Getting ready for the bees

After weeks of planning and assembling equipment, we were finally able to complete site preparations for the new hives, which included assembly of the hive stand and installation of an electric fence.
This weekend it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained.  It was only supposed to rain on Saturday, but it also rained on Sunday.  It wasn't a down-pour, which was nice.  Rather, it was I would summarize it as a "strip-tease rain."  It would rain hard for an hour and then begin to taper off to the point that you felt it was safe to start working out-side.  However, just as you got started working the rain would begin increase in volume and rain hard again.  Then it would taper off, which gave you hope and made you keep working.  Then the rain would start up again and so on. 

I guess it's not really like a strip-tease since the concept of "strip-tease" implies the eventual realization of a final goal (i.e. nudity).  The weather this weekend was more like someone taking off their sock and putting it back on again and repeating the process over and over again.  All the person would manage to do is frustrate the audience and make the room smell like feet.  So, I guess, if I wanted to be more accurate, I would say that we had a "sock-fitting rain" this weekend, but then nobody would know what I meant, so I'm sticking with strip-tease. 

Anyway, in spite of the strip-tease rain this weekend, we were still able to get quite a bit done.  Most of this was because we had no choice.  The honey bee packages are suppose to be ready for pick-up this Tuesday and most of the fencing supplies will be delivered any day.  The pictures in this post summarize most of what we accomplished. 

We were informed by multiple neighbors that the area is populated by black bears.  I haven't seen any evidence of this, but, given how much bee packages cost these days and I'm also not entirely sure how bison will act around the beehives, its better to be safe than sorry.  This electric fence will be powered by solar powered energizer. It's not connected to the fence or grounded yet.  I plan on doing it when I install the hives. 
The hive stand is ten feet long and a little less than three feet deep.  It's not a masterpiece of carpentry, but it's sturdy and the rails are level, which is all that matters.  Our intention had been to give it a coat of latex paint so it would last longer, but the strip-tease rain didn't allow it. 
In preparation for the fencing equipment, Jess and I have been clearing, measuring, and marking our first planned section of fence line.  This area includes an area several hundred feet in length in which there are no obstacles preventing anyone from driving straight onto the property from the public road.  Given the value of some of the equipment we intend to purchase for the ranching operations, installing this portion of the fence is a top priority. 
Here's the entire view of the planned area of the first fence section. 

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