Congratulations on successful installation of your first bees. 
Got enough weights on that hive roof, Marty?? 
Love the relaxing in front of the hive picture! The FLIR image is fun too. I presume it was taken from the side of the hive? Those little hotspots are interesting - maybe the bottom of festoons of comb builders.
Dawn
Thank you very much let me cover a few things in your,
As for the weights on the roof. Because the hive body did not weigh that much and the type of theater I had on the front, it was actually raising the hive up a bit/bouncing. The weights are to hold everything in place it was almost like a fulcrum/wedge. It took me by surprise so I had to run and find some old bricks.
As for the FLIR and the hotspots on the side, those are actually knots, and apparently they heat up differently than the rest of the hive body. Yes very interesting on how heat and cold transmits.
I do plan on taking daily photos as I can using the FLIR to see if I can see growth in the hive. I have a smugmug website and then on posting a lot of photos there as well as more thermal imaging photos. I will certainly provide everyone a link once I get off my rear end and do it.
I understand, I was just teasing you for fun! 
Interesting about the knots, of course it makes total sense - dark bits of wood will radiate more heat.
How did the installation go? Did you find a sunny time to do it, or did you decide to just go for it?
See thatās where you made the mistake LOL - I love my Aygo
Especially the handles
Martyās bees wonāt suffer much from cold - Dallas is pretty warm for most of the year! 
The sacrifices you make for your beesā¦and world peace! 
great story. 
We have a few bees in some dragon fruit flowers. This is our 2016 dragon fruit update video.
I am green with envy 
Wish I could get a start n try those āDragonsāā¦ Might be way too large n brittle to do in a pot. Need to do a bit of study to see their lowest survival temps. If n when I get my greenhouse built I want to try.
My adopted grandaughter is Vietnamese so they share these once in awhile with grandpa. A couple years back grandpa took on white āDragonā backpacking. My grandson n I shared that delicious fruit on our 2rd or 3rd day of hiking. What a treat after eating just freezed dried meals for a few days. Only other fresh food had been couple carrots n one orange I tucked it ā¦ As well as a few mountain huckleberries I managed to pick in the high Cascade Mtn meadow. Weigh is biggest concern when hiking so not much fresh foods get packed for our 7 to 8 day trek thru the peaks, forests n snowfields in the high country.
Love harvest pixās/vid n especially the section as the bees n other pollenators found the large blooms.
Thanks for another great n intersting SHARE bro ! You n your Sweetie have an awesome weekend ! Our bees should get here soon (about 3 to 4 more weeks) I hope ā¦ Spring has sprung nicely here SE in the foothill country out of Seattle.
Take careā¦
Gerald
here is a little video of me installing my NUC. Please do laugh at me too much:-) it was my first time handling bee by myself I think I did okay not sure I will be hurting a lot still
Well done Marty. You were nice and calm with the bees, I wear my camera around my neck - problem is it is black and sometimes the bees come to investigate, one left a small smear once.
Is you Queen Marked? Well done for finding her but never hold frames away from the Hive - I found this out early on - if the Queen Falls off, she can get hurt, or squashed or you may not find her - She may have a problem getting back into the hive. So better off not taking the risk
Very good point about in the frames., Thank you no she is not Marked I did not know that that potentially was an option at the time when I ordered the NUC. My mentor has made a couple comments to me about how good I was/I am at identifying and on marked queen. Regardless I wish she was marked maybe one day my mentor will come over and help me mark her. I think the first time I missed her, I was not looking for her color. For she is extremely pale and I can definitely tell the offspring itās pill as well
if you found her unmarked that is really good - when we have newly mated (ex Virgins) queens at the Apiary Iām quite good at spotting them.
They donāt get marked until they are mated, so any swarms found with out a marked Queen could possibly be a new virgin or newly mated. Doesnāt always work like that but well spotted.
The App is it an iphone app or smart? What is it called?
Hi Gayle,
Wow! me like this pond of your, were can I get something like that from very beautiful.
I wish it was legal to get a cutting, Jeff! Fascinating plant, I will have to look into whether they are available locally. What do you do with the fruit? Can it be frozen or preserved somehow, or do you sell it?
Can you not buy Dragon fruit in the US? Pitaya in the Southern Americas
Looks like it will grow here. Just I have never noticed them before. If we can find a big enough spot, we might get one for our garden
@Dawn_SD You can grow it from the seed but if flowers at night and relys on moths and bats to pollinate it - or you could do it by hand
Hi Dawn, Iāve been eating it fresh cut up drizzled with ginger syrup & honey topped with a little yogurt for desert. Iāve had that every night for quite a while now. Now Iām having it with breakfast as well as desert in the evening. I held back harvesting that fruit till some flowers opened for the video & that triple is a first for me. It can be frozen, but like some other fruit you freeze, itās best eaten while still semi frozen. I just happen to have a video of freezing it:)
Hi Dee, thank you:)ā¦
