Spring, so elusive...

So I had to give my bees some fondant yesterday, to give them a little sugar to keep 'em going until the weather improves and there is something (pussywillow pollen, tree sap) out there for them to collect. 

I had to snowshoe out to my field hives, but once I got there, I found some very busy bees!

This gal came to check me out. If you look closely, you can see her little red tongue.

This gal fell in the snow and didn't make it back out.

So out of 11 hives, I lost 2 this winter, which isn't bad. I think the problem with both of them was that the colonies were a little too small going into winter, but I will do a post-mortem once the snow has melted some more and I can actually get the dead hives moved to the barn. The two in this picture are doing just great!

As you can, there is still lots of snow but it looks like the daytime temperatures are going to stay above freezing for the foreseeable future!

Who cares! I'm going to Greece on Sunday. :) But spare a thought for my poor husband, who is staying here!

Meanwhile...

Can you tell I have six barn cats?

Time for a car wash! 

And...

...the sun was so warm yesterday, the pigs actually ventured outside for the first time in I don't know how long!

Jersey has grown quite a bit!

She was sitting in manure, enjoying the sun! She is clearly a different breed from the other pigs, but I don't know what kind.It may not be clear from these photos but her snot SNOUT (thanks to my dear friend for pointing out that typo!!) is a lot longer and pointier than the other pigs' schnozzolas.

I am going to get the vet here soon. They all need hoof trims, vaccines and deworming.

I think they're pleased it has finally warmed up a bit!