Simple things

I went to the meeting of the Hexham Beekeepers yesterday. There will be bees in my future. The man who hosted the meeting has twenty hives and queen rearing is in full swing. I was so impressed with his bees -- very well behaved and non agressive, plus his own beekeeping skills. He was able to quickly demonstrate how to create an artificial swarm.
But it was the hum of bees, the smell of the honey and just the general being around the hives. Sheer bliss. I would urge anyone interested in beekeeping to attend the meetings of their local beekeeping association. With the apiary meetings, they do have extra suits for people to wear.
He is going to make up a nucleus -- this year's queen and several frames of brood for me. It should be ready in a few weeks.

I have put more puppy pictures on the blog as my sister informs that the pictures I sent her took far too long to download and my nieces enjoyed looking at the puppies. My youngest neice takes a keen interest in my family's pets even though she has never been to the UK.