Gargoyle road trip home

Yesterday was the day to return the Gargoyle that was formerly a beehive to it's owner.    Since it was a couple hour drive with tolls and all, I waited until our niece needed some furniture delivered to her new college apartment in Orlando.  The bed of the truck was pretty full so my nephew and I strapped the Gargoyle to the open tailgate and ratchet strapped it securely to the truck.

Gargoyle at a rest area along I-4

Needless to say it was quite a site going down the road.  For some reason nobody wanted to be behind us with this bizarre looking Gargoyle staring at them.  We did get a few thumbs ups and were even followed into a rest area by some guys who wanted to know what that was in the back of our truck.  Maybe they thought it was attached to whatever was wrapped in the blue tarp.  The lady who owned the Gargoyle was glad to get it back as it was a 28th wedding anniversary gift from her sentimental husband.  My kind of guy.  And she was such a nice person but even so, I told her I'm doing no more bee removals from heavy steel Gargoyles.

After getting home, new queen bees arrived.  I spent the next couple hours dodging monsoon rains while in the hives.  I had one of the best and most experienced beekeeper I know help me through the rain and darkness working on the hives to requeen.  I was pretty worn out by the time I got home after 9:00 pm.  Every time we opened the hives, the rains would start and let loose.  Toward the end we rigged up a tarp to somewhat help.  But looking for a queen with a flashlight is not very easy.  Especially with my eyes.