Bees holed up

Bet the girls wish this scene was of a forest of cherry trees in full blossom. They won't be emerging to see it though (they stay indoors under 10°C).

We took off for the safety of the forest at Ottobeuren to get away from the horrible wind and constant snow showers.

Then back home, opened up the slow cooker and inspected the contents. Was very pleasantly surprised, the bones were literally bleached bare of all meat and cartilage, as though they had been lying in the desert for years. I got out all the bones and then blended everything else in to a thickish soup which should be ideal for Flash who seems to be eating less and less which at the moment is not over worrying as every gramme less he has to carry eases his difficulties and he anyway is not as active. The dogs have dried food available 24 hrs a day so no chance of them starving. Border Collies are generally not great eaters, I suspect leaving a bowl of food about with a Lab in the household would be quickly gone.

Impressed by the slow cooker (still less than impressed with quality) will probably now keep it. Actually planning to try some human meals. may sound a bit senseless for a 2 person household but we have a very poor eating regime, normally working on the animals until late and then when we eventually get indoors, not having the motivation to cook or if very hungry, cooking and eating at 10:00pm or later. With such a large pot we could also cook & freeze!

By the way, slow cookers are very rare here. On Saturday I walked around a couple of big electrical shops and didn't find a single one. I one of the largest German wide discount electronics/electrical shops, the salesperson didn't know what I was talking about. However they did manage to find a steam cooker and a rice maker. OK spring is not the ideal time of year for pot roasts and loads of root veggies but I understand even the BBQ brigade quite like them for spare ribs.

The Blip shows the bees covered hut. Only three of the six hives are active. Hopefully by Thursday or Friday the temperatures will get out of single figures but we haven't seen the worst yet.