If thou wilt have the favour of thy bees, that they sting thee not, thou must avoid such things as offend them; thou must not be unchaste or uncleanly for impurity and sluttiness (themselves being most chaste and neat) they utterly abhor; thou must not come among them smelling of sweat, or having a stinking breath, caused either by eating of leeks, onions, garlic or the like, or by any other means, the noisomeness whereof is corrected by a cup of beer; thou must not be given to surfeiting or drunkenness; thou must not come puffing or blowing unto them, neither hastily stir among them, nor resolutely defend thyself when they seem to threaten thee; but softly moving thy hand before thy face, gently put them by; and lastly, thou must be no stranger unto them.  In a word, thou must be chaste, cleanly, sober, sweet, quiet, and familiar; so they will love thee and know thee from all others.

--Charles Butler, 17th century beekeeper.

12/22/15: I keep deciding that Lone Star is dead, and she keeps surprising me!

It rained all day and all  night yesterday, so the bees stayed close to home. This morning I went outside and checked on them. As expected, lots of bees going in and out of Raven. But to my delighted surprise, lots of bees going in and out of Lone Star as well!

No ants in Raven, so I will probably put a feeder out there as well.

Lone Star hasn't been taking much from their feeder, but I'll check and refill if necessary.

Come on, girls! You can do it!!