Taste of Miller Camping -- October 2023

The group...

(minus a few...someone had to take the picture)

The Young'uns...

 

Taste of Cambridge

 

A Cottage and a Canal

Cottage by the Inlet

This is our little rental cottage on Indian River Inlet near Rehoboth, De.  Affordable, nice view, likes dogs.  Wrapping up a week here.
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Rehoboth to Lewes Canal

Renting a pontoon boat with 60 hp engine is an experience.  Not the usual "slo mo" pontoon experience, this boat planed over half of the 14-mile Rehoboth to Lewes Canal,  The canal is a mini version of the ICW with floating logs, marsh grass and falling-over trees.

Seagulls at canal entrance off Rehoboth Bay

Could be the ICW

Tree on side of canal

Tree art

Lewes main street

Lewes canal front

And finally....another distracted boater bites the bottom at the entrance of the Lewes Inlet.

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For Rehoboth-philes...

City officials have approved a $1.35 million project on the canal to launch kayaks, canoes, boats and a water taxi.  Located behind the Rehoboth Beach Museum at Grove Park, this launching area is intended
to make it possible to travel between Rehoboth and Lewes during the traffic jams of summer.  

"This is just another component of multimodal transportation," said a Delaware official in government-speak.

A  rendering of the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal Improvement project shows switchbacks that are accessible by people with disabilities and a dock that can accommodate two 30-foot pontoon boats, a water taxi service, canoes and kayaks. The pictured kayak launch will not be included in the approved construction bid. (Photo: City of Rehoboth Beach image)

Frankly, I can't see that this is going to produce a mother lode of humans visiting Lewes or Rehoboth, but it does have a Great Pyramid feel. -- editor

Easter Bees

   

Well, here's a challenge.  We are in Vero (probably forever) and Barry is notified that his $900 worth of bees have arrived in Annapolis, waiting to be picked up.  What now?

Barry reserves a car with Enterprise to go gloves and mask,  non-stop to Annapolis, pick up bees, slap together six hives, borrow son Jim's pickup truck and take it all  to "Heron There" organic farm in Croom, Md., near Upper Marlboro.   Return to Vero.

"Heron There" Farm, Croom, Md.

Then, the unexpected.  A note from son Jim and granddaughter Hannah (who's in veterinarian school and intrigued by all things science), "We'll do it!"  Sheltering-in-place had become so boring that they were willing to wrestle with 48,000 bees.

What do people with no experience do in this situation?  What else? They binge-watch YouTube videos about how to install bees into hives without going to the emergency room.  The two of them had no bee veils, so they jury-rigged outfits out of Jim's painters' suits, safety googles, head bands, anything to keep the little buggers off their faces.  (They stung them anyway.)

Screen shots of Jim and Hannah organizing the bees at the organic farm near Upper Marlboro, Md.

Barry watches the two brave newbies by cell phone, coaching as needed.  It's virtual bee keeping.  For Barry, it's like waiting for the baby to be born.  

The amazing deed is done, and Barry and all of the beekeepers of the world thank you, Jim and Hannah Lathom.

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Now for the gratuitous photo gallery:

Boy on beach with super moon

 This is where we all should be: the gin blue waters of  the Abacos

That's all folks.

Sheltering in Balboitaville

We're in the Vero Beach, Fla., marina.  Thought you all would appreciate a bunch of photos of our view while we're "sheltering in place."  Actually, sending these may make those of you with no view want to kill me.    

But these ARE totally bizzaire times.

Skipper Lathom takes in the view

 Barry and Vicki's view 

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UPDATE

We've been here in a slip since November and plan to stay until things calm down since I reached the big eight-oh.  Vero has a relatively low population for a Florida getaway, with no high rises and people rather spread out.  Also, there have been no Corona virus cases here on the "Treasure Coast," just south of Cape Canaveral Space Center in Melbourne. 

So, we wait.
 
The only problem is the bees.  They are supposed to arrive by mail in Annapolis sometime around April 13 and I guess they're too domesticated  to be released into the wild if their beekeeper dad can't retrieve them. 

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MEANWHILE....  

The sun keeps going down

The sailors keep sailing

 

And eroded beaches keep being rebuilt (although they accidentally dumped the sand on turtle nests and had to remove it)

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BOATS BREAK OFF MOORING AND FLOAT BY OUR VIEW.

(see YouTube video below)

Vero Marina boats adrift in high winds in February
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VORGW5Q9_q0


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POINT OF PERSONAL PRIVILEGE

Gail Watkins has a painting in the 1st Miami Contemporary Small Format Exhibition.  Open until April 25 for anybody out there who isn't hunkered down.   Check www.miamicontemporary-art.com. Gail has been my friend for about 55 years and a lot of you all know her and how serious and talented an artist she is.  

Gail's entry into Miami show

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MISCELLANEOUS

 Barry's portrait of a resident of St. Thomas (Xmas cruise)

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What Skipper saw at the groomers

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Friend Sandy Meyer's mother leading a family exercise while sheltering in place in Annapolis

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That's all folks...



Indian River Inlet, Rehoboth, Del.

Here we are at a late summer vacation...

This is a cute little cottage operated by the state of Delaware, south of Rehoboth on the Indian River Inlet.  Truly "glamping," the cottages are beautiful but have limited amenities.  You need to bring linens, towels, sheets, pillow cases, blankets, trash bags, soap, Dawn and sponge, shampoo and your own wi fi.

We are in one of the doggie units, but one glaring item in the rental agreement didn't catch my eye until we arrived:  no pets can be left unattended in the cottages.

Wowser and bowser.

This meant that animals need to accompany you to restaurants, but there aren't many that are pet friendly near here.  The one we found was so cramped that our dogs could barely lay down.

Kota trying to find space in a Lewes Beach restaurant

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More Inlet Cottages Views

One Trip Advisor reviewer said that the "lawn" looked dry and brown.  I call this landscape the natural Delaware dune look.  The cottages are painted in pastels.  

Porch overlooking inlet.

Fishing boat in inlet

Living area.  Upstairs is a loft bedroom.  Two bedrooms on first floor.

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Thus being tethered to the bros, Barry listened to podcasts about bees and I am doing this blog....

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That's all folks.....

Vivian and Judy Allnutt at Rehoboth, Del., circa 1945.  Yes, Allnutt was my maiden name and that's why I got married.

INFORMATION ABOUT INLET COTTAGES

Bees and Other Things...

They are humming and we have honey...

It's only August and Barry has 17 honey combs...you know those wood squares of honey in bees wax that you used to get when you were a kid.  You scoop it out and chew and chew until there's only the wax left. 

These are decorator hives, designed and painted by Barry. We went for a Caribbean theme.

Picture of route from Annapolis to the little buggers.  To orient you, the blue is the Chesapeake Bay.  To get to the Watkins farm, we cross from Annapolis to the eastern shore and do a Great Loop north to the bees.  By car, it's an hour and a half.  

By crow, it's 15 minutes.

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Expansion...

Like all successful endeavors, Barry's Bees is opening a new location.

Heron There Farm*

It's an organic farm in Croom, Md. (near Upper Marlboro) about 45 minutes from Annapolis.  The owner contacted us when she heard we were looking for another location to put hives.  It's perfect and being without pesticides is short of a miracle for the little hummers, since they won't have their GPS brains messed with.   We'll be setting up next April.

*Why is it called "Heron There Farm"?  

Claudia, the owner, says, "The most prominent critters around here when we first came were moles and hawks - prey and predators.  Neither seemed upbeat for a farm name.  But the resourceful, ancient, graceful (at least in flight) heron, he flew by regularly on his way to the Patuxent River.  Hence, "Heron There Farm."

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West Virginia coal miners are getting 

retrained as beekeepers...

https://www.good.is/coal-miners-learn-beekeeping

I thought this was a joke, but it's true.  

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That's all folks....