I got the Mason Bee reminder email this month to go and harvest my bee larva. Searching through the natural phragmite reeds by allowing sunlight to illuminate the plugged ends, I was able to identify only one reed that seemed to have something in it. So, I cracked the open end and peeled it apart to find Mason bee larva huddled between the mud plugs that their mother made.

After giving them a cold water dip to wash off frass and tiny lice-like creatures, I counted 1 male (small) and 5 female (large) cocoons!

I placed the cocoons in the HumidiBee humidifier and placed it in the fridge for the winter. Gosh, I hope they make it! I might have to order more bees since I didn't get a large batch this time.

Mason Bees

I decided to try out mason bee keeping after getting a little inspiration from the GirlNextDoorHoney's beekeeping tour. Mason bees are a fun alternative to honeybees because the maintenance requirements are very different and more flexible in terms of city ordinance limitations. I simply did a Google search and came up with Crown Bees. There's a lot of information on how to purchase, maintain and even share Mason bees at their site. I was unaware of the extent that mason bees could potentially be used in place of honeybees. I think it's a good idea to secure a Plan B before an agricultural disaster occurs and causes a shortage of our vitamin-rich food supply.
I received and installed the mason bee home in the backyard where the sun would provide warmth in the mornings. You can already see a mason bee hanging out on the top right of the teardrop-shaped home.

I placed the entire cocoon set (~20 mixed male/female) inside the home instead of releasing a few every week. I've already got apple, apricot, blueberry, aloe vera and rosemary blossoms in the backyard. And, I have a sloped yard with plenty of San Diego clay that the bees require for nesting.
When I received the package, there were already two bees that emerged from their cocoons and one more emerged overnight.

They flew from the bee house, but went straight to the ground. So, I picked them up (before Kylie ate them....) and tried to put them back in, but they flew away. Maybe they were hungry? That was February 28th and I'm happy to report a week later that I saw a mason bee returning to the house and entering a tube. I watched it leave and fly out to get busy in my neighbors' yards, probably.

The next six weeks, the bees will be foraging for food and clay to lay next year's crop of mason bees. And, it's up to me to manage and expand the supply as the years go by.

Mission Trails Zombie Run

Here are some pics from the Mission Trails Regional Park Zombie Run. It started at 9 AM this cloudy morning and was perfect for a 5k run covered in gore, blood and makeup!

There was a booth where you could have a quick make-over before the run. 

Zombie runners getting in the mood:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope these guys won best costume prize:

 

Epiphyllum blooming

It's May, and true to the calendar, the Epiphyllums are blooming. These are my early May bloomers.

"Pegasus"

"French Gold"

"Aquarius"

 

Seed Starter

Since the rock wool method worked well on germinating sunflower seeds last time, I decided to try it out on these seeds taken from a pod. The pod was taken from a tall plant which had some interesting purple flowers on it. I snagged it outside a Mexican restaurant (which serves a PERFECT cheese enchilada every time I've ordered it....). I worried the seeds wouldn't be viable after sitting in my bedroom for the past year or so.

I put 2 drops of lemon juice to bring the reverse osmosis water down to pH 4.5. The rock wool instructions asked for 5, though. After putting single seeds down the holes in the rock wool, I poured the water in and placed the collection in a plastic tray with plastic wrap on top. This should provide a humid environment to get the seeds germinating.

Monarch (male) Butterfly

If you look closely at the hind wing set of this newly emerged butterfly, the black spots mark this butterfly as a male. It's hard to believe the caterpillars are still going at it on the milkweed and continuing to morph into butterflies at this time of the year. Around the house, I see a few chrysalis' don't make it through to completion, but then these guys seemingly pop out of nowhere. So, here's my proof of how nice the weather is in San Diego:

Even though they're in the same Class as cockroaches, people don't seem to be scared of these insects as much. Check out this close-up:

Spider Brood

I saw this brood of newly hatched spiders in the front of the house near an outdoor light. I wonder when they'll start cannibalizing each other? I'll snap a shot of the matching adult when/if I get a chance. The adults tend to make huge webs around this time in San Diego.

A close-up gives you an idea of what patterns would be found on the adult spiders:

Halloween Weekend

The props are up and ready for Halloween 2011. Using some fluorescent paint on some Styrofoam tombstones really makes these props pop with the help of a black fluorescent light bulb.

Oh, gotta remember to return this to the medical school when we're done! The poor guy gets to have fun once a year. He really digs the vampire get-up this year.

Would a velvet Elvis be appropriate here?

Octopus part 2

I added tape to the tentacles to reinforce them to the head. I know, it's going going slowly.

The Octopus

It starts out with a left over Papier-mâché ball from the last project. I cut a hole underneath and emptied out the balled up newspapers. Then, I poked holes and inserted four wire hanger wires.

Using masking tape, I twisted curled up strips of newspapers and taped them to the wire hanger wires.

To create curls, I used an old PVC pipe found in the garage.

I always think these Papier-mâché projects are going to be easy, but then they get complex as I start working on them. I mean, there are 8 legs on this dang thing! At least I've tried to keep the creature a bit smaller overall. Regardless, there's going to be glue and paint flying everywhere! I guess I should implant a hook somewhere in this piece to make it easier to get around those legs. I wonder if I should make the legs a little thicker where they join the body?

At home, drinking juice

My silver Nissan Leaf order finally arrived yesterday, and I was able to trade in my old 2004 Murano and set up a lease (to take advantage of the Federal $7500 tax credit that only the dealership could handle). I'll also be receiving a $2500 state rebate (instead of $5000) if the paper work is to be believed. So, the price level was sweet enough for me to accept.

I've already set up my iTouch to use Bluetooth communication to play music through the Leaf's audio system. Although, using the USB connection allows for more options such as song titles, mix settings and playlist access, etc. I can finally listen to music without the hiss of an FM station interfering!

I'll be commuting about 40 miles round trip daily. So, I'm well under the 100 mi (or 80 mi, or 55 mi - I'll get a solid, personalized number someday...) range that a fully charged Leaf is limited to. I'll have to gather stats over a few weeks to figure out how efficiently I'm driving and what alternate routes I should take. If I run into any power shortages, I still have a dealership charging location in the middle of my commute as well as a charging station near my work.

Here she is trickle-drinking the juice from the solar-powered home in the garage (I'm still waiting on the installation of a 220V ECOtality's station):

I didn't care to order the extra "Zero Emission" decals, but the EV came with these on both doors, instead:

Monarch Chrysalis

The milkweed garden that was planted has been decimated by the Monarch caterpillars as expected. But, new leaves are just starting to emerge from the leftover branches. Meanwhile, I found a dozen or so Monarch chrysalis' not on the milkweed, but outside the periphery of the main plant. The caterpillars tend to migrate away and up the house and other structures. The chrysalis' that I could see in plain sight were on the house stucco, under the eaves, under the outdoor furniture and near a water fountain. I almost stepped on a newly emerged butterfly after watching it unfold its wings one afternoon; it had flopped onto the brick pavers and I had forgotten that it was there.

The chrysalis (one of three) pictured below was on the garden hose storage roller where it gets rotated like a chair in a Ferris wheel ride when watering is needed in the garden. It looks just about ready to release a butterfly.

Sunflower head

The sunflower head has been open for a few weeks now. This plant is standing at about 8 feet tall. There are two other sunflowers grown from the same seed stock, but I'm not sure if I planted them too close to the larger plant as they are 1/3rd the size. Maybe there's some competition for nutrients going on underground? Or, they're just odd hybrids?

The sunflower is actually composed of many small flowers called "florets" where the seeds will eventually mature. The future seeds are white in this close-up picture. Read more about Sunflowers!

Sunflower

I grew this sunflower from a seed. It's now about 7.5' tall. Wow.

 

Spring

Spring brings new colors and animals to the backyard. This yellow crab spider's color contrasts with the blue/purple flowers of some lavender flowers.

The epiphyllum bloom time is starting. Don't blink, or you'll miss the bloom!

I've got a patch of milkweed growing from the seeds I collected last year. The Monarch butterflies have already found it and the catepillars are feeding off the leaves.