All Over

Well that's it! Another season over. My girls all tucked up for winter. Fondant on and the only action between now and Spring 2014 will be fondant checks and apiary site visits to ensure all is well. How quickly it has gone and the relief is huge that the summer actually produced and the bees go into winter in far better condition than twelve months ago.
One surprise today was where I had foolishly left a stack of empty supers on an eke with a roof over at one site (waiting for a visit where I have space to get them home): I lifted the lid and inside were 7 mice!! 4 jumped off in an array that reminded me of a firework going off, the other 3 squeezed in between frames trying to hide. Fortunately they had not done any damage other than to gather dried grass in preparation to build their winter home. I was sure the stack was secure with no gaps - obviously I was wrong !