Skies Over Seguin Mid-June

Last night's sky shot - what a nice bit of rain we had but we could use more. The clouds always make for interesting sky shots. Have a great Friday, everyone.

For other wonderful sky shots, check out Skywatch Friday!

The Able Cable Man

We live in the middle of town, which is so nice because we can get anywhere in town within five to seven minutes usually. We've enjoyed that and it makes it easy for people to find us - service folks, beekeeping student, honey customers, friends. Speaking of friends, we are fast becoming best buds with the technicians of Time Warner. I am not going to bother going back through my calendar or my files to see how many times they've been called or have made visits to my house to fix things that we have bundled together like many other fine citizens in this country. The last time they were out here (March of this year), I got THREE technicians. Yes, three. The main guy in training, the trainer and then a third man who happened to be in the area and thought he'd see how things were going and if assistance was needed. I recall the main man told me he felt I wouldn't need to have another call with TWC in response to my question about how to do a reboot of the system next time. haha...poor man. Guess he was idealistic as a new employee. Lo and behold, here we were in June and another call. Actually, this man came to run new wiring in the attic AFTER the last man fixed our internet issue (new router needed which the Three Amigos should have seen and done) and troubleshot our TV A/V issue. Note he's got that wire thing on our hardwood floor and it was moving around and making me nervous about scratches so I put a towel under it. Sigh. I was also told they don't typically schedule their technicians to work in attics except in the mornings as they don't want them to overheat. So I waited for Tech 1 but he was injured and couldn't make it and so we rescheduled and this is Tech 2, who was very nice and seemed to know what he was doing but had to do it in the 3-5pm window. I asked him about that and he replied he'd heard the company talk about Texas heat safety but they just kept scheduling him to go into attics all hours of the day. Poor techs. I was disappointed to hear that as it goes to show corporations say one thing and do another everywhere. But that's an entirely different post. Long story short to say getting service on things you pay for can be really challenging. It's like insurance. You pay for the coverage/service and then when you really need it, you have to jump through a lot of hoops and be really persistent to get what you need. What should be done already and done right. The first time. Not the seventh time. Why is it so hard to find people who care about what they do...whether it's bagging groceries (I need to post on that!!) or getting me in to see my doctor without a two hour wait?

And on that note, I leave you with the parking genius of the day. We see lots of them on our street and it's one thing we won't miss when we move out from the middle of town a bit - bad parking. Actually, I don't know if you call it bad parking or simply total lack of consideration and total self absortption. I think a lot of bad things stem mainly from people not caring about anyone else. Check out the second vehicle - it's a FedEx van. Yes, he stopped right there. Parked. Rummaged around the van for some time (perhaps ten minutes)and then finally took a package to the house NEXT to us. Wow. I wouldn't dream of just parking it in the CENTER of the small, busy street.

Thinking of Outside

Today after I finished with a big quarterly call at work, I browsed through some pictures of the outdoors because I am missing being outside a little. Although the little time I did spend running errands was rather HOT. Another scorcher out there, folks. I had to put the hose out in the backyard yesterday as several areas of the lawn are have become quite dry. This is a shot I snapped last week while with the beekeepers out at Rattlesnake bee yard. It seems a like so long ago; isn't that funny how it happens that way? I enjoy the country very much and i think it is definitely cooler among the greenery, away from asphalt and concrete. Hope you get some greenery in today. :)

Bees & Flowers

My life is all bees, honey, and tips at work right now so you're going to have to bear with bee-oriented shots, which I assure you is far more interesting than IT-oriented tips I'm working on in my day job. :) We're extracting honey - most honey we've ever had for two reasons. 1) At one hundred or so hives, we have more bees than we've ever had before. I think that's double what we had last year even after selling a number of nucleus hives (starter hives) in the spring. 2) We had a great raining winter and spring and it's keeping the flowers going and now the Mesquite is as well. Here it is early June and I'm still amazed at the flowers that are in bloom, fueling our bees. Awesome! Mark was particularly happy that the last bit of rain rejuvenated the Indian Blankets, as the bees love that and this kept them going with honey production. The first shot was at Rattlesnake bee yard near Marion (Tx). I was watching Mark, David and Ira pull the honey supers off the hives in order to begin extraction. I loved what was left on these frames when they pulled one of the supers off - looked like a skyline to me. And I wanted to eat it! lol. I shot the picture below at Deadman Creek bee yard at the Lazy U Ranch (a certified organic ranch).
 

A Flea, a Fire Ant, Thistle and Bees

One weekend, I accompanied Mark to our local Home Depot on Austin Street near Interstate 10. As we drove up, I exclaimed in frightful delight - what a great photo opportunity! I laughed and nearly jumped out of the truck to get a shot with the ginormous flea and fire ant. But then I spotted the Ortho salesman who had just spotted us. Probably my overly exuberant skip. Sigh...I really just wanted a picture standing near or under the blow-up critters but I didn't want to chat about insecticides so we snapped a quick shot and kept moving towards the opposite door. Now, besides this being a photo op I couldn't let pass, I think it's sort of an odd way to lull people over. How interesting to think a flea and a fire ant are appealing in that way. hmm.Now, to a more pleasant visual of the Seguin area, I'd like to share a lovely shot of the thistle that has bloomed nicely this year. I photographed it as I visited bee yards during our honey harvest. Lovely, lovely year for wildflowers. Here it is the beginning of June and we have tons of flowers everywhenuure!