I tell a lot of stories. In reality, however, I start a lot of stories. I often tell stories before I know the ending. When I am telling a story, I may come to the point where I will stop telling the story, but there often is more to that story. Today, I’ll add a bit more to stories that I’ve told in recent journal entries.

Wax. Our first honey harvest has been a surprise and a success. The surprise was that the bees donated more honey than expected. Each time I thought I had all of the honey extracted, I would start to deal with what I thought was mostly just beeswax only to discover that there was more honey mixed in with the wax. That meant, among other things, that the honey harvest took longer than expected. I thought that I would have the honey harvesting equipment cleaned up several days before it was time to do so. And then I had all of that wax to deal with. I thought that the process would be simple. I had purchased a small silicone wax mould that forms five one ounce bars. I would just melt the wax in an old aluminum pie tin, bend the tin to form a spout, and pour the wax into the mould.

It wasn’t that simple. The wax wasn’t just wax, even after the honey had been extracted. It also contained propolis or bee glue. Propolis is a resinous mixture of wax with the sap and other natural ingredients gathered by the bees. They use it around the hive to seal gaps in the hive. In a natural hive, they use propolis to decrease the size of the entrance to make the hive more easily defensible. In the hives I use, the bees glue the different boxes together with propolis to seal any tiny gaps. I could leave the propolis in the wax, as it is harmless. It has some medicinal properties. In the hive propolis provides protection from pathogens for the bees. It has anti fungal and antibacterial properties. However, the propolis is dark brown and detracts from the visual appeal of pure beeswax. I used a slotted spoon to skim propolis from the wax. Soon I had quite a bit more wax mess than I intended. Next year I’ll make a trip to the Good Will Store and pick up a vessel such as an old stovetop coffee pot and a few spoons for dedicated wax separation and try to contain my mess better.

White Stones. When I headed out the front door yesterday I noticed that the white landscape stones had been spread all around the driveway and across the pavers. Apparently the stream of young visitors involved some displacement of the stones. It wasn’t a big deal. It took just a few minutes to sweep the stones back into their place. I just didn’t notice it as it was happening. I also picked up a few candy wrappers dropped by careless children. Picking up litter is important in our neighborhood. Our storm sewers drain to a settling pond a block from our home. When that pond is full, it drains directly into Terrell Creek, which is a tidal creek. The water in the creek is mixed with the water in the Salish Sea. Whatever is dropped on our streets ends up in the Pacific Ocean. Anything with plastic in it is dangerous to ocean wildlife. A little extra work was a small price to pay for the joy of the visiting children. I just hope my neighbors are also diligent in picking up the litter.

The Rabbit. The rabbit died. I found its body the next day on the other side of our driveway. I imagine that the creature crawled under a cedar bush at the corner of the garage and the next day crawled out into the sunlight to warm itself where its life came to an end. I scooped it up and took it to the farm where I prepared a grave in an area where fill dirt had been used to level a low area that used to become hopelessly muddy. As I laid the body of the rabbit in the ground, I apologized for having taken it away from its home. I thanked the rabbit for having entertained us with its antics. I thanked it for being our neighbor and for learning to live with the invasion of human neighbors many generations ago. I told the rabbit that I was burying it in a place that was safe from eagles and dogs and other predators. I thanked it for its babies and for the rabbits that will entertain us with their antics in the future. I know that the spirit of the rabbit was not in that tiny body. I know that none of its relatives were present to listen to my impromptu words at its burial. But I am a minister. I made a career of saying words at times of death and burial. I thought the tiny creature deserved my respect and attention for the few minutes it took to deliver it to its final resting place.

Dahlias. We’ve had our first hard frost and the dahlias are now finished with their blooms. We had a wonderful planter of dahlias to brighten our back yard this summer and early autumn. This is only our second year of growing dahlias at our home and the tubers were all from the previous year’s planting. Without adding any new tubers, we had roughly double the plants and blooms. So like many other gardeners flush with success, I’m building some additional beds so that we can expand our dahlia plantings next year. The tubers will be cleaned, dried, and stored in peat moss over the winter, ready to plant next spring. The new beds will also give us space to plant some strawberries, additional vegetables, and even a row of sunflowers. I’ve got plenty of sunflower seeds saved to plant next year. I did share a lot with the birds, but gathered a few heads before the birds got to them and kept the seeds for next year.

This is all is the space I have for my journal today. I’m sure that more stores will be continued in the future.