Hefting

My first attempt at hefting - the watch is not obligatory

Hefting is an arcane art practised by beekeepers in winter, by which they grab hold of the hives, lift them a few centimetres above the ground and with much screwing up of the brows and hmmm-ing and aaahhhh-ing can calculate to the precise hexagonal cell how much honey the bees still have stored.
Apparently all it takes to be able to do this is time and practice.
Wanting to be a real beekeeper, I decided that I, too, must heft the hives. So I lifted the hives, which was not quite as easy as it sounds, because they somehow seemed to stick to the bricks they stand on. Having managed that, I screwed up my brows and hmmm-ed and aaahhhh-ed, but I had no clue how much honey the bees had. Both Moon and Star felt heavy, but then the hives themselves, being of wood, are probably quite heavy when empty. To cut a long story short, I am clueless. Perhaps the more often I heft, the more clue I will gain. Let's hope that's the case.
So, no matter what weather, it will be a hefty winter.