Well, all hives survived my inexperience. Entered the winter with four hives and as of the end of April - four are still strong. I considered getting out of beekeeping because of the lifting, but decided to keep it up.
Treated hives with CheckMite and Mite-a-Thol and Teramycin for fall treatments. Must have worked. I have not done any mite counts. Hives still look strong. Honey stores were still good when fruit blooms started.
Have since painted hives, made up some additional frames. I still have about 20 frames with honey on them from last year. I am going to build the 20 Frame extractor as shown on BeeSource.com. (Great site for bee keepers)
On May 9, 2006 I found a swarm in a small tree about 30 feet in front of my hives. It was a small tree and the bees were actually on the ground where the weight of the bees caused the small tree to lay over on the ground.
I'll update picture and other information soon.
HERE IS HOW IT ALL BEGAN: (2005)