#this finale rules so much afford so much funny and scary and heartbreakings in it

[ikurko]

[josephkitchen0]

5 Tips for Starting Beekeeping

By Josh Vaisman, Colorado – A few years back my wife, Greta, announced we’d be taking on a new adventure; starting beekeeping. Truth be told, I was terrified my wife had flipped her gourd. As the over-analytical planner (that is, the big Chicken) of the household, I simply asked, “So we’re going to intentionally put 60,000 stinging insects in our backyard?” She smiled, and we signed up for a beginning beekeeping class with the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association. Only one hour into our first Saturday class I was completely “stung”. Five years later, we’ve got our own little honey bee farm operation and I’ve been overcome with the “buzz” of the hobby.

In the five years since starting beekeeping, I’ve realized the hobby is rife with an odd mix of terror and fulfillment. At first, I was terrified of being stung – ouch! In short order, I began to fall in love with these fascinating little insects and my fear began to shift. Do I know enough to properly care for them? As our knowledge and abilities increased and our bees began to thrive, the fear shifted again. Are we doing enough for the bees and the environment they require to survive? Despite – perhaps because of — the fear, my adventures in raising honey bees have been the most fulfilling adventures of my life. The hobby has become a lifestyle filled with growth, learning, community, and some delicious honey. A little fear can go a long way. So you’re starting beekeeping, that’s great! Here are a few things to help you get started on the right path:

Our best bee advice revealed...

Download this FREE Guide from our bee experts — beehives to beekeeper supplies to THE most important backyard beekeeper rule. YES! I want this Free Report »  

1) Learn About the Birds and the Bees

Actually, just learn all you can about bees. While deeply fulfilling and even therapeutic, caring for bees is a challenge best met with knowledge. Understanding the castes in the hive (the Queen honey bee, workers, and drones), the purposes they serve, the impacts of the environment, the pests and diseases they can and will encounter, all play into how successful you’ll be. Take a beginning beekeeping class. Read some books. Find a beekeeping mentor (or two or three!). Subscribe to the bee journals. As an ever-evolving hobby with quickly changing challenges, educating yourself is a habit you should embrace from the start.

Carniolan queen honeybee

2) Choose Your Equipment and Location

Will you utilize the most commonly used hive style, the Langstroth beehive or do you fancy yourself a top bar or Warre beekeeper? For protective equipment, you could use a veil, a jacket with vail, or a full body bee suit – which works for you? Location of your hive can impact your bees based on sun exposure (summer v. winter), wind exposure, accessibility, proximity to neighbors, and so on. Once established, moving the hive is a major undertaking. Where will you locate your hive(s)? What other beekeeping supplies will you need?

Langstroth hives

3) How Many Hives?

As someone starting beekeeping, year one with your beehive will be a new experience at every point in the year. A colony looks and acts differently in the spring, summer, fall, and winter and you’ll be seeing it all for the first time. You’ll have a head start on most since you’ll have learned all about the bees (see #1 above) but we all know, books don’t replace experience. If you can afford it (both in money and time) I recommend starting your beekeeping adventure with two hives. This way you’ll have something to compare and contrast throughout the beekeeping season. You may not yet have the experience to notice when something is off, but with two hives you’ll definitely notice when something is different between them. That’s the perfect time to call up your mentor and ask for help! Also consider, last year over 40% of all beekeeper-kept beehives didn’t survive through the year. If you only have one hive and it ends up one of the 40% you’ll be sadly starting over next year.

4) Where Will You Get Your Bees?

Know the ins and outs of buying bees and decide if you will you buy a package of bees or a nucleus beehive? Will you purchase a split from another beekeeper or perhaps an already existing full hive? Will you catch your own swarm to seed your new hive equipment? Where will you buy your package or nuc or split? How will you find a swarm to catch? What time of year will any of these sources be available where you live? Will you know the steps involved in winterizing beehive gear?

Bee packages

5) Beekeeping Isn’t a Recipe

There’s a common saying among beekeepers, “Ask five beekeepers a question and you’ll get six different answers.” As with most clichés it’s only funny because it’s essentially true. While there are some things in the beekeeping “dos” and “don’ts” departments that aren’t really up for negotiation much of the hobby is still evolving. This reality of the hobby is both exciting and terrifying; exciting in that there are always new things to learn and try, terrifying in that there will always be the question in your mind, “Am I doing right by my bees?” With this in mind, it’s important you learn everything you need to know raising honey bees by finding quality resources for information such as reputable periodicals and websites, and successful and respected mentors. Finally, it’s important you mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for the inevitable loss. You will fall in love with your bees and, despite all your best efforts, you will lose some of them. It will be heartbreaking. I hope you take solace in knowing your love and best efforts are, overall, helping eliminate the plight all honeybees and pollinators must now contend with. Bees, as a species, will be saved by people like you!

At this point, you might be rethinking starting beekeeping. Please don’t! With a little preparation and dedication, I promise you the joys of the hobby will by far outweigh the challenges. I know this from experience. Our first year we started with two hives and lost one before winter was over. Our second year we lost all our hives to varroa mites. This past year all three of our hives made it through winter and all three swarmed. We even made a split out of one of them which means our three 2016 colonies became seven thriving beehives in 2017! And let’s not forget the golden bounty – as summer came to a close we filled our pantry with almost two hundred pounds of delicious, raw honey! Starting beekeeping is scary, but it can be deeply rewarding as well.

Are you ready to drink the honey and start the adventure?

Josh Vaisman is an avid beekeeper and instructor in northern Colorado. An active member of the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association, Vaisman has been involved in the education of new beekeepers. Like most people who study apiculture, he started into beekeeping as a hobby, and offers valuable experience to those wanting to start beekeeping about the learning curve involved, what to do, and what not to do when getting started. Vaisman is a hospital administrator and partner at Avenues Pet Clinic in Cheyenne, Wyo. He lives in Firestone. You can reach Josh at joshmvaisman@gmail.com. 

5 Tips for Starting Beekeeping was originally posted by All About Chickens

[junker-town]

'Air Bud' is good

20 years later, a fresh look at the classic film.

I’ve never seen Air Bud. Think about how weird that is: The movie came out in 1997. I was eight, the perfect age to see a movie about a dog that plays basketball. Everybody saw Air Bud. Everybody loved Air Bud. The Air Bud franchise was to children in the ’90s as the 50 Shades of Gray franchise is to suburban moms now, just with more sports and no sex stuff.

And yet, I missed it. I blame this on the fact that I’m an only child whose parents are more into Proust than they are Disney movies (they’re very smart and wonderful people). But because I didn’t have cable or siblings to tell me what was cool, I grew up watching PBS and not knowing the lyrics to the Spice Girls’ songs. My 1990s cultural blindspots still haunt me. Case in point: Kel Mitchell went to Super Bowl media night as his Good Burger character, and I got mercilessly roasted when I asked my colleagues who the guy in the fast food uniform was.

I’m telling you this to explain why I’m sitting at my desk watching Air Bud in the SB Nation offices at 4:25 pm on a Thursday. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the film’s release, the NBA trade deadline is over, the Oscars are this weekend. I felt like only way I could create content of dubious quality honoring all three momentous occasions at once was to finally watch Air Bud and blog my experience.

I also want to see if you guys have been right this whole time. Is Air Bud as good as everyone’s been saying it is for the past 20 years? Let’s find out.

HERE WE GO!

The movie opens on an idyllic country road, and, oh my god, what is happening? A giant wooden clown head is cresting over a hill. It’s perched on top of a pickup truck driven by a guy dressed as a clown.

I’m confused. Is this a horror film or a movie for children? Is Air Bud actually the prequel to Saw? Has everyone has been lying to me about this movie a part of some sick, elaborate prank?

Things start to make more sense when I see a dog in the back of the pickup truck. I’m pretty sure it’s Air Bud himself, dressed up as a clown.

It turns out that Bad Clown Dude performs at kid’s birthday parties, and Air Bud is his sidekick who does tricks with balls. Bad Clown Dude is a real dick. He beats Air Bud and decides to take the dog to the pound after things go awry at the party. I hate this man with my entire being.

Fortunately, the gate of the pickup truck is down, so Air Bud’s crate — with Air bud locked in it — falls out the back. Trucks are screaming by as he’s trapped in the middle of the road, and then he gets hit by a car.

I mean, not, like, badly, but hard enough so that his crate topples over and he pops out. I know I’m not supposed to laugh right now, but a dog in a clown suit is pretty funny. The mom driving the SUV that hit him is like, “Huh, hit a dog, whoops,” and then keeps driving.

What kind of monster hits a dog and doesn’t stop to save it?

We can tell that her son Josh — who’s sitting up front because no one gave a damn about air bags in the 1990s and we all turned out okay, okay? — is the main character by the way the camera lingers on his face. He longingly watches Air Bud trot down the road behind the car.

Josh and his family have just moved to Fernville, Washington to be near his mom’s relatives after his dad passed away. A shot of Josh in his empty room holding a box of stuff shows us how lonely and sad he is. In the kitchen, Josh’s mom is on the phone having conversation that clearly isn’t relevant to the plot but intrigues me, because I hear her say, “I understand that Bolivia didn’t get the napkins, and Venezuela did?”

“Napkins” is definitely code for “cocaine.” Josh’s mom is an international drug lord.

Drug Dealer Mom hangs up on whatever cartel runner she was talking to and asks Josh how school was. Josh says his first line of the whole movie: “It sucks.”

School does, indeed, suck; Josh tries to sign up for the basketball team, but the asshole coach makes him be the manager instead. I feel bad for the kid, but things start looking up when he finds a magical basketball court behind his house. It’s on the edge of a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains, and it’s a good thing Drug Dealer Mom is a kingpin, because otherwise this family wouldn’t be able to afford such prime real estate.

There are bits and pieces of a clown suit strewn about the court. We hear barking from the bushes. And then ****SPOILER ALERT**** Air Bud shows up! He eats a pudding cup that must’ve fallen out of Josh’s backpack. Pudding can’t be good for dogs, but Air Bud is dirty and hungry, so we aren’t supposed to care.

Josh picks up a basketball and tosses it to Air Bud. Because he’s a trained clown dog, Air Bud can balls out, and the two pals have the time of their lives playing together. I start laughing because it’s so delightful, but I’m also tearing up, because it’s very moving to see Josh finally make a friend.

I’m starting to understand why everyone loves this movie so much.

Josh brings Air Bud home. Air Bud eats Spaghetti-Os in the bathroom, and I will honestly be shocked if this dog is alive in ten minutes given all the crap this boy has fed it. There are five open cans of Spaghetti-Os on the ground. The poor animal is going to have to get his stomach pumped.

Josh is wearing a suit of old time-y rain gear. He gives Air Bud a bath and brushes his teeth.

Drug Dealer Mom comes home from dealing drugs and gets pissed when Air Bud spills paint all over the house. But she lets Josh keep the dog, because if she didn’t, the movie would be over.

Now we’re at the school gym, where Josh meets a kind, older man who works as a janitor there, because what would a ’90s movie be without a non-threatening black man whose backstory is developed just enough — but not more — to serve the narrative needs of the white protagonist? It turns out that this guy was a great basketball player for the Knicks, and I’m like, “Uh, why would a former NBA player now be working as a janitor at a middle school in Washington state as opposed to sipping margaritas in Tulum or hosting a show on ESPN?”

But I let it go, because I start wondering what happened to Josh in real life. What if Josh is hot now?

He is. I just Googled him. Check out how hot Josh is.

He’s over-groomed, but the man looks good. This is not a Haley Joel Osment situation.

Things are getting better for Josh. Buddy (that’s what Josh calls Air Bud) performs basketball tricks during halftime after Josh makes the team. Josh even has a friend, this kid with an aggressive bowl cut who carries around an orange peel that Scotty Pippen once threw away, as well as a piece of chewed-up gum that Dennis Rodman once spit out. I don’t know where he’s getting all this famous trash. The boys put it in their socks for good luck.

The asshole coach ends up getting fired when the principal catches him pelting Trash Kid with basketballs in a dark gym. This feels a little heavy for a children’s movie, but it works as a plot device, because it means that the basketball-great-turned-janitor can take over the team as Good Coach and preach the beauty of teamwork.

The inevitable Scary Moment Where Everything Could Fall Apart comes when Bad Clown Dude shows up to reclaim Air Bud. Josh steals Air Bud back, but worries that he’s just going to get taken again. So he hops a ferry with the dog and goes to an island.

“Go on Buddy, you’re free now,” Josh says, crying, as he makes Buddy leave him. I feel this sharp pain in my chest. Buddy hops into the water, whining as he watches Josh get carried away.

I’m softly crying. I’m glad I didn’t watch this movie when I was little because I don’t know that I could’ve handled heartbreak at such an early age.

Josh is back at school playing basketball. I’m still broken up over the fact that he left his goddamn dog on a goddamn island. But then we hear barking and — could it be?! — BUDDY RETURNS! Thank god I only had to suffer like that for seven minutes.

Josh’s team only has four players on the court because one just got hurt. There’s no rule that dogs can’t play basketball, so Buddy, wearing little doggie basketball shoes and an adorable doggie jersey, checks in. I’m laughing and crying again as I watch Josh and Buddy win the game.

It’s 6 p.m. now, and the office is emptying out.

I breathe a sigh of relief knowing there are only 15 minutes left and more truly bad shit can’t happen. But there’s going to be some slightly bad shit, because Bad Clown Dude shows up again.

Drug Dealer Mom says something along the lines of, “Hell no, you’re not taking my dog!” Bad Clown Dude goes, “I’LL SEE YOU IN COURT!” Donald Trump plagiarized Air Bud.

I guess legal fees don’t matter when you’re Drug Dealer Mom and want to be sure your kid doesn’t lose his dog, because here we are, in court. Thankfully, Good Coach shows up and saves the day; it turns out that he used to be the old, curmudgeonly judge’s favorite player.

Good Coach proposes that Buddy choose who he wants to belong to. After a few suspenseful pump-fakes, Air Bud obviously chooses Josh, jumping up to give him a hug. The movie ends with a huge crowd cheering outside the courthouse.

Hulu asks me if I want to watch Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco. Yes, Hulu, that’s literally all I want, but it would be weird to stay in the office until 9 p.m. watching another kid’s movie about dogs, and I’m emotionally exhausted, so I go home.

THE VERDICT:

Air Bud is good. I love Air Bud. I think I probably would’ve questioned less — why is Josh wearing foul weather gear to take a bath with his dog? Why are bullies in ’90s movies always chewing gum? Why do the feds never show up to investigate Drug Dealer Mom? — if I’d seen this as a kid.

But I’m glad I didn’t. Watching it now reminded me what it felt like to be a child. It brought me back to the days when all I worried about was if my crush would pick me to be on his soccer team at recess and if there was a new episode of Wishbone that night. When a new set of baseball cards could bring infinite happiness.

Air Bud stands the test of time. It’s a cinematic masterpiece that gave me a respite from being an adult almost two hours. What could be better than that?

[josephkitchen0]

5 Tips for Starting Beekeeping

By Josh Vaisman, Colorado – A few years back my wife, Greta, announced we’d be taking on a new adventure; starting beekeeping. Truth be told, I was terrified my wife had flipped her gourd. As the over-analytical planner (that is, the big Chicken) of the household, I simply asked, “So we’re going to intentionally put 60,000 stinging insects in our backyard?” She smiled, and we signed up for a beginning beekeeping class with the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association. Only one hour into our first Saturday class I was completely “stung”. Five years later, we’ve got our own little honey bee farm operation and I’ve been overcome with the “buzz” of the hobby.

In the five years since starting beekeeping, I’ve realized the hobby is rife with an odd mix of terror and fulfillment. At first, I was terrified of being stung – ouch! In short order, I began to fall in love with these fascinating little insects and my fear began to shift. Do I know enough to properly care for them? As our knowledge and abilities increased and our bees began to thrive, the fear shifted again. Are we doing enough for the bees and the environment they require to survive? Despite – perhaps because of — the fear, my adventures in raising honey bees have been the most fulfilling adventures of my life. The hobby has become a lifestyle filled with growth, learning, community, and some delicious honey. A little fear can go a long way. So you’re starting beekeeping, that’s great! Here are a few things to help you get started on the right path:

Our best bee advice revealed...

Download this FREE Guide from our bee experts — beehives to beekeeper supplies to THE most important backyard beekeeper rule. YES! I want this Free Report »  

1) Learn About the Birds and the Bees

Actually, just learn all you can about bees. While deeply fulfilling and even therapeutic, caring for bees is a challenge best met with knowledge. Understanding the castes in the hive (the Queen honey bee, workers, and drones), the purposes they serve, the impacts of the environment, the pests and diseases they can and will encounter, all play into how successful you’ll be. Take a beginning beekeeping class. Read some books. Find a beekeeping mentor (or two or three!). Subscribe to the bee journals. As an ever-evolving hobby with quickly changing challenges, educating yourself is a habit you should embrace from the start.

Carniolan queen honeybee

2) Choose Your Equipment and Location

Will you utilize the most commonly used hive style, the Langstroth beehive or do you fancy yourself a top bar or Warre beekeeper? For protective equipment, you could use a veil, a jacket with vail, or a full body bee suit – which works for you? Location of your hive can impact your bees based on sun exposure (summer v. winter), wind exposure, accessibility, proximity to neighbors, and so on. Once established, moving the hive is a major undertaking. Where will you locate your hive(s)? What other beekeeping supplies will you need?

Langstroth hives

3) How Many Hives?

As someone starting beekeeping, year one with your beehive will be a new experience at every point in the year. A colony looks and acts differently in the spring, summer, fall, and winter and you’ll be seeing it all for the first time. You’ll have a head start on most since you’ll have learned all about the bees (see #1 above) but we all know, books don’t replace experience. If you can afford it (both in money and time) I recommend starting your beekeeping adventure with two hives. This way you’ll have something to compare and contrast throughout the beekeeping season. You may not yet have the experience to notice when something is off, but with two hives you’ll definitely notice when something is different between them. That’s the perfect time to call up your mentor and ask for help! Also consider, last year over 40% of all beekeeper-kept beehives didn’t survive through the year. If you only have one hive and it ends up one of the 40% you’ll be sadly starting over next year.

4) Where Will You Get Your Bees?

Know the ins and outs of buying bees and decide if you will you buy a package of bees or a nucleus beehive? Will you purchase a split from another beekeeper or perhaps an already existing full hive? Will you catch your own swarm to seed your new hive equipment? Where will you buy your package or nuc or split? How will you find a swarm to catch? What time of year will any of these sources be available where you live? Will you know the steps involved in winterizing beehive gear?

Bee packages

5) Beekeeping Isn’t a Recipe

There’s a common saying among beekeepers, “Ask five beekeepers a question and you’ll get six different answers.” As with most clichés it’s only funny because it’s essentially true. While there are some things in the beekeeping “dos” and “don’ts” departments that aren’t really up for negotiation much of the hobby is still evolving. This reality of the hobby is both exciting and terrifying; exciting in that there are always new things to learn and try, terrifying in that there will always be the question in your mind, “Am I doing right by my bees?” With this in mind, it’s important you learn everything you need to know raising honey bees by finding quality resources for information such as reputable periodicals and websites, and successful and respected mentors. Finally, it’s important you mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for the inevitable loss. You will fall in love with your bees and, despite all your best efforts, you will lose some of them. It will be heartbreaking. I hope you take solace in knowing your love and best efforts are, overall, helping eliminate the plight all honeybees and pollinators must now contend with. Bees, as a species, will be saved by people like you!

At this point, you might be rethinking starting beekeeping. Please don’t! With a little preparation and dedication, I promise you the joys of the hobby will by far outweigh the challenges. I know this from experience. Our first year we started with two hives and lost one before winter was over. Our second year we lost all our hives to varroa mites. This past year all three of our hives made it through winter and all three swarmed. We even made a split out of one of them which means our three 2016 colonies became seven thriving beehives in 2017! And let’s not forget the golden bounty – as summer came to a close we filled our pantry with almost two hundred pounds of delicious, raw honey! Starting beekeeping is scary, but it can be deeply rewarding as well.

Are you ready to drink the honey and start the adventure?

Josh Vaisman is an avid beekeeper and instructor in northern Colorado. An active member of the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association, Vaisman has been involved in the education of new beekeepers. Like most people who study apiculture, he started into beekeeping as a hobby, and offers valuable experience to those wanting to start beekeeping about the learning curve involved, what to do, and what not to do when getting started. Vaisman is a hospital administrator and partner at Avenues Pet Clinic in Cheyenne, Wyo. He lives in Firestone. You can reach Josh at joshmvaisman@gmail.com. 

5 Tips for Starting Beekeeping was originally posted by All About Chickens