It's been a long time since I posted!  A lot has happened, so I'll keep things brief.

In February, I noticed the tell-tale signs of hive activity: cleansing flights marked by spots in the snow.
But by mid-March, when it was exceptionally warm here in Cleveland, I opened the hive to see how things were going. There hadn't been anything observable from the outside.  I didn't have a good feeling about it. Sure enough, I lifted off the outer cover and nobody flew out. I lifted off the inner cover and there a pile of dead bees greeted me.  Frame after frame was just full of dead bees and nothing else.

They had starved.

After a couple days of grieving, I went back out and cleaned off the frames.

Then I made phone calls.  It was getting late in the season to order bees, but I contacted an "old-timer" who sells nucs.  Along with the bees, he offers a once-a-month class at his place from April to August.

So far I've gone twice.  It was good to get my hands back in there. What I'm getting is actually not a nuc, but a medium super complete with comb, queen, workers, larvae and eggs. 

The plan is to use only medium supers, instead of the deeps, for easier lifting.  Ideally, an 8-frame "garden" hive would have been better, but then nothing I already have can be used. 

Last night I glued and stapled 30 frames. I'm going to use wax foundation, and have to now put those in the frames (after buy nails).