After 2 weeks without a hive inspection (the shame of it!) I had a beautiful day off to go up to see the ladies. The fall colors are outstanding right now, and there is nary a cloud in the sky. On my way up to the beeyard, I discovered three of the cows straight chillin in front of the gate through which I needed to four-wheel. Longhorn made a stand and gave me the stink-eye that said "YOU SHALL NOT PASS." Knowing basically nothing about interacting with cows, I decided to yell at them with "COME ON! GET OUTTA HERE" etc. until those nerds finally moved over. It took a good 5 minutes, which doesn't seem that long until you spend 5 minutes alone yelling at cows. 
The hive looks OK, but two of the insulator clasp doodads on the electric fence snapped and part of the fence was shorting out on the ground for who knows how long. This is the second kind of electric fence insulator doodad that is a huge piece of crap disappointment. How hard is it to make a good insulator clasp doodad? Come on! 
I got pretty nervous as I went through the hive... noticing that, even though it looks like they're bringing in nectar and pollen, there are NO EGGS OR LARVAE. I thought for sure I lost my queen somehow, but then I found her in the bottom box! I was pretty gobsmacked, but also relieved. I've heard that Russian bees slow down their brood rearing before winter, but there are currently no spawn of any age in the entire hive, and I'm not sure if that's normal. I guess it's time to start asking the professionals.
Ciao!
