-Posted by Isaac

November 8th! - Time to get out Da Vote! Time to exercise your civil liberties! Show some democratic muscle! Snap out of your selfish, lazy lives and think of your country for once! It's time once again to utilize your God-given sovereign right as a (possibly legal?) US citizen!

I would highly encourage arriving at the polls early. Considering the long lines and what's at stake for our nation.

What? Huh? It's December 8th? Well I'll be damned....      Who won? Has armageddon started?

I guess it's back to our selfish lazy lives. Here on the bee farm we're transitioning into winter. About this time of year, all the landowners get their sweet reward for providing a location for our little ladies. About 40 "rent honey" trips in all. I've been going around like Santa Claus.

And every other day it seems, Santa makes a trip to the post office. The orders are piling up!

Jayne and Katie have been extremely busy. Packing and shipping-- the name of the game in December.

Both small orders...

and large....

For the most part, I try to stay out of the way. And I find things to do that don't involve real work.

This week we got the bulk tank fixed to my finicky specifications- a bigger outlet valve. It was just taking too long to fill those drums.

And I hauled the last of about 1500 supers out to the bee yards. Last winter I tried this and it proved to be a smart move. Not only does it save on storage space, it's so convenient to have those supers right where they need to be, when they need to be there.

But that time, supering time, is a long way away. So far off in fact, it's hard to even think about spring coming around again. This week, with our first arctic blast, we welcome in Old Nasty. My least favorite of the four. Mr. Winter. It's funny how location can change your outlook. When I lived in Colorado, I loved it.

I don't know about Colorado bees, but I'm pretty sure Ohio bees hate winter as much as I do. One of the many winter-prep tasks involves putting mouse guards in. This year I elected to do a more permanent guard... one I won't have to remove in the spring.

And of course, you've got to worry about winter ventilation. Every hive gets a top spacer.

One thing I'm not worried about is winter feed. Most hives are heavy as lead bricks right now. You can see that they're all getting a sugar patty anyway. They don't need it, but I had already bought the stuff, and they'll come up on warm days and have a taste just for fun. Merry Christmas, bees!

I'm not going to wrap a single hive this winter. Am I gambling with our lovely ladies? Maybe. I'm just not convinced that it helps as much as proclaimed. I mean, I'm sure it does something... but is it worth the trouble? We will soon find out. If I'm wrong, it may well be the first time I've ever been wrong. Hahaha.

Right now they just look so warm and happy. Snug as a bug.

So we'll keep busy and you do the same. But please don't forget your civic responsibilities. Which, at this point, involves responsible complaining about whoever got elected a month ago.