Andy and I were both very sad when we discovered our bees died early this spring. We’d hoped to bring them to the new place, but a hot/cold snap zapped them. Alas, by the time we discovered our hive was dead, it was too late to get new bees. (You’re pretty much outta luck if you don’t order by Christmas.)

Thursday Andy found an ad for an auction…where they were selling two hives of bees! YAY!

The auction started at 10, but we showed up at 9 to check things out (and to make sure we wouldn’t be late if we got lost, which, remarkably, we didn’t). We trekked down to the hives, which were down a dirt road and up on a hill. See them up there?

We went up to check the bees out, and I decided I’d be Super Bee Woman and open one of the hives to check things inside. The bees weren’t pleased and decided to go for a ride on my head. (But how did they get past the veil, you ask? Um. Yeah. Wasn’t wearing the veil.) At one point, a bee was crawling up and around behind my left ear. Bzzzzzzzz. Two got stuck in my hair, but Andy got those out without any deaths of bees or stings of Cabols…alas, one bee decided to give up her life on my chin.

I flicked the stinger out with my fingernail. (I thought about asking Andy to help with that, but I do learn from my mistakes.) Good thing we had some extra time to get some Benadryl from a nearby gas station. I popped two and except for a little tenderness and a quarter-sized red spot, I’m okay so far.

By the time we got back from the drug quest, things had started hopping at the auction. Look at all those people!

The bees didn’t come up for bids until about noon. We got both hives!

Alas, we couldn’t take them home then because it was the middle of the day and the bees were all out getting food. We stuck around at the auction for a bit longer and then went exploring. We stopped at the Booker T. Washington monument / park to pass some time. It’s a neat place to hike about, and they had two fuzzy pigs, some cranky geese, and a small flock of sheep. There was a field with these tall flowery-weed-looking things in it…and the flowers were COVERED with butterflies and bees. I want some of those plants!

After lunch, a nap, and a bit more driving around, we went back and got the bees. It wasn’t fun. There were a lot of mad bees. Bees. Bees. Everywhere bees! But we got them in the truck and wedged in and headed home. I could see the strays in the back of the truck trying to get out. It was both unnerving and mesmerizing. Bzzzzzzzz.

The bees are now in our yard down by the barn and garden. We need to get some stands built for them, and we really need to put some supers on. We’ll get to that later….for now it’s just really nice to have bees again.