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. :)

Happy Friday From the Llamas!

Have you seen a llama lately? Up close? I had not until last weekend when we went to visit our newest bee yard off Capote Road just outside the city limits a bit. It's so lovely out there that I can never turn down an opportunity to be out there now that my allergies are better. And I'm so glad I went because these two llamas were really making me laugh with their inquisitive nature. They were really fun and I'm glad they are the bees' new neighbors.

Hope everyone has a great weekend - enjoy the gorgeous weather if you're in the South Texas area. It's going to be another great weekend.

Evening Out

Things are settling down just a tad now that the Fair is over. Our bees are back home in their hive at the bee yard and Mark and I go back to work. Me at the mill and Mark at the Heritage Farm, educating hundreds of fourth graders. Tomorrow I'll go visit him during lunch and take some pictures of that place and event. I've been wanting to go check it out!

Here's a lovely little nest I spotted as we departed the Big Oaks bee yard this evening. It was a perfect Texas evening - I love this time of year. The weather is gorgeous and the air was perfumed by the numerous flowers still in bloom. Seriously, this year has been an incredible flower year. AND my allergies are in good shape - maybe because I've been downing quite a bit of our honey the past two years. No severe headaches after an hour or two outside. I couldn't have done this before so thanks little bees!

And thank you to those of you who stopped by our GBR booth during the Fair. We enjoyed meeting you and we're glad you stopped by and talked with us. Always fun to meet folks. :) Y'all have a GREAT week!

Peekaboo Animals & Unidentified Flower

Last week Mark and I went for a ride just outside of town so he could show me some flowers the bees are working right now. While we were looking in a pasture for the flowers, I spotted these little wild piggies. There were a lot of them! And they looked different from the domestic pigs - well, at least to me. Kind of cute but they ran off when they heard us coming. As did some of deer we saw - good points of them, too.



The baby cow didn't seem to mind me and he did well when we called for him to look at the camera. :-) And below is the flower we have been trying to identify. I zoomed in as far as I could since they seem to be located in pastures to which we do not have access. boooo! If you have any idea what it could be, please let us know. It's always nice to know what our bees might be feeding on since they are still making honey.

Hope you all have a GREAT weekend! Another hot one around here - upper 90s into next week and still no rain. Let's pray for some relief SOON.

Walking Stick

A couple of weeks ago, before I started traveling, I accompanied Mark out to one of new bee yards, affectionately called Pizza Yard. I love going out to the country around here because you just never know what you're going to see. This year, there's an abundance of flowers AND bugs, insects, and creatures bigger. :-)

I loved this walking stick! I had not seen one in so long and I don't recall seeing one this big before. I believe he was perhaps 4-5 inches. I saw a smaller one in a different part of the yard but it was too hard to get a great shot because it was on the move. Anyway, wouldn't you know it, Mark went to another bee yard without me on a later date and he saw one that had to be about 9 or 10 inches! WOW, that would have been so neat to see and photograph. From what I saw on his phone, it looked a little menancing or at least freakish. I'll see if Mark will send it and I will share.



I want to say hi to a couple of ladies who have stopped by the house within the past several weeks to discuss our bees and honey (I didn't ask you so I didn't want to put your names on here but you know who you are!). They are fans of the blog and told me how much they enjoy looking at it, which made me feel so bad I have not been able to post as often as I'd like. THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading the blog, for your kind comments and for introducing yourselves to me either at the house or at an event or virtually. I love those encounters and they encourage and inspire me to keep blogging. Hope you have a fabulous Sunday and upcoming week!

Sky Watch

Happy end of the week, everyone! Made it. :-) This is a shot of a cool scene we enjoyed while riding around the countryside around Seguin. It's a lovely time to do that so we go out every weekend in order to bask in the sun and soak in the wildlife, wildfflowers and everything mother nature has to offer up this spring. It's absolutely beautiful.

Check out the other Sky Watchers this week!

Miniature Donkey & "Quotation Marks"

I didn't even know there were mini-donkeys!!! Poor little thing. If you can help them, please do so. Otherwise, isn't this just a great way to kick off the week? I love great signs. :-)

That reminds me, I need to check on one of my favorite blogs - the "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks. If you have not read this and you want a GREAT laugh, then go there. It's hysterical!!!

Happy Friday

I hope you all have a really wonderful weekend! The past week has seen some cloud coverage but yesterday and today were fairly sunny and crisp. It's been wonderful to get out and see all that nature has to offer us lately. This is a shot of a tucked-away pond out at one of our bee yards. This was the first time I explored beyond the immediate area of the yard so it was a really sweet treat. The air was soft as it was dusk and I could hear the nearby buzz of the swarming bees we went to capture. It's nice to get away from work and man-made noise once in a while.

Fields of Color

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.

Red Wildflowers

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. :-)

Green Pastures

Shot this one on a trip around the outskirts of Seguin one weekend. I love seeing the new babies out in the field - they're so cute! And even cuter when they stare at you from the field.

Sky Watch Friday

It's another beautiful south Texas sky for your viewing pleasure. :-) Isn't it a great looking spot? I snapped this on one of our jaunts around the countryside around Seguin. I always enjoying exploring new areas (and even familiar ones) with Mark. It's one of the ways we like to relax - cruising and talking or listening to music. Check out other Sky Watchers this week for more great sky shots.

I just got home from Irving this evening and I must say it's been the best trip I've had in a very long time. I actually was there to do training observation and assessment. Nice. I love doing that sort of work. And writing up trainer evaluation. So the big news for me is that I am transitioning from my current role to a new one that will allow me to focus on what I love -- trainer development and training delivery. Monday my replacement and new boss will be joining the company. I am VERY happy about this! And because I have an abundance of that great feeling right now, I hope that you will also have a wonderful day tomorrow that will bring you the same happiness that I feel right now. Have a great one!

Friend-ly Bikers

The past several days have been wonderfully cool and low in humidity around here and I love it. If my allergies didn't get all crazy, I would spend even more time outdoors! LOL. This past Saturday, because I knew we were going to check on the country bees, I geared up by doing not one but two nasal rinses and took Zyrtec AND an Aleve-D. Still managed to get a bit of a headache but it was worth it to enjoy the great outdoors a bit with Mark and the bees.

On our way back from the bee yard, we have to travel on some country roads and as we pulled up to a stop sign along the way, we noticed two bikers. It was a friend of ours from our San Antonio Library days! She and her husband were scoping out the route for an upcoming ride and there they were. We pulled over and had a great visit -- it really is amazing to me that I look out the truck window and there's a friend I just would not have expected to see riding a bike out in the country near Seguin (she lives in SA). Hi Letty & Gilbert! It was GREAT to see you guys. :-)

Moo Jesus Ranch Dairy

Since this is my first post in a WEEK, you get a big one! This past weekend, we had a wonderful visit from Mark's mom, dad, uncle and aunt. We headed out to the Moo Jesus dairy farm, which is only about twelve miles from our house. Who knew such a neat place was that close!?! I loved the experience!



The drive out there was very beautiful and peaceful. Once you're there, Gina greets you with a big, beautiful smile and a very warm welcome. She told us all about how natural foods help our bodies and we even sampled many of the cheeses they make there -- my favorite is the jalapeno cheese (we bought some!). After that, her husband Edward tours us around the property on our modern day wagon. It was nice to have the shade overhead as it was quite warm on Saturday.



Once we got back to the main area, we took a breather in the restaurant and waited for lunch. We even got to sample some fresh milk (super wonderful) and a drink that I can't recall the name of but it had beet and cayenne in it. Way too sweet for me but I'm glad I tried it.



On our way back home, we drove by El Capote Ranch since Mark's family and I have never seen it. The Capote has a rich history -- better told by Mark so I won't butcher it here. You can Google but you can also check the Texas Handbook. This is a wonderful day trip for the family. I highly recommend it!

Sorry about not posting at all for an entire week! I'm not sure I'm going to be any better anytime soon so my apologies for this weird period where there are infrequent posts. Work is really draining my time and my mind to be honest with you so when I am traveling every week, I get all caught up in what's going on right now. I hope things will settle down a bit and when they do, I should be able to once again enjoy photography and posting for you. Meanwhile, be patient with me!

Note: all these shots were taken with my Blackberry! Not bad, right? I couldn't believe my camera battery was DEAD. Not even one shot. Oh well.

Donkeys in the Bush

While Mark was checking on the bees, I was doing my thing -- wandering around taking pictures of him and things around us. I heard sounds behind us and I turned and saw this! It was so funny...do you see both of them?? They just stood there. And I stood there. And we just stared at each other. And then I laughed because it was just weird but funny to have these two donkeys staring at me. They were pretty cute. And what was cuter still was when the girls called them over and they obeyed. Like pets come when you call them (well, most of the time).

A Car in a Tree

Last weekend when we checked on the bees out in the country, we also took a drive around different roads just to be out and about. I nearly missed this shot but thankfully Mark saw it and knew I would want to shoot it so he pulled over. It's always good to have two pairs of eyes looking for interesting things in life. :)

Below is a shot where you can see the entire tree, which has a really great shape to it against the blue sky.

Red Barn

Once I drove by this red barn, I knew I wanted to go back to snap some shots of it but I really wanted the sky to be blue rather than cloudy. So I waited and Friday I was finally able to get a few shots in though I'm already thinking I want to go back for more. Just something really neat about barns, old or new. I like them. We have lovely ones all around us and if I had all the time I wanted, then I'd be stopping the car more. Instead, I pass by and make a mental note, "Come back later for a shot." :)

It's another beautiful, beautiful day in Seguin. Gosh, you could not ask for better weather to be outside. I'm about to go wash my car; it's been ages. LOL. Hope everyone's enjoyed the weekend and I hope you have a great week!

Here's another shot of the barn that I like: