Newsflash: Bees are still alive

The bees are buzzing, flying in and out of the hives, and generally seem to be having a good time.

The new colony, in the hive on the right, has now survived for 24 hours, and they seem to be thriving. The night was a bit chilly last night, but that hasn't seemed to bother them. Today's temperatures had them pretty lively by this afternoon.

I had planned to search for the queen in the hive on the left this afternoon, but I've decided to put that off for the day. I'm told that searching for a queen when you are inexperienced, as I am, can be a tedious and drawn-out affair. The queen is the largest bee in the hive and marked a bit differently, but she's not that much larger. And the hive is likely to have 10,000 to 20,000 bees, so it may take a while.

Sally planted some flowers in a couple of beds around the house, and I marked off some more rows in the garden. Sally and Jane planted corn in the first two rows on Saturday, and they will be putting some more stuff in this week.

Otherwise, the day was mild, full of cool breezes, green grass, yellow wildflowers and just about perfect.