An inspection of our bee hives yesterday revealed a Carniolan hive that was bursting at the seams with comb and honey. Members of both the Carniolan hive and the Italian hive were hanging out on their respective front porches, but the super robust Carniolans had the Italians outnumbered 3 to 1.

We had to scrape the comb filled with honey off of the inside of the inner lid. We had to brush the busy Carniolans gently away with the bee brush from the dripping comb they'd built up in the last few days on the tops of the bars. I popped a piece of comb into my mouth like a greedy bear and was murmuring Oh My Gosh at the taste of prickly pear cactus blooms and Pecos Mountain wildflowers, even licking sticky honey from the hive tool itself.

Jack Bauer, who surprisingly loses some of his, you know, big Jack Bauer stuff around the humming hives had to unzip his bee hood to lick the hive tool he was wielding. It's just like he tells me about the motorcycle gear--you choose your level of safety, and I'll choose mine, when I am griping at him about what I see as the necessity of a full face helmet. Each time the buzzing intensifies, I tell myself I'm going to get myself an old-time hat and veil that I can just wear with my jeans and long-sleeved shirt. I feel a bit sky clad out there at times. And a tenacious heeler dog and I have both been stung already. Jack Bauer has not.

So, we added the queen excluder to the top of the two Carniolan brooders and installed a super (where the bees will store pure honey with no brood and what the beekeepers harvest) on top. I think we may be in the middle of a "honey flow" with the monsoon season and all. I've noticed new things blooming, and up on the mesa after the rains, there is an abundance, a plethora, of wildflowers.

We will continue to feed the Italians sugar syrup until they get just as strong. And, frankly, I doubt we're going to rob any honey this fall. I'd reather leave that for the bees. I wonder if I could switch a full frame of comb and honey from the Carniolan hive to the Italian hive? You know, to give them a bit of a jumpstart? Perhaps. I'll have to consult the tomes.

The apiary owner from whom we acquired our bees told us that beekeeping makes her feel that she is part of some larger mystery.

Indeed.