​ Missing out this summer. No bees around. No swarm caught. No magic bees moved in. It's sad to have an empty hive around.

My long time dream of having a swarm of bees dance at the Parade finally came true. We waggled our tiny tails to Dancing Queen and some cute nursery song.

and look what I found. A varroa mite in it's glory. Unfortunately I lost most of my testing sample and could not really count them. 

Also, the bees are doing okay, but not as great as I was hoping. I took pictures of each frame but haven't uploaded them yet. They got really angry with me after frame 4 and also didn't seem to like the powdered bees I put back in the hive. They kicked out at least 2 of them. I am not sure if they kicked them out because they didn't clean themselves up or if they didn't like the smell. I thought it would be fantastic for them to be covered in sugar and to find a punch of sugar in their home.

My friend and colleague Eric asked me if I am interested in bees. Yeah! After 3 attempts to catch some swarms close by I will have bees again.
I had to trim some hedges so I can see the little ladies fly in and out from my hammock.

Sarah showing a Girl Scouts troop hive tools.