Becky's Bluegrass Bees: They like her, they really, really like her!

Rain, rain, rain, and rain. Our weatherman predicted rain for the yesterday, today, and tomorrow. In light of this news I decided to suit up early yesterday and check to see if the queen had been freed from her travel cage. Apparently things went really well, the colony seems to love her, and she must have been freed in very little time. This is good. Really good. My hope is that Catherine the Great (as I've taken to calling my queen Russian bee) is a strict task master when it comes to making brood and honey.

As for the weather, this is Cincinnati where our weather is very seldom, if ever, predicted correctly. Rain did not come until much later yesterday and rather than "spotty showers" we had "15-minute-omgbbq-look-at-that-hail" storming. I have to admit though, it was pretty cool seeing sideways rain on the river. Today it has been cloudy off and on, but our temperature has stayed pleasant. After another late morning the ladies decided to get up and go to work. I'm beginning to think more and more that they just like sleeping in (really, who doesn't?)

I'm happy to see that the bees seem to be very pleased with a clover patch in the back of the yard. I like watching them work as they are so busy, busy, busy. While I still haven't seen a bee with pollen on its legs, that is high up on my "to find" on my list.

Finally, I learned that the smoker doesn't require that much fuel. Actually, it only requires a very small pinch of fuel to produce a good amount of long lasting smoke. While I might think it's hysterical, quizzical looks from the neighbors suggesting that I may be lighting my patio set on fire are not. So note to self, less fuel next time.