A Seattle Day Trip

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Planned, executed, and enjoyed.

Wenatchee to Seattle Map
Wenatchee is nearly due east of Seattle. Malaga is under the “c” in Wenatchee on this map. The numbers mark the three passes over the Cascades between Malaga and Seattle: (1) Blewett (Rte 97), (2) Snoqualmie (I-90), and (3) Stevens (Rte 2).

I live in Malaga, WA, a small farming community on the outskirts of Wenatchee on the Columbia River. Although the small city Wenatchee offers just about everything a person needs on a daily basis, some things are only available in big cities. The closest big city is Seattle, 145 road miles away.

As I did when I lived in the Arizona town of Wickenburg — which had far less to offer than Wenatchee — I would often wait until I had multiple big city tasks to complete before planning a trip and getting those things done. Phoenix was closer to Wickenburg and I went there more often. (I actually lived there for a while during the 2011/2012 winter season; I was not very happy, despite the convenience.) Seattle, a three hour drive away, isn’t the kind of place I’d zip off to on a whim or to chase down a needed computer component or decent restaurant meal. (And it certainly isn’t the kind of place I’d want to live — too much cloudy weather!)

But as time went by, I accumulated “excuses” for a day trip to Seattle. I needed to get the battery on my iPhone replaced (under warranty) at an Apple store before November month-end. I wanted to buy cross-country skis without spending the $600+ dollars it would cost me locally for a setup. I was interested in meeting up with some like-minded people in one of the many Meetup groups based in Seattle.

On Saturday morning, a Meetup group notice in my email inbox spurred me to action. One of the groups that interested me was gathering for a weekly hike around Green Lake in Seattle followed by lunch at a local dog-friendly cafe. The hike would be at 11 AM on Sunday. I had nothing else on my calendar for that day. Within minutes, I was planning my day trip.

The Plan

The plan would start at REI’s flagship store on Yale Avenue North, right off I-5. I’d already done some online shopping and found a good deal on cross-country skis, boots, and poles that would save me $200 off what I’d pay locally. (I like to support local businesses with my shopping dollars, but I simply can’t swallow the extra cost these days.) I called the store and had them put the skis on hold for me. The store opened at 10 AM and it would be my first stop.

Next was the hike. That started at 11 and all I needed was the address for the meeting place, the stadium at Green Lake.

I’d finish up with a stop at an Apple Store. A quick search showed me one near the hiking destination, in a place called University Village. I went onto their web page to set up a Genius Bar appointment. I gave some careful consideration to the appointment time. I didn’t want it to be too early, forcing me to cut my time with the meetup folks. But I didn’t want it to be late, forcing me to drive home in the dark with possibly bad weather on the way. Finally, I chose 3:20 PM from the available times.

I then called Apple support and had them pull up the notes on my iPhone case. I wanted to make sure the there was no question about them replacing the faulty battery. I was assured that there would be no problem getting it done while I waited.

I entered all of these items into my calendar as events, making sure I included street addresses. When my calendar synced with my phone and iPad, I’d have them handy throughout the day.

The Drive

There are basically three ways to get to Seattle from Wenatchee.

  • The shortest route (time-wise) takes me north through Wenatchee onto Route 2 west with a turn onto Route 97 south. Route 97 is a relatively narrow, winding mountain road that crosses Blewett Pass at 4,102 feet. The road then descends down to Cle Elum, where I’d turn onto I-90 west. That’s a major freeway that winds up through the mountains and crosses at Snoqualmie Pass at 3,022 feet. After that, the road descends right down into Seattle, just a tiny bit south of center city. This is the route that most mapping apps and GPSes suggest.
  • The shortest route (distance-wise) takes me north through Wenatchee onto Route 2 west and stays on Route 2 through Stevens Pass at 4,061 feet. Route 2 is a winding mountain road and, although it’s a beautiful drive, it seems amazingly long.
  • The longest of the three main routes goes southeast from Wenatchee through Quincy to George where it picks up I-90. From there, it heads west through Ellensburg and Cle Elum, over the mountains at Snoqualmie Pass at 3,022 feet and down into Seattle.

Although I dislike driving on freeways, this was not a pleasure drive. I had a need for speed to make the most of my day in Seattle. In addition, winter weather advisories for the Cascade Mountains made it likely that snow would be falling overnight and possibly on Sunday morning. My experience driving in snow is limited — after all, I lived in Arizona for the past 15 years — and I wasn’t interested in a thrill ride. The way I saw it, the better the road over the mountains, the more likely it would be clear of snow and ice. So I chose the longest of the three ways, adding about 40 miles (but theoretically only 15 minutes) to my one-way drive.

(By the way, in case you think I’m over-reacting to a little weather on my drive over the mountains, consider the fact that WDOT has a whole section of its website dedicated to mountain passes. You can access live webcams, condition information, and restrictions 24/7/365. Indeed, when I was chatting later in the day with various Meetup members, two of them asked me about pass conditions when they heard where I’d driven from.)

I had to take my truck. Cross-country skis would not fit in my Honda S2000 with the top up and top-down driving was not an option with mountain temperatures in the 30s and a real chance of rain or snow. Although the skis might have fit in my Jeep, it’s a soft-top and can’t be secured. I didn’t want those skis disappearing out of my Jeep while I was on my hike or in the Apple Store. So my truck was the obvious choice. It gets decent mileage for a truck (about 15-18 mpg highway) and is comfortable to drive. It also has new all-weather tires.

I packed some emergency gear just in case I got stuck on the road: a blanket, some non-perishable food, some water. I already had tow-straps and emergency reflectors on board. (Note to self: buy flares.) I really didn’t know what to expect and wanted to be prepared.

By 7 AM, on Sunday morning, I was ready to go. The sky was just brightening and the full moon was illuminating the world around me where it broke through the clouds. The weather forecast called for good weather in Wenatchee and I had a few second thoughts about my trip to Seattle. After all, the weather forecast for that area was cloudy with a 40% chance of rain and a high of 50°. Not very pleasant. If I stayed home, I could get some work done in the yard.

Moonlight
I snapped this photo right before I left on my day trip to Seattle.

But I was really looking forward to getting things done in Seattle. So I put Penny’s coat on her and bundled her into the truck. A while later, we were on our way south. I had my phone connected to the truck stereo with MapQuest giving me directions and updated ETA info and Downcast playing podcasts from NPR.

There was weather in the Colockum west of Quincy. I’d been flying in that area just a few days before, on a wildlife survey flight. Low, fog-like clouds engulfed the hills and canyons offering glimpses of fresh snow. I thought about flying over the area later in the week and hoped I’d get the opportunity.

It didn’t start drizzling on us until we were on the freeway heading west, just getting close to Ellensburg. The sky was gray with a low overcast. The windmills appeared out of the gloom, rotating slowly as I passed them.

Snowqualmie Pass
Despite the gray, the thick snow in the pine trees made the scene beautiful.

As we climbed through Cle Elum, I saw the snow level not far above us. Soon there was snow on both sides of the road. The speed limit dropped from 70 to 55. Signs warned about slush on the roadway. Then the speed limit dropped to 45 as we climbed to the pass. The snow was thick on the pine trees and the road was wet with small piles of snow on the shoulders.

It was a non-event, really. The roads were not slippery and there were so few vehicles on the road that the going was easy. Soon we were past the pass and headed down toward sea level. The snow disappeared and even the rain let up a lot. It was a mere drizzle by the time we turned onto I-5 for the last two miles of our trip to Seattle.

REI Flagship Store

REI is a major retailer for outdoor sporting goods for active people — gear for hiking, camping, skiing, paddling, etc. They have locations all over the U.S. I know them from my New Jersey days, but also occasionally visited their Phoenix locations — especially the last year I was in Arizona, when I had become a lot more physically fit and active.

Although REI is not the cheapest source for sporting gear, it is one of the best. They carry good quality equipment at a fair price and have knowledgeable and helpful sales staff. Articles on their website, such as this one about choosing cross-country skis, are extremely helpful when making a purchase decision. They offered a discount on complete ski packages — which I needed — and were having a sale.

My Compact Truck
If it fits in a “compact” spot, it’s a compact vehicle, right?

With some difficulty, I maneuvered my pickup into the underground parking lot beneath the building. It was 10 AM when we arrived and cars were just pulling in. Because I foresaw the possibility of a difficult drive out of the lot once it was full, I backed my truck into a spot with a clear drive out. It wasn’t until after Penny and I left that I realized the spot was marked “Compact.”

I took Penny for a walk around the block. It was then that I realized what a neat facility I was at. Not only did they have a huge rock-climbing wall in the front of the store, but there were mountain bike and hiking trails for testing out equipment. The waterfall was a nice touch, too. Sure did drown out the sound of the nearby freeway, anyway.

I put Penny back in the truck and went in to take care of business. There was only one guy in the cross-country ski department and he was waiting on 5 people. He took a moment to pull my skis out of the hold area between helping other people and I tracked down the right length poles and style of boot. Eventually, it was my turn and he fetched the boots in my size. My luck: they didn’t have the boots on display in my size. Instead, they had last year’s model which were comparable but $25 less. They fit perfectly.

I want to take a moment to comment on how different cross-country skis are now compared to when I first began cross-country skiing in the 1980s. Back then, there weren’t many options; the sport wasn’t terribly popular. Nordic skiing hadn’t caught on yet. You’d buy skis strictly on the basis of your height. Boots weren’t boots — they were shoes that didn’t even cover your ankles.

Nowadays, you choose skis based on the type of skiing you want to do and your level of expertise. Sizes are based on the type of skiing, level of expertise, and weight of the skier. Boots are boots — they cover your ankles — and rather than rely strictly on laces, they close up with a combination of laces, zippers, and velcro. (No chance of my feet escaping by accident.) I have no idea how the prices compare; I can only assume they’re more costly. I spent $320 on my complete setup, including tax. But because I went with decent-quality intermediate level skis, I’m certain they’re the last skis I’ll ever need to buy.

Although I’d wanted to spend a little extra time looking at outdoor clothing, I had no time left. I reasoned that I could buy clothes locally and probably save some money if I kept an eye out for sales and closeouts. So I tucked my skis and poles under my arm, grabbed my box of boots, and headed back out to the truck.

Hiking with Strangers at Green Lake

I started hiking with Meetup groups last autumn when I returned to Arizona for my last winter there. I was very fortunate to find the Phoenix Atheist Meetup Group, which does weekly hikes on Sundays. It was a real pleasure to get out with a group of friendly, educated, and intelligent people. I blogged about it last November.

Although I love hiking around the Wenatchee area, I miss the group hikes I enjoyed all last winter in Arizona. So I was very pleased to find that the Seattle Atheists/Agnostics Meetup Group also did hikes, including a weekly Sunday hike around Green Lake.

I should mention here that I prefer hiking in a variety of locations. A 3-mile hike on a paved trail around a lake in a city park didn’t really excite me. I like a longer hike in more varied terrain with lots of new and different things to see and enough challenge to work up a little sweat. What got me interested in going on this hike was meeting new people and hiking in a new place. But if I lived in Seattle, I seriously doubt whether I’d show up for weekly hikes at the same venue.

I used the Maps app on my iPhone to get directions to the park. It was only a few miles away. Penny and I pulled up exactly on time. I parked and locked the truck, put Penny on her leash, and went in search of about a dozen strangers.

I found a likely group of eight or so people standing beside the pathway, chatting. “Is this the Meetup group?” I asked someone.

A man replied. “Yes.”

Remembering one Sunday the previous November when I’d run into three different Meetup Groups meeting in the same place, I asked, “Which one?”

“The godless ones,” he replied with a grin.

I gave him a big thumbs up. “I’m in the right place, then.”

More people came and we introduced ourselves quickly by name. The organizer announced that they wouldn’t be having lunch after the hike because most of the members were going to an exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum afterwards. They we set off on a walk counterclockwise around the remarkably round lake. I fell into place beside two men and we immediately got to chatting about various things.

The pathway was paved with a line down the middle separating the walking path from the biking path. Both were full. So was the gravel path on the inside of the curve. Lots of walkers and bikers and joggers and dogs. Penny was not well behaved and I had to keep her on a short leash. Over-stimulated, one of my companions said and I agreed. She likes to bark and chase other dogs, anyone moving faster than a walk, and bicycles. That accounted for about 75% of the people around us.

The weather held and even improved. Although it was somewhat windy, the wind wasn’t strong enough to be an issue. It put waves on the lake; ducks sleeping on the water with their beaks tucked under their wings bobbed up and down. A sole kayaker, looking odd in a life vest with a sweatshirt under it, paddled around. Overhead, the clouds whizzed by, offering the occasional glimpse of an airliner on final approach to SeaTac.

Later, the hike organizer joined us. The conversation turned to the topics that concern atheists, such as separation of church and state. We shared opinions on Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Jon Stewart. It was refreshing to talk about these things with like-minded people. Like Arizona, Washington state outside the Seattle area is very conservative and few people I know share my views on these things. I’ve learned not to talk about them until I know where my companions stand. Conservatives in the U.S. tend to be steadfast in their beliefs and will rabidly defend them to the point of offending those who don’t agree. Life’s too short to deal with that crap. That’s why I enjoy the company of a more liberal crowd who can at least debate a topic intelligently with an open mind.

We did the 3-mile walk — I can’t honestly call it a hike — in almost exactly one hour. Members of the group said their goodbyes to hurry off to the museum. I asked my companions if anyone was interested in getting a bite to eat. Several were. I dropped Penny off in the truck, grabbed my wallet, and joined them for a walk one third of the way back around the lake. I paired up with another man, a retired hospital administrator who was thinking of relocating to Ecuador. We talked about that and my career as a writer. There was a Peet’s Coffee shop just outside the park and we went in for coffee and breakfast pastries.

We hung out for nearly two hours, talking about all kinds of things: flying, women’s roles, navigation, health care, the U.S. budget, war, etc. Everyone with an opinion shared it based on facts. There were no crazy, radical opinions. Even when one of us didn’t disagree, we discussed it calmly, with no temper tantrums.

And they kept me honest. When I mentioned that defense accounted for half the U.S. budget, one of my companions said that couldn’t be right. I used my iPhone to pull up my source for that information on the Washington Post website and he was right. Defense accounted for nearly as much as the top expense item, Social Security, but not half the budget. I should have more accurately said that it was the second highest expense item after social security or that it and social security combined accounted for nearly half the budget. I admitted my error — mature, self-confident people are not afraid (or ashamed) of admitting mistakes — and the discussion continued without prejudice. In this day and age, people are so willing to accept “facts” as they are presented; it was refreshing to be challenged. It told me that the people I was dealing with were smart, informed, and not afraid to get the facts in a conversation.

How could I not like that?

Green Lake
Green Lake? It looks blue to me.

By 2 PM, I was ready to go. We had a 20-minute walk back to the parking lot and I had a 10- or 15-minute drive to the Apple Store. I did not want to miss my appointment. I put my jacket on and said I needed to go. I guess I wasn’t the only one. Everyone else got up to leave, too.

We walked back together, chatting the whole time. By then, the weather had cleared considerably and it had turned into a really beautiful autumn day. I snapped a picture before saying goodbye to my companions and heading back to the truck. I took Penny for a quick walk, used my phone to get directions to the Apple Store, and got back on my way.

Apple Store, University Village

University Village turned out to be a very trendy outdoor shopping center. You know the kind — they spread the stores out in a big area with walkways and streets between them to simulate a town-like atmosphere. It was very pleasant but not very easy to navigate and a nightmare to find parking in when you’re driving something akin to a monster truck.

I did find a parking garage near the Apple Store. It said the clearance was 7 feet and I knew that was okay because the REI parking garage had been 7 feet, too. But in this garage, my radio antenna scraped on every single concrete beam I drove under and I felt myself ducking at more than a few of them. I found an end parking space on the second level and got out, leaving the windows cracked for Penny. She didn’t seem to mind staying behind again — I think she was exhausted from her 3-mile walk spent straining against a 5-foot leash.

The Apple Store was a big open space filled with iPads and iPhones and computers and people. I made my way to the Genius Bar in the back and signed in with an Apple staffer. I was 20 minutes early. He suggested I go grab a cup of coffee — Starbucks was nearby — but I told him I’d rather wait. I figured I’d update my iPad and iPhone apps using the store’s wifi connection. He put me at a table in front of a MacBook Pro and I got to work. I also used the computer to check the weather for my return trip.

Right on time a Genius showed up. We reviewed my issue and he ran a diagnostic on my phone. Sure enough, I now qualified for a warranty battery replacement. He told me it would take 30 to 40 minutes and suggested I come back at 4 PM.

I considered fetching Penny for a walk but decided against it. I felt like having a bite of real food to eat, comfort food, perhaps. The weather had turned gray and drizzly again and with just a danish, an energy bar, and two cups of coffee in my stomach all day, I was ready for something warm. I wandered around the “village” and found a pasta place. I ordered a Mac and Cheese and read a book on my iPad while I ate.

I returned at 4 PM sharp and inquired about my phone. The staffer typed a secret message on her iPod and, a few minutes later, someone handed her my phone. The battery had been replaced at had a 49% charge. I’d charge it on my way home. I used an Apple gift card I had to buy a charging adapter that I needed and left.

Quick and easy.

The Trip Home

Of course, by the time I left, it was after 4 PM. Although I couldn’t see the sunset, it happened right around then. By the time I turned onto I-90 it was starting to get dark.

It was also raining. It rained for most of the drive back, getting darker and darker until it was night. I don’t like driving at night anymore and try to avoid it. But with Washington’s short winter days, it’s not really an option unless you plan to spend much of your time at home. I don’t.

The temperature up in the pass was just above freezing. There were a lot more cars and trucks on the road, too. But again, it was a non-event. I descended down toward Ellensburg, ignoring MapQuest’s advice to get on route 97. I’d driven Blewett Pass once at night in dry conditions; there was no way I would do it at night in the rain with the possibility of ice.

I stopped in Ellensburg for fuel and to take Penny for a quick walk. I missed getting a cup of coffee in one of those coffee shacks so ubiquitous in the northwest by about 10 minutes.

The rain had stopped by the time I got back on I-90. The rest of the drive went by in a blur. I made a quick stop at Fred Meyer in East Wenatchee to return a RedBox video and then drove home. It was exactly 8 PM when I unlocked the door and went inside with Penny.

I’d been gone for about 13 hours and had gotten a lot done. I was nearly ready for ski season — I just needed some clothing items — and had gotten my phone repaired. I’d also met a bunch of smart, friendly people on a walk in a new place. It had certainly been worth the drive.

My New Old Tools

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They just don’t make them like this anymore.

I finally get it. I understand why tools are a big seller at estate sales.

As I wrote earlier this month, my godfather, Jackie, passed away in late October. Although personal business in Washington made it impossible for me to see him before he died, I was able to join my mother and cousin a few days afterward, to help them go through the things he left behind in his house. I came home with the monkey lamp I’d always admired and a never-used Proctor-Silex toaster dating from about 1965 that I now use regularly.

I also came away with some tools. I didn’t expect to, but when I first laid eye on the marvelously shiny, new-looking nail clipper made in Italy, I just couldn’t let it go to Goodwill. You simply can’t buy something like that anymore — hell, everything in this country seems to be cheap crap made in China.

A while later, we stumbled into a drawer filled with more tools. Woodworking tools, garden tools, pipe wrenches, awls, and a manual drill. Every one of these tools were well used but still in great shape. Best of all, they were heavy duty, made in USA, proudly stamped with patent numbers or manufacture locations or both. The kinds of tools you simply can’t find anymore.

Although I was flying home on an airliner and didn’t know quite how I’d get the tools home, I chose a few I knew I’d be able to use — tools that would complement those I already had in my toolbox. (Even though I’m a girl, I have a remarkably complete toolbox that can help me get most jobs done.) I bundled them up in bubble wrap and eventually loaded them into my checked luggage (with the toaster and lamp base). I admit I was amazed when that bag weighed in at 48.5 pounds. (Another pound and a half and I would have paid a premium to get it on the plane.)

My New Old Tools
The tools I brought back from Jackie’s house.

I’ve already used some of the tools to get work done around my place. I like the way they feel in my hands — sturdy and stronger than me. I don’t think any of them will break — unlike numerous made-in-China tools I’ve destroyed in the past. In a way, I wish I’d dug deeper into his collection — perhaps in the garage — to find more old tools I could use. It would have been worth the extra baggage handling fee to get them home.

Now all I need is one of those big red toolboxes…

Shelf Constuction Time-Lapse

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Shelves in my shed.

Way back in 2008, when I lived in Arizona, I bought a bunch of Ikea shelves to organize the garage. In February of that year, my wasband and I, supervised by our neighbor’s kids, built the shelves on one side of the garage. It took nearly the whole day to get that job done and when it was over, we were exhausted. The idea was to do the other side of the garage on a future weekend.

But like so many things I planned with my wasband, it never happened. The extra shelves sat languishing against one wall for more than five years. Finally, when I realized that I was going to be spending the entire winter of 2012/2013 in my house and had nothing better to do than pack, I packed up those loose shelves, leaving the built ones behind. The packed shelves were moved up to my storage space in Washington in September 2013 with the rest of my belongings.

Last week, I lucked upon an excellent deal for a 6 x 8 shed. I realized that I’d be able to store a lot more in the shed a lot more neatly with shelves. I measured those Ikea shelves and I measured the shed’s inside wall. Would you believe the shelves were just 1/4 inch narrower than the wall? They’d fit perfectly.

I built them today. Rather than use the relatively short vertical posts I already had, however, I bought some new 1 x 4s, 6 feet in length, so the shelves would be higher. So part of construction meant drilling new holes. I had all the tools I needed to make the job a snap — I’m really building quite a collection of power tools! And the difference in the shed is amazing; you can see for yourself in the time-lapse video I created.

The project took just over 2 hours from beginning to end. I’m very happy with the way it turned out!

Bees: Winterizing my Hives

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I tuck my bees in for the winter.

I started my beekeeping hobby in June 2013 and have been blogging about it periodically. If you’re interested in reading the other posts in this series, follow the Adventures in Beekeeping tag. Keep in mind that the most recent posts always appear first on this blog.

I moved to my new place in Malaga about six weeks ago and fetched my bees soon afterward. During the month they’ve been living in their new home, they’ve pretty much settled in. Although there aren’t any food sources right now — we’re well into the autumn season — they get out and about on warm days, which we had plenty of until very recently. I’d been supplementing their honey stores with sugar water in outside feeders that I filled every two days. Now those feeders were starting to freeze and leak. With temperatures dipping into the low 30s at night, it was time to prep my hives for the winter.

Because of my beekeeping goals, it’s vital for me to ensure that all of my hives survive the winter. With an average winter hive loss in this area of about 50%, statistically I stood to lose one or two of my three hives. I wanted to beat the odds and keep all three. That was my challenge.

Bees in Winter

Although bees don’t hibernate in winter, they do slow down their activities to a near hibernation state. They bunch together for warmth in the middle of the hive. The queen stops laying eggs — or lays very few –because the workers, who don’t really do any work outside the hive in winter, live a lot longer. The drones are generally kicked out; they serve no purpose at all in the winter and can eat precious food stores.

The food, by the way, is the honey and pollen they’ve been storing all summer. Beekeepers “steal” this honey, although a smart beekeeper will leave enough behind for the bees to eat during the winter. I harvested honey very early in the season with hopes that my bees would make enough to take them through the winter. For various reasons — hive strength, availability of food, etc. — I don’t think they made enough. That means I’ll have to feed them. More on that in a moment.

The bees will go out on warmish days, mostly to stretch their wings (so to speak) and poop. But because there’s nothing flowering, there’s no work to do and they don’t stay outside long.

Mite Control

Mite infestations weaken bees, making it more difficult for them to survive the winter. My friend Don is convinced that he lost his bees last year because of mites. I’m not going to make the same mistake.

I blogged about mites back in August; you can read more about varroa mites in that post.

This year, I used three techniques to control mites:

  • Drone frames – These are special frames with cell sizes that encourage the hive to produce drone eggs. Since mites prefer drone larvae, you can simply remove a full drone frame and freeze it to destroy the mites and the drones. This works, as I detailed here. It’s a great spring/summer solution because it requires no chemicals so you don’t have to worry about contaminating any honey that might be destined for human consumption.
  • Screened bottom boards – When mites move around the hive and when bees clean themselves, mites fall to the bottom of the hive. If there’s a flat bottom board, the mites can climb back up into the hive or hitch a ride on a bee entering the hive. But if there’s a screen bottom, the mites fall through while the bees can come and go by walking on the screen. This is a great year-round solution — no chemicals and no extra effort on the beekeeper’s part (although you could add a sticky board if you were interested in capturing and counting mites). I’d installed screened bottom boards on all three of my hives when I moved them in early October.
  • Apiguard – Recommended by another beekeeping friend of mine, Apiguard is a thymol based miticide that’s used after honey season but before it gets cold; it requires temperatures of at least 60°F to work. I treated all three of my hives when I moved them in early October.

I should mention here that when I checked my hives for mites in late August, I learned that my original hive and the split from that hive had serious mite issues while the captured swarm had hardly any mites at all. In addition, that swarm capture hive is the strongest of the three. Interesting, no?

Some Notes about Feeders

Entrance feeder
Here’s an entrance feeder on one of my hives.

I’d been using entrance feeders on all my hives since mid summer, although I didn’t always keep them full. When I moved them to my home in Malaga, I was able to tend to the feeders regularly and make sure they were never empty.

Entrance feeders utilize a jar with a perforated cap that sits on a plastic tray. One end of the tray slides into the corner of a hive entrance; bees can enter beneath the jar lid and feed through the perforations. I like entrance feeders because I can always see how much feed is left. They’re also easy enough to refill — just pull off the jar, brush off any bees on the lid, open the lid, fill it up, close the lid, and replace the jar on the plastic tray. I don’t even have to suit up to get the job done.

Entrance feeders were not practical for the winter. I’d discovered that with temperature fluctuations — low 30s at night vs. 70+ in direct sun during the day — the feeders would leak. In addition, once the temperatures dropped below freezing, the contents would freeze. Not only that, but I planned to put entrance reducers in the hive and I could not do so with an entrance feeder blocking part of the entrance.

Two more alternatives include frame feeders and top feeders.

Frame Feeder
Frame feeder as illustrated in the Mann Lake catalog.

A frame feeder is shaped like a standard hive frame and is designed to slide into the place of one or two frames. Bees enter through the top where there are holes with “ladders” the bees can use to access the contents of the frame. Frame feeders can typically hold one to two gallons of feed. As a new beekeeper, I bought a frame feeder like the one shown here, thinking it would be the best solution for my hives when it came time to feed them.

I subsequently rethought that idea. The trouble with a frame feeder is that you have to open the hive and expose the bees to cold air to refill it. It’s also difficult to see how full it is. And because I initially thought I’d be spending the winter away this year, I realized it simply wouldn’t hold enough feed to keep the bees fed all winter long.

Top Feeder
Top feeder as illustrated in the Mann Lake catalog.

As my collection of hives expanded from one to three and I began seriously thinking about my winter strategy, I invested in two top feeders. A top feeder sits inside a hive box at the top of the hive, just under the inner cover. Bees enter from the bottom, through holes between two center wells. A screen enables them to crawl down to the level of the feed. Although a top feeder works with a shallow hive body, it can also work with a medium or deep hive body; I already had plenty of medium bodies.

There are three main benefits to top feeders. First, they sit on top of the hive so you don’t need to expose the bees to cold air when refilling them. Second, they hold a lot of feed — four gallons. There was a pretty good chance I could fill them each once and not have to worry about them for the entire winter. And that brings up the third benefit: it’s very easy to check the level of remaining feed because the feed is clearly visible in the wells. Oh, and how’s this for a fourth benefit: You can fill just one well with liquid feed and use the other well to provide pollen patties or some other supplement. A little bend in the screen on one side will give the bees access.

So as I got ready to prep my hives for the winter, I had three feeders for my three hives.

Prepping the Hives

On Thursday, the weather was warm enough to open the hives and prep them for the winter. I began with my weakest hive (a late summer split) and worked up to my strongest hive (a swam capture).

Before I could do any of that, however, I needed to open up the back of my bee shelter. I’d built it using good quality wood screws so I could easily disassemble and reassemble it when I needed to. Since the bees were coming and going out the front, I figured I’d access the hives from the back. (This is something my beekeeping friend Jim taught me early on.) So I used my handy battery drill to remove the six screws holding the back on and laid the plywood panel aside.

Then I suited up. I debated lighting my smoker and then decided against it. First of all, there weren’t that many bees flying around. Second, when you smoke bees, their instinct is to go into the hive and gorge themselves on honey. Although they’d eventually put that honey back — don’t ask me how; I just know that they somehow do — I didn’t think it was a good idea to encourage them to eat when they had a limited amount of available food. Besides, the suit would protect me and I really didn’t mind dealing with angry bees when I was suited up.

I got all the equipment I needed and laid it out nearby. Then, hive tool in hand, I got to work.

Split Hive

This hive has only one deep box with nine frames in it. I learned during the hive move in October that it had very little honey stored. If any colony was going to die over the winter, it would be this one. My goal was to make sure they had as much food as possible. To that end, I’d retrieved a full frame of capped honey that I’d pulled out of another hive that summer when I extracted honey. It was the seventh frame and I simply didn’t have time to extract it when I did the others. (The extractor holds three frames at a time.) I figured that I’d pull out an empty frame and replace it with this full one.

That turned out to be pretty easy to do. I found three empty frames — out of nine total frames! — in the hive. These poor bees would definitely starve if I didn’t feed them. I pulled out one empty frame on the left side of the hive box and slid the full frame into its place. Then I pulled out the two empty frames on the right side of the hive box and slid a frame feeder into their place. I had prepared a quart of sugar water and I poured that in, too. It wasn’t enough for the winter, but it was enough to get the bees started.

Before closing the hive back up, I removed the Apiguard tray, which was almost empty, and repositioned the remaining grease patty. I had at least six more of those patties in the freezer; I’d add another one when I topped off the feeder on the next nice day.

Original Hive

My original hive came from a nuc I bought back in June. It was an extremely healthy nuc that took to its new hive very quickly and produced 2-1/2 gallons of honey in a month. I consider myself very lucky to get my start with such a great colony of bees.

After extracting the honey in July and splitting off half the brood frames to a new hive, however, the health of the hive seemed to suffer. Honey production dipped and although I’d hoped the bees would produce enough honey for winter, it soon became clear that they would not. I think mites were part of that problem; when I did a mite count in August, it clearly showed a serious infestation. I can only hope my October treatment helped resolve that issue.

This hive had two boxes: a deep brood box on the bottom and a medium honey super on top. There was drawn-out comb in most of the 10 frames in the honey super, but there was no honey. I removed the entire box. Beneath that was a spacer that I no longer needed; I removed that, too. In the deep hive box, all the frames seemed full with either honey or brood cells. I didn’t want to pull any out to check more closely; there was no reason to expose the bees to the cold air more than necessary.

I removed the Apiguard tray and adjusted the remaining grease patty. Then I pulled the frames out of the medium hive box and positioned the empty box on top of the deep box. I laid in one of my top feeders and fiddled with the screen to ensure that the bees would have access to both wells. Then I took a break to make about 3 quarts of sugar water back in my RV. I brought it back to the hives, poured it into one of the wells, and closed up the hive. I’ll top off the levels on the next warm day.

Swarm Hive

At the end of June, I captured my first swarm. This became my second hive but it is now the strongest of the three. As mentioned earlier, it has very few mites.

The setup of this hive is almost identical to my original hive: two boxes with a spacer between them. I followed the same process to winterize them. There were two differences, though.

First, the honey super’s frames were nearly all built out with comb and there was some honey in several frames. None of the frames, however, had been capped. I suspect the bees were eating this honey. There was not enough honey in the frames to leave them in.

Second, when I pulled the frames out of the honey super, bees were clinging to the bottoms of several frames. I suspect this is because this hive has a much larger population that the other hive, which had no bees in the upper box at all. I used my brush to brush them down into the deep bottom box.

After removing the medium frames, spacer, and Apiguard and adjusting the grease patty, I laid the top feeder in place. Then another break to make another 3 quarts of sugar water. (I was now out of sugar; I’ll need at least another 20 pounds to top off all the feeders.) I poured the feed into one well of the feeder and closed up the hive.

Reducing Entrances

Entrance Reducer
Entrance reducer image from Wikipedia.

Each of my hive bottoms came with an entrance reducer. This is a piece of notched wood designed to fit into the entrance of a hive. You rotate it to allow a tiny opening or a larger opening.

At the bee chat I attended the other night, I got into a discussion with another beekeeper about how to set the entrance reducer. His concern was dead bees blocking the entrance to the hive, so he planned to use the smallest setting and rotate it so that the hole was slightly elevated. This would (theoretically) prevent dead bees from blocking the entrance. I thought long and hard about this strategy. I was counting on my bees to keep the hive clean by dragging out their dead. (This is what bees normally do.) Setting the entrance reducer the way he described would make it very difficult for the bees to do this.

After some internal debate, I decided to set my entrance reducers with the wider entrance in the normal position. Not only would this make it easier for the bees to drag out their dead, but it would make it possible for me to reach in with a tool and scrape dead bees out for them. The drawback: a bigger opening that could let in more cool air.

The decision made, I implemented it. First, I removed the entrance feeders. Then, using my hive tool as a lever when necessary, I slid the entrance reducers into place. Because two of my hive bottoms had non-standard width entrances, I had to use a saw to shorten two of my entrance reducers. Not a big deal.

Finishing Up

Semi-Winterized Hives
My three hives, almost ready for winter.

Finished with most of the winter prep work, I closed up the back of the hive shelter again, replacing some of the (too) long screws with shorter ones that would be easier to work with in the future. Then I gathered together all of the frames I’d removed from the hives — a total of 19 medium frames and 3 deep frames! — and packed them up in my truck. Later in the day, I’d drive them out to my hangar for winter storage with the rest of my beehive components.

I also made a list of things to do to finish up winterization:

  • Top off feeders. There was no reason why I shouldn’t fill them up to the brim on the next warm day to minimize the number of times I needed to open the hives. For now, they had enough food to keep them for at least a few weeks.
  • Wedge tops open. One of the issues other area beekeepers have had is with condensation in the winter causing mold to form inside hives. This can be remedied by inserting a stick under the hive’s top cover to allow a small amount of ventilation.
  • Consider burlap blanket for weak hive. One of my beekeeping friends, who lives in the mountains where the conditions are considerably harsher in the winter time, used a medium box filled with burlap on top of each hive for additional insulation. I didn’t think I needed that since my hives had a roof over them and two of them had top feeders which would form an additional barrier to cold air. My weak hive, however, didn’t have this top barrier. I had everything I needed except the burlap. I needed to think about this and get my hands on some burlap.

  • Colony Quilt
    Colony Quilt as illustrated on the B & B Honey Farm website.

    Cover hives with “colony quilt” blanket. I’d ordered the insulating covers from B & B Honey Farm earlier in the week but they hadn’t arrived yet. I liked the idea of the cover because I knew the dark color, when exposed to the sun, would help warm the hives. The insulating quality would help keep the warm when the sun wasn’t on them. I can’t comment on these beyond that yet; will blog about them once I’ve had a chance to check them out.

  • Place insulation under screen bottom boards. Right now, two of my three hives have nothing beneath the screen bottom boards except the palette on which the hives sit. I need to slide in some foam insulation to prevent drafts from coming up from below.

With luck, I’ll be able to finish up all these tasks this week. Only then will I feel as if I’ve done everything in my power to keep my bees alive for the winter.

My Little Storage Solution

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I obtain a shed.

As some folks know, I’m renting a hangar at Wenatchee Airport for winter storage of my helicopter, cargo trailer, car, and the furniture and other possessions I took away from my old life in Arizona. The hangar is huge — I’m only using half of its floorspace and even the half I’m using has plenty of room for other things. In fact, my original plan was to store my RV in there for the winter while I migrated to a warmer climate for a few months. I could get everything I own under that one roof and still have room to spare.

For various reasons, however, I decided to stick around in Wenatchee. I got a lot of encouragement from my friends to spend the winter here and join them in outdoor sports such as cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling. I also have some personal business in state that requires me to be available for meetings. And I’ve even managed to keep flying, with two regular clients keeping me busy once or twice a week. Winters here are about the same as winters back in the New York metro area where I grew up. It had been a long time since I’d experienced a real winter.

Of course, to stick around meant to winterize my RV — a topic I hope to cover in another blog post. Part of winterizing my RV meant clearing items out of the “basement” storage space so I could put a heater in there. I’d also accumulated quite a few tools for property maintenance — weed whacker, rake, shovel, tarps, etc. All of these things had to be stored — most likely in that cavernous hangar 30-40 minutes away by car.

While a storage shed would be nice — and I’d actually been looking at my options on and off for the past few months — the idea of building one this time of year did not appeal to me. And the cost of buying a small one was simply not justifiable considering I’d have a big storage building of my own onsite within 6 months. So I’d pretty much resigned myself to storing in the hangar and simply not having the stored things around.

The Little Shed

That was the idea until I saw a fully-built 6 x 8 foot shed with metal door and window sitting on a trailer on the side of the road with a For Sale sign on it.

I drove by but immediately stopped and made a U-turn. I parked beside it and read the sign. $600.

That couldn’t be right. It looked brand new.

I called the phone number. The man who answered confirmed that it was still available and priced at $600.

“Would you deliver it?” I asked. I went on quickly: “I live on Cathedral Rock Road. It’s about 15 minutes from where the shed is parked now.”

“I’d have to charge extra for delivery.”

“How much?”

“A couple of hundred dollars, I guess. I’ll need a crew to help me.”

I could see this little shed slipping away. I had to acquire the shed at a price that made it not just a good deal but a great deal. “I can’t see paying a couple of hundred dollars to deliver a $600 shed,” I told him, slipping into New Yorker make-a-deal mode. “I’ll give you $700 total, including tax and delivery. Cash.”

“Let me think about it,” he said.

I was back home when he called an hour later. “I’ll take that offer,” he said. “Can I bring it by on Monday?”

Later, I looked up similar sheds on the website for the local company that had likely built it. They didn’t list sheds that small; the smallest listed on the site was 8 x 8. That was priced at $2,970.

Taking Delivery

We made arrangements for him to come sometime on Monday. On Monday he called with a two hour window in the middle of the day. He showed up right near the end of that window. Didn’t matter to me; I was working around the yard all day anyway, finishing up work on my new water line.

Shed Arrival
My new shed arrived on a flatbed trailer.

He arrived with the shed on a trailer and drove it right down my driveway. His companion and I guided him while he backed up into my preferred off-loading area. This was right beside my temporary power pole, not far from my water line. I didn’t want the darn thing blocking my view.

While we waited for the rest of his crew to come with a forklift, I asked him about the shed. What was the story? It looked like I was getting a good deal.

“You’re getting a great deal,” he told me. Apparently, the shed had been bought by a local school for some sort of project. It sat on the school grounds for a while. Then the school called him and asked him to take it away. His business, after all, was delivery. Although he didn’t say, I suspected that the school had given him the shed for free in exchange for the removal service. The only cost he likely had in it was the labor of moving it. That would explain why it was so cheap.

Then he told me that he owned a vacation house at Lake Chelan and was going to put the shed there if he didn’t sell it. I told him that it was just what I needed for the winter and that it fell within my very limited budget for a shed. I told him that although I don’t usually believe that things happen for a reason, finding this shed at this price was changing my beliefs.

Forklift with Shed
They used a forklift to move the shed off the trailer. They estimated that it weighs about 3,000 pounds.

As we talked, a long flatbed came down the road, pulled by a tractor truck. They rolled past my place and turned around farther down the road where it gets wider. A while later, the 3-wheeled forklift that had been on the trailer came chugging down my driveway with one man behind the wheel and another standing on a fork. Soon they were using the tie-downs they’d brought along to fasten the shed to the forklift and lift it off the trailer. Then it was on the ground.

They positioned it on an angle I didn’t like. I asked the forklift driver if he could straighten it somehow. The team put a wooden chock beside the skid on the front and the forklift operator used one of the forks to shift the front end over a foot and a half. It was lined up perfectly.

I put a level on the little porch. It was even relatively level.

I paid the boss with money from my rainy day cash fund and he handed over the keys to the locks. Then they all left.

Enough Space…and a Bonus

My Little Shed
Inside the shed was a silly little bench.

Inside, I found an odd homemade bench that was likely painted in the school colors. I dragged it out. Although it needs a little work to be usable, I think it would be perfect for what I’ve begun calling “lookout point” — a part of my land that sits in the northwest corner, with completely unobstructed views of the Wenatchee Valley and Columbia River before my land drops off steeply to the valley below. I’ll move it over there the next time a friend drops in and paint it the next time the weather forecast includes several consecutive clear days. Or, more likely, I’ll just leave it where it is with a tarp over it and wait until spring to fix it up and put it in place, probably with a nice cushion. (I’m pretty sure I took the cushions that were on the teak recliners back in Wickenburg. Side-by-side, they’d be perfect.)

I spent the rest of the afternoon stowing my yard tools and basement items neatly inside the shed. It’s a shame the door was mounted opening in; that really cuts down on usable space. But I have some shelves from Ikea (also taken from my Wickenburg home) that I can assemble in there to increase the amount of storage space. And a few hooks on the walls would likely make it even more usable. The man I bought it from suggested a loft — the ceiling is 10 feet at the peak — but I don’t think it’s worth the effort. We’ll see.

Overall, it was exactly what I needed for convenient, cost-effective storage of pesky basement and yard items. It’s great to get all of that stuff out of the elements without having to take them to my hangar.