THANK YOU!
I was not happy when I saw that little bugger, but I decided not to panic and to photo and check with you guys first. [yay, me! you have no idea how much self discipline it took not to panic. I am a major drama queen.]
We have a lot of goldenrod and I know [and love] that smell - it's the season now, too. This is my 4th year and I was certain I had not smelled the AFB rotten smell. Neither did my daughter. That's why I was so surprised and wanted to check with you guys.
This hive had been an excellent one [first year nuc, boomed and seemed really great], but the queen had really slowed down when we had a cool snap. I didn't worry and figured that since she was from North Dakota, she was just really slowing after the summer flow and prepping for winter. I've been feeding from jars in each hive, it got very hot again and they've been holding steady.
Thanks so much for the links and advice. I'll keep my eyes open for more DWV - I've seen that before. I should probably go in and inspect this hive in the next couple of weeks just to be sure, right?