The last few days I have been trying to get rid of a nest of yellow jacket bees in the back yard.

Day 1, The only bug spray I had was a can of ant spray so I used that. The bees loved it and it kept ants away from the nest.

Day 2, Since that didn't work I put a rock over the 2 inch hole.

Day 3, The next day there was a new hole to the side of the rock. I removed the rock and put a large shovel of dirt on it and quickly slapped it flat with the shovel. I didn't get stung but when I got in the house a bee flew to a window. It must have hitchhiked on me. I zapped it with a long wired zapper that I use for bugs and things.

Day 4, The hole is back! I got the car and drove over the hole back and forth about a dozen times. The bees were slapping the windows of the car but none got in.

Day 5, The hole is back and the bees are still there but it's raining so I didn't try anything.

Day 6, Today the bees are gone. There is a 6 inch wide hole where the nest was with pieces of hive around it. I suspect a skunk dug it up to eat the bees (they love bees, grubs and such).
Good for the skunk. Now all I have to do is fill the hole.

Day 7, I filled in the hole then patted down the dirt with the back of the shovel.

Day 8, The skunk dug up the hole again. I think I'll wait a while before filling it up again.

Day 9, We had a family picnic. They helped pick up a lot of apples. Now the hole has apples in it.

Alice D. Renaud
October 1915 - May 2010

January 16 was my birthday - my 60th!! It doesn't seem possible! My sister Bev and her husband Bill came to help celebrate. Bill made beef stew and dumplings for lunch and Allan made a chocolate cake with fluffy white frosting.

It was fun.

Piano Recital

Playing in the Christmas 2009 piano recital.

Here I am making a fondant wedding cake for my friend in July. The bride wanted a three tier cake - chocolate cake with a chocolate cream filling in each two layer tier covered in fondant with red fondant "ribbon" around each one, dots on the middle tier, and designs on the top and lower tier. Here is some of the process and the end result. Jackie the bride was happy with it.

My daughter Sara made a video of the fondant being rolled.

Renaud Music Studio will be opening soon, here is my new web page: http://www.renaudmusicstudio.com

electric car

The batteries had to be changed on our electric car - a Bombardier neighborhood vehicle (NV). The top speed is 25 MPH. As the batteries age the range decreases. When they are new you can travel about 30 miles before they need to be charged - depending on the terrain. But not too long ago when we took the car for a ride we only got about 5 miles. We were not sure if we would make it home. So it was definitely time for new batteries. The problem is that the batteries have to come out from the bottom which means that you need to raise the car up and lower the old batteries while the car is still up. The car weighs 1200 pounds. The batteries in their holder weigh 462 pounds. These pictures show how Allan did it. Now it is done and the Bombaardier can ride again.