Well I guess I made it through the year, ready for winter which is supposed to start on Friday. In particular I need to express thanks to Kathy and Alicia, who have been patient and tolerated my insecure emails and assisted me through this first year.
I never intended on taking honey this year, but had to, just so the hives didn't get too tall. I harvested 5 gallons between the two hives. Been fun, educational, and at times hard work.
We started with 2 packages, one of which had a bad queen and I killed her off and combined her staff with a local nuc, which has been stupendous. That hive alone was 3 gallons. Learned how not to make the bees mad when I inspect, learned I am indeed allergic to an extent of bees, but not dangerously so...yet. So I have to suit up and wear gloves every time so I don't get stings. I still get lax and do some stuff without suiting up like filling the top hive feeders.
Anyhow, thanks to all of ya, even if you weren't my mentor, I probably learned something to do or not to do from most of you. Have a great winter. Lets see what I have left come spring.