Honey Bee Removal

Honey bees scouting for a new home.  I had not anticipated posting again so soon, but things just spring up unexpectedly at our house.  On Saturday morning I saw a steady stream of bees flying into and out of a crack in the bricks on the front porch.  Do they have a hive in there?  

A swarm arrives.  Fortunately I had called a bee removal company right away, because those few bees turned out to only be scouts.  When the Frog went out Saturday afternoon he discovered there was now a large swarm over the hole in the bricks that we had seen earlier.  

Swarm of honey bees on the front porch

The doorbell surveillance camera has terrible resolution, but I could still see that the entire swarm arrived in only a matter of minutes.  Below are screen captures of that video taken at one minute intervals.  I stopped after five minutes since the size of the swarm stopped growing and there no longer seemed to be bees flying around.  (The flying bees were visible in the video, but are not visible in these still pics.)

2:02:30 pm

2:03:30 pm

2:04:30

2:05:30

2:06:30

2:07:30

The bee removal guy showed up about 4:30.  It only took him a little more than half an hour to assess the situation, remove the swarm with the queen, and treat the area inside and out with insecticide.  

Bees decide to move in.  According to this site, when a bee colony becomes too crowded it sends out scouts to find a new home for a portion of the colony.  If they find an acceptable location, between a third and two thirds of the colony moves to the new location and begins to move in.  If they cannot quickly find an appropriate new home, the break-off group still moves out but they may just hang out in a temporary location.  In either case they hold together as a swarm, hovering around the queen to protect her.  In our case, an infrared picture of the fascia board above the brick indicated they were beginning to build a new hive.  They had apparently decided this would be their new long term home.

Infrared picture of the bricks below and fascia board above showing the beginnings of a hive behind the fascia board.

Removing the bees.  I did not necessarily want to kill the bees, but we couldn't have them living at the front door.  Fortunately without immature bees or honey to protect, this swarm of bees was relatively docile,  It was also early in the move--the queen was still outside of the cavity.  Getting her was the key.  Once the queen was in the box, most of the rest of the bees that were not already there quickly followed.

 

It was actually impressive how quickly the process went.  Of course, it may have helped that he had been doing this for 25 years.  He was quite the character, which you may be able to tell from some of the audio on the video below, but he seemed very good.
 

We were very fortunate to be able to remove these bees before they became established.  However, any trace of the beeswax from their nascent hive will attract future bees.  To prevent future invasions, we are to wait two weeks, then take the fascia board down and remove and clean the remnants of whatever is still there. 

The bee guy estimated there were probably about 3000 bees in this swarm.  That sounded like a lot to me at the time, but may actually be small as swarms go. They were to be picked up later that evening to be relocated to a beekeeper in Tyler.

What about the old colony?   Of course, while all of this is going on, a new queen and the remaining portion of the colony are likely at the original colony location.  Chances are that is not too far away.  I have not seen any bees hanging around the vegetable garden this week, but I may be on their black list.

Alaska 2022 Trip Day 12 -- Sitka to DFW and Future UnCruise Trips

Madhouse in tiny Sitka airport.  It is Sunday, August 7, day 12 of our epic Alaska adventure.  Our plane was scheduled to leave Sitka at 7:00 am.  We were on the early shuttle ride from the hotel (five minute ride) and arrived about 5:30 or so.  It was still rainy with lots of low clouds, but already getting light since sunrise was 5:10.  That is definitely an advantage of being this far north in the summer.  

We had been told repeatedly by multiple people that we did not need to arrive very early since the Sitka airport is a tiny, sleepy kind of place.  Not this morning!  Even at 5:30 am it was a chaotic mess with people going every direction.  Everyone seemed to have lots of baggage and many were pushing dollies piled high with boxes labelled "frozen fish".  We assumed Saturday was the end for many fishing trips, meaning Sunday was the day to fly out.  

We fought our way to one of the kiosks to print baggage tags.  An Alaska Airlines roving agent quickly helped us fasten the tags to our bags and whisked them away.  Then we moved to the even more chaotic line to go through security.  Thank goodness for PreCheck.  With only one TSA agent it was not clear that everyone in the normal line was going to get through in time to make the flight.  We finally made it to the passenger departure lounge which was worse--standing room only, already packed and getting worse by the minute as more people kept coming in. I found a place to sit on the floor and considered myself lucky.

SIT to SEA to DFW  All is well that ends well.  We made it on the plane. Sitting in first class, we got the breakfast that we missed since we left before anything was available in either the hotel or the airport.  It was actually quite good and very filling, given that it was billed as a continental breakfast.  

The plane arrived 20 minutes late, but that was not a problem since we were scheduled for a 2.5 hour layover and our connecting flight ended up leaving 40 minutes late.  As with the trip up, the Alaska Lounge made this quite pleasant.  However,we were very thankful that we were using the app Trip-it to monitor all of the flights.  It kept us up to date on the changes in times and gates better than the overhead boards in the Seattle airport.  At least one of those boards would have sent us off to another terminal!

There had been solid clouds from Sitka almost all the way to Seattle.  However Seattle was beautiful, with not a cloud in the sky. Unlike coming up the week before, we now got a good look at Mt. Ranier on the flight leaving Seattle.

Mt. Ranier from our airplane

We arrived in DFW almost an hour later than scheduled, but it was still light.  Being a Sunday evening there was no traffic, so it was a breeze making it home. 

Whales are moving on and so must I.  I saw today an article online from the Maui News that this year's first humpback whale was spotted off South Maui of the Hawaiian Islands on September 14.  This whale almost certainly is one of what will be an estimated 11,000 humpback whales that will make the 3000 mile migration from Alaska to Hawaii.  Although the peak season for whales in Hawaii is January to March (thinking of you, Ann and Sharon!), they are already starting to arrive.  

If the whales are ending this year's season in Alaska, then I guess I should wrap things up too.  As I have explained to some in person, this blog of our Alaska adventure is primarily for me. I have relived our adventures while putting together this online "scrapbook",and I will be able to revisit it in the future.  It is also a way for me to share with family members who are spread across the country.  

If you have been following along and made it through all of these many posts, thanks for following.  If you have stumbled into this by accident, the starting point with a directory to the various parts of the trip is here.   

What do we do for an encore?  It is hard to imagine that any trip could measure up to this epic adventure.  However, having had such a good time, we put down a deposit for another cruise with UnCruise Adventures.  The discount they were offering if we made the deposit before we disembarked was just too good to turn down.

We have not decided on which of UnCruise's many destinations we will choose,  We are very interested in the Galapagos Islands, but another trip to Alaska, perhaps with a different itinerary, would be great.  Even the Panama Canal/Costa Rica cruise sounds interesting.  Stay tuned!

Alaska Trip 2022 -- Day 11 Sitka: disembarking, Fortress of the Bear and Alaska Raptor Center

Arriving in Sitka.  It was Saturday, August 6, our last day on the Safari Endeavor.  The crew weighed anchor about 5:45 am and we sailed towards Sitka.  It was not long before we started seeing homes on the shore.   I was genuinely surprised at how far homes extended along the waterfront as we approached the dock  We sailed into the harbor and were tied to the dock by about 7 am. 

Watching the docking process from inside the lounge to avoid the steady rain.

We left our luggage outside our room when we went to breakfast.  When we returned the bags were already gone, the beds were stripped, and most of the towels were gone from the bathroom.  We finished throwing together the last of the things we were going to carry for the day and then made our way down the gangplank to the waiting shuttle bus.  The crew was on the deck above to wave and send us off.  It was genuinely sad to leave.

I had been looking forward to seeing Sitka.  It is considered one of the more beautiful cities in Alaska. It also has lots of history, having been the capital of Russian Alaska and the site of the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States. 

I had already stumbled upon the strange fact that Sitka, despite having a population of only a little over 8,000, is the largest incorporated city by area in the U.S.  It has a total area of 4,811 square miles, almost four times the area of Rhode Island!  Our lead expedition guide on the ship, who lives in Sitka, had explained to us that Sitka chose to incorporate large areas at least in part to ensure the population density stays very low.  It is a low population density that enables hunting within the city and other such things under Alaska state law.

Harrigan Centenneal Center.  The shuttle bus made the five minute drive to the Harrigan Centenneal Center, Sitka's convention and visitor's center.  Built during Alaska’s Centennial celebration in 1967, it had  recently been remodeled and was a very nice facility. UnCruise had a hospitality room there where we found our luggage.

Harrigan Centennial Hall (https://www.cityofsitka.com/departments/HarriganCentennialHall)  We could not see any of the mountains on the day we were there due to the low-lying clouds.

I was especially impressed by the canoe outside which had been hand carved from a single tree.

Hand-carved canoe (https://www.exploredesign.com/projects/harrigan-centennial-hall/) as seen on a much sunnier day than when we were there.

We couldn't check into our hotel until the middle of the afternoon, so we had time to do some exploring.  Unfortunately it was steadily raining and the low cloud bank totally obscured the nearby mountains let alone its most famous mountain, Mount Edgecumbe which is across the harbor.  The lousy weather plus the Frog's injured knee meant we would need to adopt an abbreviated sightseeing schedule for the day.  With that in mind, we bought a shuttle bus ticket that would  take us to two popular tourist sites in Sitka: Fortress of the Bear and the Alaska Raptor Center.

Fortress of the Bear.  Fortress of the Bear is a non-profit sanctuary for rescued bears on the site of an abandoned pulp mill. .Alaska state law does not allow captured bears to be returned to the wild.  If a mother bear was killed, her orphaned cubs were euthanized.  A Sitka outdoors-man wanted to save the orphaned bears, hence he founded Fortress of the Bears.  It is not a zoo, but they allow visitors since the entrance fees are their primary source of income for operational expenses

Coastal Brown Bears.  There are two very large bear enclosures that had been water clarifying tanks in the former pulp mill.  These have 14 and 17 foot vertical high concrete walls. Open to the air and filled with dirt, trees, stumps, and flowing water, it is a habitat not unlike the surrounding forest.  These house the brown bears currently living there.

Coastal brown bears are native to the Alexander Archipelago.  Sometimes called Sitka brown bears or ABC Islands bears, coastal brown bears are a blend of polar bear and grizzly bear.  They are typically larger than the grizzly bears found in the interior of Alaska.  Even though called brown bears, their fur can be brown, black, or blonde.

A recent renovation of the viewing platforms made watching and photographing the bears from above quite easy.  The bears seemed to really enjoy playing in the large ponds.  The ponds are apparently much larger than normal due to all of the recent rain in Sitka.

A teddy bear with very big claws.

Black bears. There were also three black bears.  They were in an adjacent enclosure behind a chain length fence. 

 

At least one of the black bears was hanging out in the trees.

We were not there long, but it was interesting to see these animals at close range.

The Fortress of the Bear website has a complete background for each of the eight bears.  All of  these bears will live out their lives here.  Fortress of the Bear is currently at capacity with their existing facility, but they work to relocate bears to other sites in the country as needed.  Their website indicates they have relocated bears to three sites:  the Bronx Zoo, the Montana Grizzly Encounter and to the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Boyd, Texas.  Small world!

Although now apparently working successfully with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, various state agencies were initially opposed to a rescue facility such as Fortress of the Bear.  According to our bus driver, the founders were required to prove they could care for and raise animals, so they srt up a facility for farm animals (cows, sheep, and chickens, I think).  When the state agencies finally granted permission to keep bears, the owners got rid of the farm animals.  That was to the dismay of the local school children.  The children's' attitude was "Please keep the cows and sheep.  We have seen bears many times before, but we have never seen farm animals."

Alaska Raptor Center. The shuttle then picked us up and drove back towards downtown, dropping us off at the Alaska Raptor Center.  

The Alaska Raptor Center is a fairly large center on 17 acres that provides medical treatment to injured birds.  In a typical year they treat over 200 birds.  Unfortunately this was not a typical year.  They had stopped taking in injured birds earlier in the year due to the avian flu.  

Flight Training Center.  During the tour, we were able to see the rather large, enclosed area for rehabilitating birds known as the flight training center.  There was an area only for eagles and an area for other birds.  Having not taken in new birds recently, there were only three eagles in the flight center, but it was still interesting to see.  I could now better appreciate some of the features I had only read about on the website of the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center.  Blackland Prairie Raptor Center is a facility in the DFW area where injured raptors often go from our area.  

Although it made taking pictures nearly impossible, I was particularly impressed with how the viewing area for the flight center was constructed.  It is darkened behind one way glass so the birds cannot see or hear the people.  They are very anxious that the birds not become accustomed to being around people so they can be successfully released back into the wild.

Weathering Yard.  There were also multiple outside cages known as a "weathering yard"  Here the birds can be safely exposed to sunlight, rain and other elements during the day.  The center feels this exposure is critical to the birds' physical and mental health.  The birds are then returned to their individual mew at night.  I believe all of these bird are among the 24 Raptors-in-Residence that are permanent residents of the Center.

Qigiq, a Snowy Owl, in the weathering yard.  He was found injured along a roadside in Illinois.

One of the resident eagles enjoying some outside time.

A different type of enclosure in the weathering yard for a Northern Saw-whet owl.

We did not spend a lot of time here, but it was interesting to see.  

Russia's national dish for lunch.  It was noon by the time the shuttle bus dropped us back at the Harrigan Centennial Center, so we asked the person in the hospitality room for a recommendation for something simple and close by for lunch.  She recommended Pel'Meni, which was a restaurant a couple of blocks away on Lincoln Street, the center of all of the action in downtown Sitka.  We had no idea what type of restaurant it was, but off we went.

As we learned later, pelmeni is considered the national dish of Russia, certainly something appropriate in Sitka.  They are pastry dumplings filled with minced meat and wrapped in a thin, pasta-like dough.  

This was a very small and very simple hole in the wall restaurant.  They offered only two types of pelmeni, beef or potato.  Having no idea what they were, we ordered one of each and shared.  We also had to choose a topping.  To keep it simple, we went with butter.

The guy behind the counter stirred the dumplings in boiling water, then removed them with a strainer and plopped them onto a styrofoam serving container.  Only much later did I find out he forgot to give us our sour cream and slice of rye bread.  Oh well.  I personally thought they were kind of plain, but they might have seemed different if they had been consumed in what one place on the web claims is a more traditional Russian manner, i.e. with a shot of vodka between each dumpling.

I was surprised to see later how almost everyone on all of the various review sites raved about this place.  I especially liked this review by someone on tripadvisor.  She really liked it, giving it 10 stars out of a possible 5.  However, her comments, reproduced in part below, captured much of our experience as well:

If Anthony Bourdain was still alive, he would declare this the best restaurant in all of Sitka, Alaska. This place ticks off every check on the checklist of magical hole-in-the-wall eateries:

Hard to find - check!
Disinterested waitstaff - check!
Tiny - check!
Decor that looks like it was leftover from a 5 year old's birthday party - check!
Only 2 items on the whole menu - check!
Fresh Russian bread - check!
Long wait to be served - check!
Authentic Russian street food - check!
Inexpensive - check!
Delicious - check!

If you manage to find this place tucked away beside a much larger and busier tourist attraction, you will be rewarded with an amazing meal. When you walk in, the sole guy standing behind the counter looks up from stirring his crock pots and asks you "Beef or potato?"

Then you wait until he says the dumplings are cooked. Then he serves them in a styrofoam container

Having now experienced pelmeni, we went back to the Harrigan Centennial Center to hang out until we could check into our hotel.

Given all of our luggage and the Frog's increasingly sore knee, I tried to call a cab. None of the cab companies wanted our business since it was too short of a run.  We therefore set off walking with part of the luggage.  I would come back for the rest.  As it turned out, it was a very short walk, but only after we discovered you cannot enter the Sitka Hotel from Lincoln Street even though Lincoln Street is their address.  The only entrance is through the back.  Go figure.

We finally got settled in our room with all of our belongings.  I had planned to visit Baranoff Castle State Historic Site, which is immediately adjacent to the hotel.  It is the location of the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the US.  It also has fantastic views of the area.  However, it was still raining hard with little visibility due to the low clouds, so I crossed that off of our list.  

The other very close by attraction of interest that was indoors was St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral.  

St. Michael's Cathedral from the back. image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Michael%27s_Cathedral_(Sitka,_Alaska)

We walked the short distance up Lincoln Street to the Cathedral to discover the doors were locked.  Oh well.  We saw the outside.

With the rain still coming down and the need to get to the airport very early the next morning we opted for dinner at the restaurant on the first floor of the hotel.  Day 11 of our epic adventure was complete.  One more day to go.

Alaska Trip 2022 -- Day 10 Sukoi Inlet: bears, bushwhacking lite, and rain

It was now already day 10 of our epic Alaska adventure.  We woke up to rain in our anchorage in Sukoi Inlet where we had arrived at about 10 pm the night before. 

GPS track for Day 10 in yellow

The big surprise of the morning was when the announcement came over the intercom that there were bears walking along the beach. Since it was raining, my pictures were very poor.  Fortunately one of the crew got some decent pictures of the two juvenile bears.  They were turning over rocks looking for crabs and other goodies for breakfast. 

Two juvenile brown (grizzly) bears on the beach in Sukoi Inlet

So many people had wanted to see bears on this trip.  The crew was greatly relieved when these two little guys showed up on our last day.

Our activity for the morning was bushwhacking lite.  We loaded into the skiff and were soon on the beach.

It was a wet morning, but the rain had slackened up at least for the moment.

Pointing out crabs and other things that live under the rocks

Once we were back in the woods it was very uneven going.  As usual I forgot to take pictures as I was using my hands to climb up and down over the very uneven terrain.

Below is our group picture.  Obviously we were already pretty wet, but we had been protected back in the woods.  More wet was yet to come.

Our bushwhacking group in the woods

Once we got back on the beach we got much more rain plus we could feel the full force of the strong winds.  However, we kept exploring.  There was a small creek flowing out of the woods down the beach a ways.  There were salmon at the mouth of the creek.  We did not see any going up the creek, but we walked in as far as we could hopefully to find some bears feeding on the fish.  We did not find anything and had to turn around.

When we came back down the creek it was about time to head back to the ship, so we all congregated at the mouth of the creek waiting for the skiff.  That was a mistake.  

The skiff arrived, we got our life jackets on and we climbed aboard, but the skiff was stuck.  It would not budge.  We were probably caught in mud or other material that had washed down the creek.

The crew (just our guide and the pilot of the skiff) had us move to one side of the skiff.  No go.  They had everyone that could easily get on and off the skiff (not us) get off.  Still no go.  Finally they had everyone get off.  It wouldn't budge, even with the guide pushing and the pilot gunning the engine.

Finally, with both of them pushing they were able to break it free.  Of course, the water was well above the top of their boots.  I am sure that felt great.

Pulling the skiff back into shallower water after breaking it free

The skiff was now free, but they decided we should not board here or it would just get stuck again.

They were afraid if we all got in the skiff at this location it would get caught again, so they decided to take it down the beach a couple hundred yards.  Off we went across the rocks.  Unfortunately somewhere during the process of  climbing over and around things in the woods, the Frog had injured his knee.  It made it a very long walk for him.

A long walk across the rocks.  Obviously water on the case is causing the weird distortion in the center of the picture

By this time the people on the ship were getting worried about us and sent out a couple of people on a small craft to see if we needed any help.

Getting ready to load up again

As it turned out we didn't need any help.  Besides being very very wet by now, we all made it down the beach and into the skiff.  We were glad to be back on the ship and change into something dry.

I had already made the decision I was not going out in the rain again for our scheduled afternoon adventure, a skiff ride.  However, before that came up the crew announced they were moving the ship.  The wind was so strong the anchor could not hold the ship in place.  They hoped to find someplace better for the afternoon activities.

We were soon underway, but it wasn't too much longer that the announcement went out--no more off ship activities today.  There was just too much wind.  Instead the guides would coordinate an activity in the lounge--a game of Jeoparty (obviously a take off on Jeopardy).

Jeoparty with "host" Tara in a bear costume

It was actually pretty well done, but they had to keep changing the rules on the fly.  Part of the problem was too many people from outside the U.S. that had not seen Jeopardy.

We made it through and at least we were dry.  While we were doing this in the lounge, the crew finally found a somewhat protected spot to anchor the ship that would be within easy range for our trip into Sitka in the morning.  We had another great dinner, followed by the slide presentation of our week on the ship.  It was hard to imagine it was already coming to an end.

Alaska Trip 2022 -- Day 9 Deep Bay bushwhacking lite and skiff ride

After many hours circling in Chatham Strait, we finally entered Peril Strait a little after midnight.  Our target for the day was Deep Bay, an inlet off of Peril Strait.  There were again multiple adventures to choose from.  Our activities for the day would be bushwhacking lite in the morning and a skiff ride in the afternoon.

GPS track for Day 9, August 4, is in black.

Bushwhacking lite.  Bushwhacking is a catch-all phrase for hiking without trails. Most of the bushwhacks thus far had sounded beyond our current comfort level, but today they introduced something new--bushwhacking lite. We decided to give that a try.

We took off in the skiff for a beach across Peril Strait from our anchorage in Deep Bay.

Riding the skiff on our way across the strait,

I am not sure why, but we had three guides with us on this trip.

Erin, Tara, and Britney led the way

There was a wet landing to start our bushwhacking lite adventure

We started with a walk on the beach.  

On the beach

As you can see in the picture above, the beach was covered with small plants.  Erin introduced us to beach asparagus, which is kind of a cross between asparagus and green beans.  They tasted salty (it was on a beach which had just been covered in seawater!), but was really quite good.  I could definitely see these on a salad. 

High grass between the beach and the tree line

Once beyond the high tide line, we were into tall grass.  Like everywhere else we had been, the surface was very rocky and a bit treacherous.

In the forest

Lots of plants.  Once we broke through the tree line it was a completely different world and smelled wonderful--I guess of pine.  It was a moss and fern wonderland,.

Mosses and ferns everywhere

 

Western skunk cabbage, a deer delicacy.  Note the nibbles off the end of the nearest leaf.

Some critters. It was not all plants.  We also saw some critters, or at least evidence that they had been there.

Pacific banana slug

We saw a Pacific banana slug.  It was much bigger than I had imagined.   I expected it to be yellow (the name and also UC Santa Cruz), but the yellow ones are a different species.

Lots of bear scat

 

We also saw bear scat.   From the size of the scat, I suspect the bear was larger than I would have imagined also.  Fortunately we did not run into any  bears in person.  Of course, that could have happened.  That is why we made plenty of noise and the guides carried bear spray.

 

The pink flower is Pacific coralroot, a perennial orchid

One of the more surprising things, at least to me, was a wild orchid.  I did not expect to see something like that in what I think of as "the frozen north".

I should point out that we were mostly following a bear social trail.  It was rarely as flat as these pictures indicate.  I think I stopped taking pictures much of the time because I needed my hands to maneuver over, around, and through things.  

In any case, we had fun and made it back in one piece in time for lunch.

Our motley crew of bushwhackers.  Yes, that is my cell phone around my neck--my camera for this adventure.

Skiff ride.  The afternoon's off ship adventure was a skiff ride. 

Day 9 in Deep Bay -- Endeavor's track in black, morning bushwhacking lite in green, skiff ride in yellow

The track for today's adventures are in the figure above.  Leaving the entire gps track in today's color (black) was confusing since there was so much overlap.  Therefore I highlighted this morning's bushwhack, including the skiff ride to the beach and back, in green and this afternoon's skiff ride in yellow.

As you can see from the skiff track in yellow, the skiff ride was a little crazy.  We did see some interesting things, but I only took my cell phone for a camera because I thought it was threatening to rain.  Therefore there is not much in the way of photographic evidence for what we saw.

Eagle's Nest.  First up was an eagle's nest in a tree near the edge of the water.  We were quite a distance away, but two adults were making quite a fuss and seemed very bothered that we were there. We did not see any juveniles, but I am sure the adults would not have been upset if there had not been little ones involved.

Whale.  Next someone spotted a humpback whale, so off we went for a closer look.  "Close" was a somewhat relative term, but we did see him.

Hump of a humpback whale in the strait

Humpback whale making his dive

We then got back on track and headed across the strait, where one of the crew spotted a mink jumping around on the ridge above the water.

The tiny black speck on the top of the ridge at the edge of the grass is a mink.

Yet a little bit further we saw a deer watching us from the shore. 

Sitka black-tailed deer in the grass just above the rocks.

This is a Sitka black-tailed deer.  He still has his reddish brown summer coat.

We turned into yet one more tiny inlet since it looked like there was a bear on the beach but it turned out to be a rock.

We weighed anchor just after the evening's talk by guide Tara on fungi. about 8:15.  We had a ways to go before dropping anchor just before 10 pm at the site of tomorrow's adventures, Sukoi Inlet.