How's Robb?

... This past spring, our backyard bee population got a little bit out of control. I had the bright idea to solve this problem by offering to host beehives at some of our neighbors' homes.  They'd enjoy the bees, I'd do the work, and we'd split the honey. Seemed like a good idea, right?  Unfortunately a summer of tenacious illnesses meant that I was a neglectful beekeeper.  Also, one of my bee "clients" turned out to be terribly afraid of bees. So, last night, Robb and I suited up and removed the hive from that neighbor's yard.  We built cardboard lids to cap the individual boxes, and wrapped all of those boxes in old bedsheets.  We tried to be as methodical as possible, considering that we were working in the dark.  (We needed to do this work when all the bees were in the hive, so that we'd actually collect as many we could.) Overall, this worked reasonably well. The bees were not particularly happy with us, but we kept them fairly well-

... East Coast friends, if you have internet connection, please check in and tell us how you are.

... This weekend was filled with simple pleasures.  It was my birthday, and apparently I was in Deep Introvert Mode.  Robb and I spent the weekend doing small things, rather than partying like the rock stars that we are not. We baked a lovely birthday cake, made from a friend's venerable sourdough starter, and shared it with a few friends . Out kitty Smog took a chomp out of the cake, while it was sitting on the dining room table, but nevermind that. It was a glorious weekend, full of sunshine.  Autumn is in the air.  We harvested our first persimmon, but have not eaten it yet.   I've taken very poor care of our fruit trees this year, mostly because I don't really know what I'm doing.  We had an exceptional year for aphids, which in turn coated many of our leaves with a black sooty coating.  I tired to wash aphids and soot off a few times, but I wasn't particularly successful.  I wonder what my organic options are? I also wonder how badly

Tonight, I'm baking a cake for Lisa...

... Apparently, I picked up some kind of digestive ailment whilst in Tennessee.  This past week has been somewhat un-fun. This weekend, I tried to get the vegetable garden in some kind of order.  I wanted to get things organized before the autumn rains arrived. I pulled out all the purple kale and the cabbage.  Our hooligan hens pretty much destroyed any chance that Robb or I would eat a bit of cabbage.  And when I pulled the cabbage up, and give it to them? Yeah, they ignored it. Silly pullets.  Maybe they'd already eaten all the tasty bits. Goodness knows, there wasn't much left of those cabbages. This past summer's garden hasn't been the most focused effort.  The snails ruined so many of our plants.  Oddly, we had some of our best successes from volunteer crops.  Since I developed my massive allergy to food in the nightshade family, I haven't planted any of these crops.  But I did let a few compost-volunteers take hold in the garden.  Ro

... Sheri and Kyle's wedding was lovely, with loads of laughter and beautiful autumnal weather.  I'll post more about it, when I've got time. (For those wondering, the actual ceremony went very well, and I think I did a creditable job officiating.)

... This Saturday, I'll be performing the wedding ceremony of my friends Sheri and Kyle.   Sheri is a wonderful artist, and a former intern of mine.  As you can see, we take ourselves very seriously. I think we've written a beautiful wedding ceremony.  I'm very excited and happy, and more than a little bit nervous.  It's going to be loads of fun, but I do need a pep-talk to help me with my worries about public speaking. 

.... One of the pleasures of the BORP fundraising ride, quite separate from participating in such a wonderful event, is the pleasure of being in wine country at harvest time.  The air smells of grapes, and we cyclists share the roads with farm trucks. This year, I could not resist the urge to glean.  I picked fallen fruit from the roadways and parking lots. Our hens just adore grapes, so I brought these windfall fruits home to Oakland.  Few things are funnier than watching a chubby chicken leap straight into the air for a grape.  Isabella seems to have springs in her chickenlegs, and quite a jumper, when grapes are involved. The large yellow fruit is a quince, that I shamelessly grabbed out of the gutter as we cycled through Geyserville.  Quince (quinces?) are one of those strange seasonal fruit that need special care.  Typically they are allowed to "blet" or soften off the tree, much like many varieties of persimmons. I think I'll poach this fruit, since

.... I've only got a moment to post an update about how the BORP fundraising ride went, so I'm going to let this photo sum things up, for the moment. We rode along this amazing team for most of the event.  Their spirit and joy brought smiles to everyone they encountered.  This kind of life-affirming exuberence is why I love living in the Bay Area.  Sure, some folks think we're all a bunch of weirdos, out here in Northern California.  I like to think that we spend our energy being happy, rather than dwelling on negativity.  If your child can't walk, and needs help pedaling his hand-cycle up the hills, is that going to stop you?  HELL NO!!!!!  Put on your happiest colors, tie a rope to his trike, keep a smile on your face, and don't let anyone ever tell you that you can't do what you want.

We are all about Challenges here at Team How's Robb .  Fortunately, most of them are self-imposed. Those are often the best kind of challenges since they come with a strong sense of accomplishment that you don't always get from just enduring a bad situation. I won't lie, I looking forward to tomorrow's challenge with more than the usual trepidation.  I keep telling myself that we've done this ride before, that we've done it in 100+ degree heat, that I managed it at a time when I needed to stop and lie down every 20 minutes. This year, though, I'm nervous. We've had less time to train and prepare, and our longest ride falls short of tomorrow's course. EEkK! Of course, that said, I know what will happen:  We will rise to the challenge because that's what we do. We'll drive down that long dirt road into the beautiful vineyard where the ride begins each year. We'll saddle up and cycle into the courtyard, joining about 150 people