We have bees again. It was a little scary dumping the package in. When we pulled the queen cage out it was covered with a huge clump of bees and knowing they would all follow the queen's pheromones there wasn't a lot of time to get the outer plug pulled on the cage and get it attached in place. In fact I was in such a rush that I forgot to pull the outer plug and only remembered after the hive was reassembled. So, I had to open it again the next day. I'm a dumb butt. I'm so glad J was there helping me. If I had to do this again, I would wear an entire bee suit with elastic sleeves and cuffs. Can you tell one got up my sleeve and stung me? I was going to pull the marshmallow plug out too, but it was too sticky, couldn't get  the whole plug out. I hope I haven't turned that hive aggressive by messing with it too much too soon. It'll be interesting to open it again in another few days to see how they're progressing and to make sure the queen is out and doing her thing. The Langstroth hive is installed also, and the bees in that hive are docile and sedate. I didn't see them doing as much en mass orientation flight as last year's hive and they don't have nearly as many guard bees as the top bar hive. I'm hoping the top bar hive calms down a little once they start getting some comb built and brood going.  It's going to take awhile before they settle in to the place and there's not that much in bloom right now. The bees missed the apple blossoms, forsythia, and lilacs, but there's strawberries, tomatoes, beans, iris, poppies, cosmos, columbine, marigolds,with lots more to come:

lavender, sage, day lilies, black eyed susans, cone flowers, blue mist, corn, potatoes, squash, peppers.  Hopefully both hives will winter over successfully and they'll be here to pollinate the apple tree in the spring. It has quite a few apples on it. I sprayed it with an organic pesticide that I made, both last fall and again this spring before it blossomed. This year I'm going to do a better job of protecting the golden sisters by wrapping the hives, surrounding them with straw bales, and installing mouse-guards on the entrance holes for the winter. I have been gardening like a fiend, digging up volunteer sunflowers from the raised bed and planting them where wanted, planting three clumps of daisies Carrie gave me, and a guara, that I've since accidentally stepped on- going to have to reconsider that placement. I was really surprised that I had no volunteer Cosmos in the garden this spring and for some reason couldn't get them started in the bed. So,  I picked up few starts on a hardware store run, sifted three huge half barrels of soil for heirloom tomatoes, Black Tula, Green Zebra, and a yellow one that I forget the name of. It hasn't been the most wonderful vacation ever, but it hasn't been half bad. J and I talked about taking a bike ride for Memorial Day, but it was raining when we woke up and hasn't stopped for long since. Oh well, it'll be good for the garden, I have lots of good books to read, a man who I love nearby, what more could I ask for?