Dressing in the Right Gear

 Hi everyone. Happy Thursday to you.

Today I'm sharing 2 spreads that I made back in August in my bee journal. If you look carefully, you can see why I am calling this post dressing in the right gear.

I added quite a few snippets  out of a bee keeping magazine on both pages. I also added some chipboard images  as well as some stamped pieces. I left the background white, but after everything was added to the page, I used an old tape roll as a stamp. Using some  yellow paint I added a bunch of  circles. I also splattered some yellow and brown watercolor over my background. 

On the second page you can see an image of a beekeeper all decked out in their gear: the suit, the hat and the gloves. I never wear gloves because my hands are small and I can't find gloves that actually fit, but I definitely wear the rest of the gear when I go into my hive.  Once you give the bees a few puffs of smoke they ignore you, but some of that has to do with the variety I have in my hive. Some varieties are not so docile.

On this second spread you can also see a stamped card image as well as my update from one of my August bee checks.

And since this second page has someone dressed in beekeeping gear, I am linking up to Neet's challenge at Art Journal Journey. You probably guess that this month the challenge is In Gear. 

Last week I added the mouse guard to the main opening of the beehive. When it gets cold, mice try to get into hives because the bees keep it toasty warm inside. No one wants mice in their hive. However, the ladies who had been out foraging when I added the guard came back and had a "HUH? What is this? " moment when they noticed it in front of the entrance.

The mouse guard is the metal piece with all the holes in it. Those holes are where the bees go in and out. 

These 2 in my photos were just a few of the many who did the same thing. It was fun to watch them maneuver their new doorway. When I went out  last Saturday to check  on their food level, I  noticed they all had the mouse guard holes down pact. 

I also took off the inside bee feeder because with the sticky fall food (it's 2 parts sugar to 1 part water) too many bees were getting stuck on the syrup and dying. I decided  to use  my little outside feeder, and it didn't take them long to find the food. Plus since it is external to the hive, I can see when it needs filling, which has been like every 3 days. 

And not only the honey bees are buzzing around in the warm afternoons, but the wild bees are out there also.

And there's been a lot of caterpillars around lately too.

This one that's  boldly colored was in my garden one afternoon. It's the caterpillar of the hooded brown owlet moth.

And here's a wooly bear one I found all curled up. These guys crawl under leaves and debris to spend the winter. During that time they actually freeze solid, only to hatch in the spring  I don't always touch caterpillars, because some of them  can cause skin reactions, but there are a lot of these wooly bears, and I know they are ok to handle, but just for a moment of course.

This next caterpillar is a hickory tussock moth caterpillar.  They feed on leaves from trees including but not only species other than hickories. 

And finally, just down the road I found this guy also. I'm not sure what species he is, but I did notice the pair of "eyes" behind his head. Not real eyes, but most likely to scare off anything that might think about eating it. 

I hope you didn't mind all the creepy crawlies in today's post. 

Thanks for visiting, and have a bee-utiful day.