once my new phone number gets out I'm sure I will get bee calls again. I DO NOT do cut outs, trap out and dang near don't do swarms unless they don't require a ladder. I sure as heck don't do it for free! Especially since I used to raise nucs for a living....it is so much easier and more reliable to do my own increase from my bees. This is one reason I don't want the little darlins to have anywhere they can decide to start a colony in!


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Mars Hill Homeschool said:


> We don't "know" each other (yet), but I want to say, "Welcome home!" And it sounds like you are IN your paradise, finally.
> 
> I also know what it is like to be starting over after divorce.  I wish you all the best, and will be praying that you find a kidney soon (and that the transplant goes very smoothly and that you and your donor recover well with no complications whatsoever). I will remember where to find you when I am finally ready to start keeping my own bees! And finally, double-congrats on your birthday and house closing!
> 
> MHH


Thank you. 

Absolutely feel free to ask me anything about bees. I do a lot of mentoring...online...via text and over the phone. I am chemical free and foundationless.


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## Mars Hill Homeschool (Jun 9, 2020)

TxMex said:


> Thank you.
> 
> Absolutely feel free to ask me anything about bees. I do a lot of mentoring...online...via text and over the phone. I am chemical free and foundationless.


Thank you, TxMex. It'll be a while, if ever, before I get myself out to the country. Can't keep bees here (my neighbor recently told me that she asked!), and one of my kids is allergic.


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## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

TM/Chuck, you might check out a Doug and Stacy Vid on U tube The title is something the oldtimers did with bees


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

Friday's coming.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

whiterock said:


> Friday's coming.


 Noooooooo


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

FarmboyBill said:


> TM/Chuck, you might check out a Doug and Stacy Vid on U tube The title is something the oldtimers did with bees


I tend to watch very few youtube videos about bees. They are almost always done by beginners and I end up yelling at the computer. I'll see if I can find the one you are talking about. 

Currently I am mostly watching hydroponics videos. I had a system all designed out. Went to the Lowe's website and start making an order. Looked at the total....emptied my cart and been trying to build a lower cost mousetrap ever since. I think I have it figured out. If it actually works as I hope it will, I may have the biggest thing since someone ran lots of 4 inch pipe back and forth on an A-frame.

On a completely unrelated note....this was a good craigslist day. I picked up a barely used self-propelled mower with mulcher, bagger and electric start for $100. Also picked up a practically new adjustable bed base with massage and wireless remote control for $100. Only problem is it smells like cigarette smoke. I have it in the back of the truck airing out. Any tips for getting the smell out short of using an ozone machine would be appreciated.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

https://odoban.com/product/ready-to-use-spray/


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## frogmammy (Dec 8, 2004)

Second the Odoban!

Mon


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Tex; I am with you on some of those videos. 

I do not do cut-outs, and I do not climb trees for bees, but as a kid I cut down and split open some hollow trees to get my first bees. I much prefer nice low-hanging swarms of bees that have not yet gotten hungry and easily irritated. 

Picked up a small nuc today with a nice gentle queen. Got a sheet of newspaper between that and my queenless bunch. In a day or two the crisis will be over but I have more invested now than my entire outlay for the first ten hives I had in OK. Of course that was some time back. 

I suppose now I might as well order another box or two since I have had to buy everything a back-yard beekeeper needs. I might even get my extractor back. I had a nice nine-frame radial hand-crank; my wife would clear the kitchen and help. On second thought, no, I do not need that much work. The garden is more than enough.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Oxankle said:


> Tex; I am with you on some of those videos.
> 
> I do not do cut-outs, and I do not climb trees for bees, but as a kid I cut down and split open some hollow trees to get my first bees. I much prefer nice low-hanging swarms of bees that have not yet gotten hungry and easily irritated.
> 
> ...


ROFL....you should have seen my shop building when I was beekeeping full time!! Large shop building with an enclosed full length lean to absolutely full to the rafters with bee equipment(assembled and unassembled) and little clear areas in and amongst the piles with power equipment for making custom equipment. The tractor was carefully wedged in.

I have some of my queen bars in storage. As soon as I get them unpacked I'll post pictures. One of the handier things I came up with. I have been able to introduce queens to hives in as little as 2 hours and hand release her with these. They give her plenty of room to get away from the bees if they are being aggressive. Enough room that they cannot ball her to death like they can in a small cage, but screen wire on 2 sides so they have lots of access to her if they all get along. I am a big fan of hand releasing queens rather than letting the bees do it. That way I see for myself if they have taken to her. I know she got released and when. Keeping queens confined in cages for long periods of time isn't good for them.

Had a local beekeeper here a couple of days ago that ended up with a laying worker in a hive that the bees didn't release the queen from her cage for over a week. I think the beekeeper put the cage in wrong and the bees couldn't get to the candy plug.

Glad you got a nuc to get you going again. Be careful...beekeeping is inherently equipment intense. I have a nice concrete pad with a big tall RV garage on it that is 36' x 20' with 12 ft sides. I am thinking about putting sides and another end on it and turning it into a workshop. Also that way folks won't be bugging me to rent it. It would hold a LOT of bee equipment! Need somewhere to put my fancy new electric hive lift that I haven't had a chance to try yet....and need to go pick up a few things from Harbor Freight(sliding compound miter saw and stand, skill saw, drill press, jigsaw, sawsall, grinder, ladder, shop vac, wheel barrow, lots of saw horses to set 2x4's on for painting beehives, paint brushes, crown staple guns and staples, air compressor)....just sticking to the bare necessities 

Made another craigslist score today. Located an absolutely huge U shaped office desk modular system that one whole side besides having the table has lots of bins, drawers and cabinets. I'll be able to have ALL the sewing machines out at once and can store the notions and large fabric stash in the cabinets....$200  Includes a nice office chair. I can just swivel to move between machines. Heck I can now get more machines! I am definitely hiring someone to move that.


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## Kiamichi Kid (Apr 9, 2009)

TxMex said:


> That's pretty country through there. Many years ago I lived between Mountain View and West Plains.


I lived in Mt View for awhile when I worked at the Ozark Folk Center...and I dated a woman from West Plains...I do miss the Folk Center..lol


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Kiamichi Kid said:


> I lived in Mt View for awhile when I worked at the Ozark Folk Center...and I dated a woman from West Plains...I do miss the Folk Center..lol


Small world. I used to live in Mountain View MO just north of West Plains. I've never been to the Ozarks Folk Center. Seems I looked it up once years ago and didn't care to pay the entry fee to see demonstrations for skills I already had lol.


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## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

I been to Mountain View and lived outside W Plaines while I worked for Coca Cola as a Fork Lift Op. Later I worked at a sawmill close to home. I guess. NOW that I lived E of WP. You went down the hill in town and turned right to go out of town on a state hyway.


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## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

Cheryl worked at a nursing home in WP. A Mr Presley was always trying to cop a feel off here lol


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

lol,. TEX' It is just plain aggravating when you want to buy what you just sold not long ago !!! Keep us posted---we can't play but we can watch.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Oxankle said:


> lol,. TEX' It is just plain aggravating when you want to buy what you just sold not long ago !!! Keep us posted---we can't play but we can watch.


Ain't it the truth!!! One thing I have learned is to never say never. I end up repeating it. 
I actually catch myself now before the words leave my mouth


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Our phrase is “Never say never, or it will come back and poop on your head.”


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

COPPING A FEEL: BILL, when I was a young investigator I was assigned to check out a Nursing Home in Pauls Valley. To that time it was the first I ever entered that did not have the characteristic "old folks smell". It was clean, airy and with big open spaces inside. Old people up and down the halls, almost all of them smiling.

It was customary for me to ask for a tour of the establishment whenever I entered a business, so the owner walked me around the place, including the ward where bedfast patients were housed.

As we walked down a hall one of the attendants, a large woman, passed a group of old men and one of them reached out and patted her on the behind. She stopped and said "Damn yore hide, you old bastard, one of these days I'm gonna break your neck" Then she and the whole group broke up in laughter and she walked on about her work.

I left that place thinking that If I had to go to a nursing home, that one was my choice.

As an afterthought, when I was in school I worked for a while at a nursing home that had both a geriatrics ward and a phsychiartric ward. Those places will warp a person'smind. As a result I could never go with my own kid's scout troop when they took out the handicapped kids for a camping trip. 

Sorry, I sort of went adrift here---there were no bees in the nursing home.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Our phrase is “Never say never, or it will come back and poop on your head.”


I am stealing this!!!


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Oxankle said:


> Sorry, I sort of went adrift here---there were no bees in the nursing home.


Maybe that is the problem


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## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

Chuck, thats what I kinda told her. Take it on the cheek. It dont mean nothing to you. BUT, she said, sometimes he pinches hard just to make the nurses howl. He and the men around him got a kick outa that.


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## RideBarefoot (Jun 29, 2008)

Oh my, the world is getting smaller. I'm headed to Winona next year.


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## bstuart29 (Jul 11, 2006)

My boss lived between west plains and Alton the the figs do fine you just cut them back and mulch them in the fall. To me they aren't worth growing if you don't have a way to keep the birds from eating the fruit.


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## frogmammy (Dec 8, 2004)

And by the way, anyone heard from TexMex in the last 3-4 months?

Mon


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## Macrocarpus (Jan 30, 2018)

Not a blooming word---I have been wondering what became of her---Since I have kept bees since I was a kid I like to read what she has to say. That goes back to before she married and left Texas.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

she's likely busy building up the property but we should have heard how things are progressing by now. maybe Whiterock knows something. ~Georgia


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

I haven't heard from her either


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## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

Welcome to Southwest, MO!

Sounds like you are in Ozark, Highlandville, or thereabouts, everywhere else North, East and West is too civilized to have a "Diamond in the rough," like you describe.

My son recently bought 80 acres of pretty much raw land in Chadwick.I bought him a three stage beehive for Christmas. I'm trying to convince him to build a few bee traps to put around the place. Everybody wants around 170 bucks for a nuc. I figure that there's got to be a better way.

Nixa Hardware offers a beekeeping class in the spring. They still haven't set the date.

Depending on how much carpentry work you need done, there is an Amish community in Seymour. Transportation can be a bugger, however, they are workers and generally good folks.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

Elevenpoint said:


> No place quite like the Ozarks, I've gone north south east and west camping fishing hunting canoeing etc and I've covered most of it.


I just figured out your name. Nice river.


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## 101pigs (Sep 18, 2018)

FarmboyBill said:


> Cheryl worked at a nursing home in WP. A Mr Presley was always trying to cop a feel off here lol


Had a fellow around here that would not leave the help alone. He got kicked out of every home arojnd here. He endered up at the V.A. and died there.


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## Macrocarpus (Jan 30, 2018)

I've worked in a nursing home as a young man while going to school. Any nursing home staff that cannot handle a senile old man's nonsense should be replaced. We had one old fellow, very rich, who persuaded an ignorant female staffer to crawl in bed with him---LOL, created a commotion for a day or so. The RN's on staff were very competent women---Head nurse was an old army vet of some rank, no nonsense woman. The RN's rode herd on the female staffers like drill sergeants. The two or three of us males were there only for muscle and chores. 

I got some laughs and some phobias from that job. LOL, one day they brought in a woman who was completely out of her head. The Dr., one of the owners, ordered a sedative suppository for her and a padded cell. So, two of us took her into the cell, the nurse got a tray with gloves and the suppository. We put the woman face down on the bed, Me holding her shoulders down, the other fellow her legs below the knee so that she was effectively immobile. The Dr, a pompous ass, barked "Gloves" and the nurse handed them to him. Then, still looking at the patient's butt barked "suppository" and the nurse gave him that. 

Then, with one gloved hand spreading the woman's buttocks he poked in the suppository. The glove on his index finger broke and the next thing we heard from that pompous twit was $_^8%@#$^$%@^@#$&^$%&_ I still smile thinking of that sixty five years later.


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