24 Days And A Bee Update

So.  According to my calendar my kids and husband have been sick for 24 days.

Y'all.  24 days.

And last night I had heard the last croupy cough I could deal with and finally broke down into a good self-pity cry.

But now.  Life is good again.  And sometimes tears just help that happen.  Amen ladies?

So today I made a trip to Walmart and picked up a nice big bottle of Lysol.  And it cracks me up that it is Fresh Linen scented.  Because the best time to unleash the Lysol is when you're in the middle of puke and flu and all manner of everything that is the opposite of fresh laundry.   So I've decided the good makers of Lysol made that scent special for the frazzled mom who would LIKE to have fresh laundry, but instead has barf all over the bathroom.

Then I headed for the Nyquil section.  Did you know they make HUGE jug-like bottles of Nyquil?   Now this made me feel much better.  Because apparently there are folks out there that are so sick that they decide ahead of time they are going to need the 2 liter size before it's all said and done.  So 24 days suddenly seems rather short.

But it's not over.  I think the worst may be behind us though.  4 of us made it to church Sunday.  Nobody has fever.  My man is back at work.  I've washed sheets and blankets and I'm sleeping in my own bed again.

Thankful for God's healing power and the awesome way He made our bodies.

Saturday brought some bad news.

Remember I told you that one of my hives didn't have any activity?  Well Saturday was nice enough that I could get in there and see what was going on.  And I can't even tell you the sick feeling of finding all those bees DEAD.  The super was still full of honey but empty of bees.  So we removed that and dug into the brood chamber to find some very funky looking frames and lots of dead bees.
It was a very strong hive going into the winter and I'm not too sure what has happened.  My bee people looked at the pictures and have suggested parasitic mite syndrome (PMS).

I can't tell.  The comb is so dark I can't distinguish the brood pattern and I don't have any supercedure cells.  So I don't know.  Bee class is tomorrow and I'm taking in several frames to show them.   The boys and I added that super to the other hive and removed the dead hive.  I'll paint it and get it ready for the next colony.

But my other hive looks crazy strong!  Like it's already ready for a split.  Which I have no idea in the world how to do but I figure it's time to learn.