The bees have arrived!
David was kind enough (after some minor harassment on my part) to bring some bees over Thursday night. He had them in a nuc box and carried it into the garden. We opened it up by flashlight and moved over a few frames. It's a bit awkward because the hive I purchased (which I adore) has only shallow supers, no standard brood boxes so we had to finagle it a bit to get his frames to fit in my hive. The bees were wonderfully calm while we worked and I left them with only a small entrance for the morning so no one hurried out and got lost.
This morning I mixed some sugar water in canning jars and went out to feed them. I quickly realized that I needed to remove the entrance reducer and, it being early in the morning, I didn't feel good about doing it unsuited. So, I wandered back inside, suited up, and went back out. It took me about fifteen minutes to get dressed and two minutes to remove the entrance reducer and add the feed, but I walked about from some slightly frazzled bees without a sting.
I've pledged to wait the suggested 9 days before opening the hive up to see if they are settling in and drawing out any of the new foundation, but I'm having trouble containing my excitement.
Perfect timing too - my North Carolina State Association of Beekeepers membership was in the mail box on Friday. :)