I ordered two 3 pound bee packages that will arrive some time on March 25th. They are coming up in a truck from Georgia. We’ll all be waiting for him in the parking lot of the Palisades Mall. The price is good ($80 each). I spoke to Adam Fuller of AZ Apiaries on the phone and he seems like a good guy.
If you want bees, order NOW because the truck is almost full.
Sorry you got off to such a rough start with your first year of beekeeping. That would be hard with not much support around either. We took a class at our local college, had a friend doing it too and plunged in. We had a farily decent year for just starting, but with many questions and frustrations along the way. Iowa had the worst honey production year since they have been keeping records and boy has it been a rough winter. I just started a blog if you are interested at http://busybeeswax.blogspot.com. This has been a year for learning lots of new things.