Can’t take much more of the cold!

Poor little honeybees. Seriously, these cold, cold days are taking their tole on the honeybee.  You see when it’s this cold, they can’t break their cluster to reach for the food within the hive.  They huddle close together protecting their queen. When it’s warm, they all move en masse to where the stored honey is on each frame.  When it’s this cold and fridged, they can’t afford to use up the energy needed to move en masse. They remain huddled eventually starving inches away from food.  Nothing we beekeepers can do about it but hope!  So, I’m hoping!  Hoping, hoping, hoping and waiting.  I’ve experienced a 50% loss.  One dead hive, one small living hive. The question will be, are there enough of them left to keep warm or will I loose them too?  
      In the meantime, I’ve ordered more bees (can you imagine the UPS drivers reaction when they get a screened box filled with bees?  And I am planning the garden. Thinkings thoughts of sun, warmth and the fragrant delights of spring take my mind away from the concerns of the hive. 
     I’ll probably stop in every now and then to give an update on the girls.  (Right now, all of the bees in the hive are female…we beekeepers call them “our girls”.) But for now, it’s time to go to work….I’m a housekeeper by request. Housekeeper is a rather shallow name to call it as what I do is much more than that.  All of my clients, whose houses I maintain, are friends. They have their own special needs from me beyond a spic and span house.  One client is fighting cancer - I listen. Another client is overcoming heart disease, we go shopping so she can be a normal woman doing normal activities but with a helping hand when necessary. Another client has four wonderfully busy children that I send off to school in the morning when Mom needs to be away for work. There are more but for now I think these are my favorites. I’ll be talking about them too here.  
     Oh, and I also take care of adults with developmental disabilities. I do this part-time as it is my "give back job". I work at a community activity center one day a week.  And some evenings I provide one on one support for clients who are trying to live independently (with our help of course). I’ll have lots of stories about them as well. Tonight is with Mary. Mary is 42, works at a workshop and has a boyfriend named Sam.  She wonders if she’s old enough to get married! I’d provide photos but it’s not permitted. So for now, I’ll just share stories.  I’ve got some great stories….so stay tuned. Feel free to comment if you wish.  Depending on my schedule, I will eventually respond to you.  
     So for now…..bee well and think warm thoughts for the girls!