Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Fields of Color

I love the fields of flowers everywhere

Today we went driving on Hwy 90A towards Gonzales in order to check on the bee yard out there. It's gorgeous along the way! If you haven't seen enough wildflowers, then you need to go out that way. I love how the blue and the red flowers are mixing in this area. Last time we were out that way (a couple of weeks), the Bluebonnets were not even around yet. This time, you can find many fields of blue. And yellow, purple, lavender, violet, white and so on. It's a great spring so far with the bright sunny days after a good dose of rain.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Mockingbirds are back!

Mockingbird in Redbud

Now I am sure spring is in full swing because the mockingbirds are back and they are likely to start prepping their nest in our Crepe Myrtle again out front. I love it when they come back each year. Most of the nest is still there but I'm sure we'll start seeing the pair of them rebuilding and stabilizing their nest for a new batch of eggs to come. I love spring!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Red Wildflowers

Red field of flowers

The flowers are starting to really pop around here and I can't wait to see how they develop over the next month. The rainy winter should really be just what they need to shine this year. I love looking at all of them! I have not seen these red flowers in such quantity before this year. If you know what they are, please let us know. :-)

Red wildflowers

Friday, March 19, 2010

It's Spring!

Is he smiling?

Well, guess who's busy running around the yard being a nuisance? No, not Smokey. The squirrels!!! LOL. This guy has a weird sort of smile, in my opinion. After I snapped this, Mark threw a rock at him and actually hit him! That was sort of funny. Not to worry animal lovers, he was FINE. He just moved and resumed staring at us. Smokey was with us and was not amused whatsoever.

Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. I hear tomorrow will be wet and chilly! Yay! A good day to snuggle on the couch with a book, knitting or your love. Enjoy!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Redbud Beauty

Bee in Redbud

Yes, I realize there's a theme going here but who can blame me when there's a million blooming beauties all around town now?? This redbud is right in our front yard but as you drive around town, you will see this along with other gorgeous blooms. Today I even saw my first batch of Bluebonnets along Interstate 10 on the way to San Antonio.

In this shot, the female bee is checking out our redbud and she already has pollen on her hind legs, which she'll take back to a hive. That hive isn't in our backyard so I wonder where she's from. The entire tree is abuzz with bee activity! We have another redbud in the backyard and that's full of bees also.

Monday, March 15, 2010

More of Spring in Blooms

Bee in Peach Blossom

Another shot of spring for you this week. The peach tree in our backyard bloomed and we were very happy to see bees on the tree! In past years, the bees simply didn't do the job for our little tree, sadly. Maybe this will mean good peaches this year for us. :-) We don't have our hives in the yard anymore (moved to another bee yard), so I'm not sure where this little gal came from this day.

It's been really great weather lately with spring in full swing it seems. Flowers are everywhere and trees are putting out little leaves. I enjoyed our nice winter this year but I am also enjoying the spring. Tonight we are to have some rain and tomorrow will be in the upper 50s but after that...more sunshine! That's great for lifting spirits I think. We could all use a lot of that, right?! Hope you all have a great week.

Monday, March 08, 2010

Spring in Bloom

Flowering bok choy

The past few days have been a bit on the dreary side but last weekend, we did enjoy an absolutely gorgeous day that beckoned us out. So, out we ventured to visit our bees, which was just awesome! And...NO stings! Yay! That makes like seven or eight straight visits without a sting so that is awesome to me. :-)

Isn't this beautiful? It's flowers on bok choy that is growing at My Father's Farm. Normally, they would not get to "flower" since they'd be harvested before that point. We are so lucky and so are our bees - the farmer let these go to flower so they'd have food! And boy, were they enjoying the bok choy. It was really fun to visit there.

Monday, March 01, 2010

Nice Napping Weather

Resting and waiting

Hi everyone. I hope you had a chance to enjoy the lovely weather of the weekend since we are now cloudy and cold again. What strange weather. This is Smokey's idea of how to work with a beautiful sunny day. He got tired of sitting at the door, hoping Mark would let him in to hang out in the bee house. The next time I looked out the kitchen window, he was napping. He's a riot. But not very bright at times as he chose a terrible spot for a snooze.

I haven't posted lately because I haven't had the heart. Last Friday, we had a big round of layoffs at work and it was very sad. I lost my entire team of trainers and I miss them so. Please send positive thoughts and prayers out to all the families affected by this round of layoffs. It wasn't our first there but it was a very significant one, especially for our IT department. If you are local, you've probably been hearing about the layoffs already. We are all still a bit stunned by all that occurred Friday. :-(