Roxanne... a Tribute

Roxanne (2001-2016)

We called her the 98-pound Wonder... Circus Dog... Roxanne. She could yodel, hop through hoops, climb ladders, and make a six-foot vertical jump from a sit. She only chased golf balls. She crossed the Arctic Circle six times, traveled over 500,000 miles with us, and loved the smell of bison and bears. She thought horses were big dogs but could never figure out what a little dog was. She hiked hundreds of miles with us and loved to swim in freezing water. She had the courage of a lion. She rode in canoes, ferries, hay wagons,and elevators and laid at my feet at conferences, expos, and restaurants. She was a therapy dog, helping the sick, elderly, and foster youth. She was a Canine Good Citizen and too smart for her own good. She was the quintessential Golden, always loving, gentle, adaptable, and happy. For 14-1/2 years, she brought us love, service, loyalty, and joy... our Roxanne.

Roxanne

Dear Friends,

It has been some time since we posted on Roxanne's blog. We lost our beautiful Golden Girl last year, in May, 2016. Rox was nearly 15 years old. It has been such a sad time without her, but we know we will see her again in Heaven.

Rox's blog will continue. We will have guests to write posts, as well as us. One day we hope to have a new Golden to carry on the blog. Our next post will be a tribute to Roxanne. Then we'll share some exciting news. Thanks for joining us!

The Amazing Honey Bee

Honey bees with pollen on their legs

Honey bees are truly amazing creatures.  They are called the most useful insect in the world.  One third of all the food that we eat is pollinated by honey bees.

Bees gather pollen.  They may visit as many as 50 to 100 flowers each trip.  In the process, they pollinate the flowers and help them to make more fruits and vegetables, like apples, oranges, almonds, and tomatoes. 

They also take nectar from flowers to feed their young.  Bees make honey from nectar.  It takes 5,000 flower visits for bees to make one teaspoon of honey. 

Here is what the inside of our beehive looks like...

Bee keepers raise bees to harvest honey and to pollinate crops.  During the summer, beekeepers take the extra honey that the bees make from the hive.  They cut off the waxy top from the honeycomb and drain the honey into jars.  When we harvest our honey, we'll tell you all about it!

Each beehive colony can have as many as 60,000 bees during the summer.  The colony needs as many bees as possible to gather honey for winter.  They must have at least 70 pounds of honey stored in their hive for the winter months.  Beekeepers must be careful not to take too much honey during harvest so that the bees will have plenty to eat when it is cold.

Bees have been mysteriously dying at an alarming rate over the past few years.  Scientists have become bee detectives to determine why the bees are dying.  If you would like to read more about bee detectives, check out this great book from your library:  The Hive Detectives:  Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe by Loree Griffin Burns.  

We found some fun activities to help you learn more about bees and honey.  Just click on one of these links:

• Bee Activity Book
• Bee Nutty, Bee Cool, Bee Fit  (learn how healthy honey is to eat!)
• Honey Bee Life Cycle

If you would like to read more about our amazing honey bees, check out this book from your library:  The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci.

Fun Bee Facts

Fun Facts about Bees

• One third of all the food that we eat is pollinated by bees.
• In a bee’s short lifetime, she flies the equivalent of one and one-half times around the circumference of the earth.
• Bees can fly as fast as 15 miles per hour.
• It takes 5,000 flower visits for bees to make one teaspoon of honey.
• A bee can only sting once. When she stings, her stinger remains in her victim’s flesh. She dies shortly thereafter.
• A queen bee can lay up to 3,000 eggs per day.

We are Bee Keepers!

Missy at the BeeWeaver Apiary

Today we went to an apiary near Navasota, Texas.  An apiary is a bee farm.  We bought a hive of bees for Opa and Omi's farm.  We will take care of the bees together.  When it is harvest time, we will share the extra honey that the bees make.

We loaded the bee hive in the back of our pickup.  When we arrived at the farm, we placed the bees on the platform in their new home.

Opa and David move the bees to their new home.

The next morning, we looked at each frame inside the beehive.  We wanted to make sure that the bees were healthy.  To keep from getting stung by the bees, we wore special hats with veils.  We wore thick clothes and put rubber bands around our wrists and ankles to keep the bees from crawling inside our clothing. 

David lights the bee smoker.

David smokes the bees.

We also lit a smoker.  Then we smoked the bees.  Bees send out an attack alarm from their tentacles.  The smoke keeps the bees from communicating with each other.  

Opa and David check each bee frame.

What a bee frame looks like...

We are happy to report that nobody got stung!

Missy checks out our new bee hive.

In our next post, we will tell you more about our amazing bees!

Nature Detective

Missy, the Nature Detective

We wanted to help Missy learn more about Texas animals, so we decided to have an adventure.  We became nature detectives!

We began looking for animal signs.  We took a walk and looked closely at the path.  Near a muddy bank, we saw deer tracks and raccoon tracks.  

We looked high and saw a squirrel’s nest.  We passed a pond and saw turtles sunning themselves. We found a bird feather.  We heard buzzing and discovered bees in the cherry laurel flowers.  

Have you ever become a nature detective?  Missy thought it was great fun!  

If you want to read more about being a nature detective, see our post here:   Roxanne's Nature Detective post

You can also check this great book out from your library: 

• Animal Tracks and Signs:  Track over 40 Animals from Big Cats to Backyard Birds by Jinny Johnson.

What's Next for NASA?

Atlantis Space Shuttle courtesy NASA

It was a sad day for America when the space shuttles retired.  They were magnificent flying machines.  They were the first flying machines that went into orbit and returned to earth.  We learned so much when the space shuttles flew.

Now our wonderful space shuttles are in museums.  After 30 years of service, in July 2011, the last shuttle flight flew to the International Space Station.  The Atlantis space shuttle astronauts gave a flag to the crew on the International Space Station.  It was an American flag that flew on the first space shuttle.  It will return home on America's next spacecraft.  (To read more about the flag, just click here:  Star Spangled Banner in Space.)

When and what will be America's next spacecraft?  NASA is working on many different ways for America to get back into space, including the Orion spacecraft.

Orion will combine the best of the space shuttle and the Apollo moon mission spacecraft.  It will be able to supply the International Space Station or travel to Mars.  Orion will take astronauts deep into space and bring them safely back to earth.

Orion spacecraft courtesy NASA

Orion's first test mission is scheduled for September 2014.  NASA plans a four-hour test flight from Cape Canaveral in Florida.  One day, Orion flights may fly from Houston's Ellington field near Space Center Houston.  It will be exciting to see America back in space!!!

For more information about Orion, just click here:  Orion vehicle

Here's an Orion activity page for you:  Orion Activity Sheet

Here's a paper model of the Orion spacecraft that you can build:  Orion paper model

Here's a coloring page for the Orion spacecraft:  Orion coloring page

If you would like to build a paper space shuttle, just click here:  Space Shuttle Glider