Hive Check : Feeding my winter bees

I made some fondant yesterday to feed my surviving hive.  It's a combination of suger, water, cream of tarter, Karo syrup and lemon juice.  I did everything like I was supposed to; measure, mix, boil, pour.  What I didn't do was spray the parchment paper with Pam (that's not in the directions, by the way).  This meant that the cooling fondant stuck to the parchment paper.  When I went to take the fondant off the parchment paper it stuck because it was sticky.  Everything I'd read about fondant said that it shouldn't be sticky.  I set the parchment on some tinfoil so it wouldn't stick to the counter.  It stuck to the tinfoil.  I snip snapped around the kitchen and got frustrated and .

Since it didn't turn out the way I thought it was supposed to turn out (see the first two photos below), I threw a tantrum, rolled up the gooey sticky fondant and tossed it in the trash.  To hell with bees, and feeding bees, and winter.

A little more than two hours after the tantrum, and after I'd gotten some helpful words from a fellow beekeeper, I retrieved my fondant from the trash and let it sit overnight on the counter.  I sprayed a piece of parchment paper with Pam to prevent it sticking again, set the other paper with the fondant and the shim on that, picked out bits of tinfoil left over from the tantrum and waited.

Jamie called me today from work and told me that he would put the fondant on the hive.  He thought I was silly for wanting to put on my jacket and gloves and veil to do it, plus as he says he has "boy skills".  I say preparation is the key to success (and not getting stung), we agree to disagree here.  I let him think he was going to be the one to put the fondant on the hive then I suited up and tromped through the snow and opened up the hive.

Success.  I saw my winter cluster of live bees.  Nearly getting stung I placed the fondant on the top of the frames and adjusted it so that there weren't big gaps between the shim with the candy and the top box.  I truly hope that the bee that made, uh a beeline for me, finds his way to the entrance else he's going to be pretty cold tonight.  Which reminds me I need to get some of the Denver Sting Stop.  Oh, and figure out what I need to buy for this coming spring.  And I need to send off the check I owe for yet another hive of bees.

So much to do...so much to do.