Mission completed!

 So the story is that my battery was fine and I just needed to keep the Oxalic acid wand on longer than the 2.5 minutes suggested almost everywhere.  But that is a little flexible, I've learned. 

I performed a test outside the hive to see how long it takes to emit vapor.  For me it was about 3 minutes. 

I decided I'd treat the bees while I had everything out so I did it! I left it in there for 3.5 minutes on and then another 2.5 minutes off.  Then waited about 10 minutes with it sealed up. I didn't see vapor come out of the hive but it was well sealed and the product appeared to be mostly powder when I removed it from the hive. So I'm comfortable it worked just fine. 

I'm not sure how long before I see the dead mites on the bottom board. I'm anxious to see the fruits of my labor so will check today and maybe again tomorrow.

Thanks to Nancy Frye who heads the Brattleboro Beekeepers Group for her advice and support!!

Now that I've done it a few times, the biggest issue was disturbing the bees so much. First unscrewing the mouse guard and removing the entrance reduced which is always stuck in the opening so that bothers them and riles them up.

I saw a video this week where someone used bricks or wood blocks to open/close off the entrance as needed.  Then it would be quick and simple to open the entrance without disruption.  I want a slightly larger piece of wood so I can close the entrance a little bit more but I think it will work for me, especially using the bungies to hold in place. Overnight I realized it now has no mouse guard so I slipped that in behind the brick and piece of wood and also closed up the opening a bit for these next few days that will be cold.

Note my straw is sprouting! :)

Update: Here is an image of the bottom board the day after treatment with Oxalic acid. You can see the larger ones in the image below, but there are a huge number of tiny baby mites in that brown section. I wonder if I should try another treatment in a few weeks.  Wow.  I'm impressed with how good this works...now that I'm an expert haha.