Beltane Waxing Garlic Moon
Bee check this morning. Colony 1 is about a week ahead of 2 and 3 due to my late release of the queens in those two colonies. None of them have brood in the top box, though there is 
new pollen stores and honey. They’ve only had the top box on for a week, so I’m not expecting much until the next hive inspection. If I don’t see brood then, well, I don’t know what.
All three colonies look healthy, plenty of bees and plenty of room. These bees, too, are so gentle. I can inspect the hives with just a veil, a long sleeved t-shirt and gardening gloves. So much better for the heat.
Each colony still has stored honey in the frames I put into the top boxes, the first one less than the rest, but they still have some. I may need to get some feeder pails and some syrup, just to be sure.
I feel more confident this year, more sure of what I’m doing and what I’m looking for when I do a hive inspection, but I’m still a long way from a knowledgeable bee keeper.
Mark has started a second round of work on the fire pit, a project stalled three years ago by lagging energy on my part. He squared off the walls, has cut landscape cloth to put behind the granite paving stones I bought from the guy on Round Lake Boulevard and also put landscape cloth on the botton of the fire pit and covered it with sand.
Gertie went outside this morning and wandered around the front yard. She moved slowly, feeling the trauma today probably more so than yesterday as the vet’s pain killer subsided. She’s still on two pain meds though, tramadol and rimadyl. I think she’s gonna be fine. We’ve seen battle wounds before.
As I went to sleep last night, I said to Kate, “Just like an episode of Combat Hospital.”