Now that all makes a lot of sense.  When I have fed granulated sugar, it has gotten hard in a relatively short time, so my guess is that there is a fair amount of moisture available (Hives all have vent boxes, SBB over solid BB, and are not wrapped, so have not had the problem of it being TOO wet).  Since I live in a river valley less than half a km from a large river, it is definitely more humid than when I lived on top of the ridge line.  Not as cold, either, coldest in 7 winters has been -16F/-27C here vs. <-35F/-37C on the ridge and only a couple of days below 0F last winter (thank you global warming).  So, with temps usually closer to freezing, it is not as crunchy snow dry.  This winter I'm going to keep an eye on the outside humidity readings from my weather station to see how dry it really gets.

Thanks, everyone.  That was a real education.

 ###################################
Bill Greenrose
Claremont, NH
+43.35687 +43° 21’ 25”
-72.3835   -72° 23’ 01”
CWOP: D5065
Weather Underground: KNHCLARE3
HonetBeeNet: NH001

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm