8/6: hard hive checked

This has been an odd summer for beekeeping. We've had more rain than usual, and we've found that it's not good to check hives on days before or after rain because the bees are more easily stirred up then. So what to do when most days are days before or after rain, or rainy days themselves? But today seemed good for a hive check, so we went into a hive that sounds testy every time we get near it. I braced myself in case the going got tough, but though the bees weren't thrilled with us, everything went okay. And now we have only one hive left to check.