winter's approach

Our first twenty degree night, and the possibility of snow. Only a dusting, but it is a reminder that I have neglected the impending season due to unusually high temperatures and golden sunlight. Today, while waiting to get my snow tires put on, a woman drove past me with a car covered with the crust of a first snow. An odd sight next to the dry and sunlit parking lot. She lived up north, she told me, but only an hour. Winter is making its slow approach, and while I have put in the entrance reducer to cut down on the draft, I have not yet insulated the hive or packed up the electric fence. Sunday morning, weather providing, I will tuck my bees in for the winter then. A friend suggests filling the honey super with balled up newspaper, which can provide a bit more insulation and absorb any moisture. I will try this method and see if the girls can survive a New England winter.