Late July report

It looks the main honey flow is over; the blackberries have finished their bloom.  The bees are still busy, but my windshield stays clean of bee poop after 24 hours.

When the bees are collecting lots of nectar, the car gets covered with little umber
spots.

This is not my car but mine gets covered like this

I looked into hives #1,2 & 3 yesterday.  I did not go into them thoroughly, just enough to see if things were OK.  There is a healthy brood pattern in each and they smelled good, so I think they are doing well.  The population seems stable (as would be expected at this time of year).  I also moved a frame with old wax one space toward the side in #2.  This frame had capped brood on both sides and the one a traded places with had capped brood on only one side.  I do not foresee a problem, but then, (all together now,) what do I know?
There is a bit of bad news- varroa mites.  I did a sticky board count over 4 days ending yesterday.
Hive #1: 7;  #2: 26; #3: 38.  These numbers indicate that I should treat soon.  Since I treated with formic acid (mite away quick strips) about 6 weeks ago, I figure I should use thymol (ApiGuard) this time.  One should not use ApiGuard with the honey supers on so I am in the process of taking the super off and processing the honey.  Then I will put in the thymol.  Perhaps I will do a powdered sugar treatment first and then, if the counts are down enough, postpone the thymol or just use the Apivar.  Any suggestions are welcome.

Ugh

Not ugh