Birds, Bees and Boat

I know that Baltimore Orioles love orange halves and grape jelly but I have never put any out. I was hanging out clothes today and watched a pair courting in the trees, she was playing the part of the innocent housewife and he was the traveling salesman who showed up while her husband was away.

What a naughty pair.

I had a feeder so I cut an orange and put it out and it wasn't long before they found it. I had no grape jelly but it's on my grocery list for tomorrow. I got my camera, remote shutter switch and the tripod and set it up, taking some practice photos. Then I hid behind the dog house and waited.

After taking about ten thousand photos and finding them all blurry, I realized that I had to manually focus the camera and went back to my hiding place. The orioles were very accommodating, even though I kept interrupting their afternoon snack, they forgave me and returned as soon as I was in my hiding spot.

The traveling salesman was always the first to show up, he's gorgeous.

But the innocent housewife was the dominant one and told the salesman to "Beat it, Buster!" when she wanted to eat.

And he did. 

I had a hard time getting anything done because I was fascinated with watching them. 

My really exciting news about the bees is, they have larvae!! That means the queens are in residence and doing what queens do best, procreate. Of course the model hive has the beautiful comb filled with tiny baby bees while the lazy hive has some of the most awful looking comb that is filled with tiny baby bees.

Hey, I'm happy with that.

Today was the day Bruce looks forward to all winter, getting the boat out of Leo's shop and prepping it for the summer fishing season.

This picture was taken last Sept on one of the last trips to MN for the season. Today the boat was lovingly washed and the motor checked out, brought over here and stashed in the shed. Ready for the magic date, June 7, when he meets the Salzwedel boys at the cabin for the first of many trips to MN.

But there is still work to do on the farm, the hay has to be baled and the cattle worked so they can go to the pasture so the innocent housewife staying home to do chores doesn't have to work so hard.

And watches for the traveling salesman.