Adoption Update

I was out of town for a few days this week, and came home to lots of great news! Two families have come home this week with their daughters, another one will be home soon with a son. And a waiting mom just got word she can travel at the end of this month.

Things seem to be moving fast. Not nearly fast enough for me, but I know my file is in process. Here are the things I have to do before I go to Vietnam:

Paint Molly's room - I have the paint, a light turquoise color.
Steam clean the carpet
Find and hang matching curtains
Buy a dresser
Buy a carseat

Buy a highchair
Buy cloth diapers
Buy a diaper pail
Buy a baby bathtub
Clean the garage - I need room for her stroller!
Get my travel shots

I'm sure there are many more things I haven't thought of, but it will all fall into place sooner or later.

Seasonal Management

The season is coming to a close - the honey is off, flowers have stopped blossoming and preparation for over-wintering the bees begins. I have noticed a large number of drones sitting outside the hive on the landing pad, and an uncomfortable number of wasps hanging around eating them. The drones get kicked out of the hive to die at this time of year - they have served their purpose and become unnecessary.

I treated the hives for varroa mites and nosema, and am feeding pollen patties and sugar syrup again. I left a fair amount of honey in the hives for the bees to eat over the winter. I could have taken it off, but I would rather they eat honey than syrup.

I found that the Belle hive had a HUGE number of dead mites drop onto the bottom board after the varroa treatment. However, I couldn't find any on the Sophia hive - good news. I'll keep an eye on them though, as they had a rough summer.