Guadalupe County Fair - 2010

Time to hit the Fair again, folks. Come out and enjoy the beautiful fall weather for us since we'll be inside the entire time! :) If you come to the fair, be sure to stop by our booth in the Coliseum and sample some Guadalupe County honey - mesquite and wildflower. AND meet about 20,000 of our sweet little bees and their queen. Mark's got the observation hive ready to go. We had a lot of fun in Gonzales and we look forward to seeing how this year's Fair goes for everyone. Check out the Fair's website for more information.

Here's when we'll be there:
Thursday, October 7, 3-8:30pm (Free until 6p)
Friday, October 8, 11am-9pm (Students Free until 6pm, Military Free All Day)
Saturday, October 9, 9am-9pm ($5.00 per person – Children 12 & Under Free)
Sunday, October 10, 11am-6pm (Free for everyone!)

Come See Us in Gonzales!

Sorry but it's been a super busy week between work and prepping for the Gonzales Come & Take It Festival. Gonzales is a quaint town about 30 miles from Seguin on 90 - come and visit our Gretchen Bee Ranch booth if you are in that area. We're on the square on the side closest to the theatre (can't recall the name right now). We're there through Sunday and so are about 20,000 of our little bees in their snazzy observation hive. You know you want to see them up close! :-) Have a great one, everyone!

Mushroom Beauty

I have noticed some really interesting looking mushrooms around lately and wanted to share two of my favorite shots. The top one is one that Mark noticed out in the countryside along a fence line as we excited one of our bee yards just outside town on Highway 123. The one below is a tiny little one (of many) that I saw hidden under all the overgrown grasses at the same Big Oaks bee yard. Both times were evening lighting and I changed the lighting just a touch on the shot below. The shot above I changed lighting a color just a little also.

Seguin Trade Day Fun

Today was tiring but a LOT of fun - thank you to those who stopped by to visit with us. :-) Always great to see friends (like you fellow blogger, Hope!) and meet some blog followers (hi Lisa T. - sorry we didn't make it over to visit your booth before you left! Next time.) We sold a good amount of honey but what was even better was getting to give customers some face-to-face times with the bees thanks to the observation hive. Very nice and everyone seem amazed by their activities. Pretty neat that we can watch the queen lay eggs about six inches from us. Cool stuff for sure.

Below is one of my favorites during the day's event - this is Dino, is he cool or what? Loved it and had to get a shot. :) Hope you all have a great Sunday! I'm going to crash now. Talk about tired.

Seguin Trade Day - Sept. 25

Would you like to see what's behind that wooden cover? :) I think if you have checked out our bee blog before, then you might already know. But if you'd like to meet us and some of our bees, we're going to be downtown on the square tomorrow all day (8-5p) at Seguin Trade Day. Our lovely booth will be directly behind the Court House and we'd love to meet you if you are in the area.

This event happens about every other month though with the holidays coming soon, we will be at the October one as well. Hope to sell all our honey by the end of that event!

Here's a peek inside:

Sheep, Sheep, Sheep

Recently I got to visit a dear friend of mine and her kids breed show sheep. I have often wanted to stop by and snap shots of the little, little ones but haven't managed to do that yet. At least we have some grown ones to oh and ah over. The babies are even more adorable! I love these black face sheep. Something about them that appeals to me more than the pale face ones.

Fun fact: You can "rent" male sheep for breeding. TRUE! :) Just like breeding other animals to maintain a high caliber stock. Interesting. I just never thought of it until they told me that during my visit.

US Postal Service

This shout out is for our friend Jim, who works for the US Postal Service here in town. He was so kind and kept an eye out for our special delivery of queen bees that came shipped through the mail. Did you know you can do that? Before I learned these beekeeping things from Mark, I never even thought about how beekeepers get their supplies. And then I learned that you can order and receive equipment AND live bees in your mailbox! Or sometimes they may call you to come and pick up your package. :-) Must be something to process livestock in the mailroom. Can you imagine the buzzing?? lol

This is our box of twenty queen bees from Zia out of New Mexico. The free-flying bees are attendant bees who are tasked with tending to the queens' needs. Beekeeping is so cool!

Rain & Clouds

We've been having some wonderful rainy days this week - we sure needed the showers. Since Saturday, we've had between 6 and 8 inches! Woo hoo! Plus all the weather has created an amazing number of interesting looking clouds much like these though this was snapped prior to this week's weather. Hope you're having a great week so far!

Insulator Sky Watch

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you all have had a great week. Ours has been packed and here are some highlights -

1. We are set for trade shows to sell some honey. I'll share dates when I pull it all together! Several events here in Seguin and one BIG one in Gonzales.
2. Mark's computer died but we have a replacement. Woohoo!
3. We finally got RAIN! And a decent amount, too. I am very happy that our trees and lawns got some great relief this week. A north wind started blowing today and it got down to the upper 80s. NICE for us!
4. We had a nameplate contest at work - I didn't win but I had a TON of fun with it and got to know several coworkers better. It was awesome!
5. I have great friends and I just want to thank them for their love.
6. I got my first paying photo gig. :-) Cool!

Ok, that's enough catching up. Sorry I've been so busy!

This shot was snapped when we spotted them on the way to one of our bee yards. Lovely to see glass insulators in the sunny sky - much more beautiful than the clay ones being use predominantly these days. Aww...reminds me of when Mark and I had time to go insulator hunting when we first met over 12 years ago. Seems like yesterday! lol

Be sure to check out the other cool shots at Sky Watch!

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.

Busy August

If you have wondering what I've been up to lately and why there's a lack of posting, then here's why - honey harvesting time! :-) It has been a busy, busy but truly awesome year for us. We have been so blessed and here's why:

1. The bees are doing GREAT this year thanks to an awesome spring filled with plenty of rain which helped with all the blooming wildflowers. That was harvest #1.
2. The mesquite bloomed way after the wildflowers faded for some reason. That was harvest #2.
3. Last year we harvested about 200 pounds of honey. This year, we got about 3000 pounds! Yes, amazing but true.
4. Mark's successfully split our strong hives and now we've grown from 25 hives to 40 and they are still looking strong.
5. We are having a TON OF FUN together with this bee and honey business. We are very lucky and work great together.

We've enjoyed steady sales since we first announced the availability of our honey and mostly we have been selling to friends, family and folks who knew about us last year. A lot of word of mouth. After our venture into farmers markets and trade days (Marion a couple of weeks ago), we are ready to take on additional shows in the next two months as everyone gears up for holiday shopping. Wish us luck! And I'll post ahead of time where we'll be in case you want to come out and see us. As always, I love to meet new friends. And I'd love to introduce you to our bees - we got a cool observation hive this past weekend!

Happy Friday Skywatch!

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you have had a great week and will have an even better weekend coming up. Here's a shot of the sky right in front of our house recently - isn't it lovely? Lately it has been hot, hot, hot here with temperatures in the upper 90s and sometimes a heat index of over 100. Blazing sun with no clouds to buffer the intensity. Still, it hasn't been as hot as last year! :-)

Check out the other Sky Watchers as well for some great shots!

Sky Watch Over The Mill

Mark called me one day and told me to check out the sky because it looked really neat. So here's what I saw outside and I'm so glad I did! Hope you guys have a great Friday!

An Apple A Day

So I'm driving home yesterday and I see this truck and its haul going in the opposite direction - well, it was simply to intriguing not to turn and follow. I couldn't make out what they were at first (besides being apples, obviously). Luckily for me, the driver made a pit stop at a gas station and I got an easy shot.

These are from a ride that you might see at a carnival or fair. They are so beautifully bright and eye-catching, aren't they?

Super Cool Weathervane

I am so tired but I wanted to share this shot with you before I call it an early night. The heat really drains me I guess. I love weathervanes and this one rocks because I am a Taurus and so, how can I NOT love this? :-)

I hope you all have a really wonderful weekend ahead! We have an awesome birthday party for a special nephew tomorrow. Maybe you'll get to see a picture.

Stormy Tuesday

This evening certainly got exciting as we were finishing up dinner - the winds picked up quite suddenly and then the skies opened up and dumped a ton of wonderful rain on us! Yay - no lawn watering for another long spell. :-)

We went out and about after our workout and caught some beautiful skies. We love to sky watch, especially when you have awesome colors and cloud formations such as these.

Thank you, love!

Today was a difficult day and I want to say thank you to my wonderful love for being there for me; for hugging me and holding me; for reassuring me; for making me laugh; for watching How the West Was Won with me; for making dinner with me; but mainly for just knowing when I need his strength.

These wonderful heart tokens were a gift to Mark when I had to do some traveling a few weeks ago. If you haven't been to the Gift & Gourmet shop on Austin Street, then you need to head over there! They are also online and on Facebook if you're interested. It's one of my favorite locally owned gift shops in town.

Summer Bloom

It's been blazing hot lately but nothing like last year, that's for sure. In our garden, we still have several sunflowers left to enjoy though they are fading. I'm still amazed at many different blooms we have seen this year and it's still kicking. On our drive to Lost Pines (Bastrop) this weekend, we saw many fields of sunflowers (the smaller variety) and other very small yellow flowers (not sure what they are). It was lovely!

I hope you all have a really WONDERFUL week ahead!

Happy anniversary, honey!

Nine years ago today, Mark made me the happiest person in the whole universe. After a long courtship, we married and life just gets better and better every single day. I don't know what either of us did to deserve this much happiness. All I know is this - we are truly blessed. Okay, now I need to go get a tissue.

Gorgeous Blooms in the Summer Heat

I have great news to share with you! Mark's book got a great review in Southwestern Historical Quarterly and I am SO PROUD of him! I read it and my chest felt like it was going to simply burst, I was so happy for him. Congratulations, honey!

What does that have to do with these pictures? :-D well...all weekend he tried a source where we could access the quarterly (typically an institutional subscription rather than an individual subscription) and read the review. Unfortunately, our public library didn't renew their subscription so we trekked over to Texas Lutheran University but they were CLOSED since it was a summer weekend! Rats! BUT...the trip was not wasted. I spotted these lovelies right outside the library. They are, by far, he largest Hibiscus blooms I have seen and I loved the color! Gorgeous splash of vibrant life in the sweltering summer heat. I loved it. Hope you all have a GREAT week!

Dad in Action

Yesterday, in honor of World Cup, I had intended to post a picture of my dad and his soccer team from when he played back in Viet Nam. Unfortunately, I could not find that picture (boooo!) BUT I did find this one. And I wanted to share it since my mind was on Viet Nam after reading the story in our paper about our local historian, who also served during the Viet Nam War. That's my dad in the center. He worked with US forces during his time and through his friendships, we were able to find a sponsor and move to the US in '75. We were very lucky to make it here all in one piece and altogether.

This picture makes me think of the story my mom and dad told Mark a couple of visits ago when we saw them. Apparently, while my dad was out in the field at one point, my mom took ME out there so he could see me. WHOA. Out in the field. During war. With bullets flying. What was amazing to me was that I had not known that all these years and Mark was the one who told me about it.

And no, this post has nothing to do with Seguin besides me and our local historian's story. But I just had to share it. :-)

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 Welcome

I shot this awesome sky earlier this week as a front came through our area. We've been enjoying some much needed rain while I've been gone. Sure will green things up again. :-)

Check out the other great Sky Watchers for some awesome photographs. Have a great weekend and a wonderful July 4th everyone!

Walnut Creek Project

Here's a look at some of the activity down by Walnut Creek, behind the Voter Registration & Tax office. I can't wait to see how it's going to look once the cleanup and beautification is completed. It'll be nice to walk down along there.

2010 Honey from Gretchen Bee Ranch

Here's part of the reason we have been so busy lately - honey harvest time! We finished harvesting our 2010 crop and it's officially for sale. So if you want to check out the price list and our bee blog at the same time, head over to Gretchen Bee Ranch!

Happy Tuesday!

Another fresh fruit shot for you. This year we have been blessed with abundance in all things in our life. I am not sure I deserve so much goodness! Hope you are all having a great week. We've been super busy between honey harvest and work travels for me. Be sure to check out our blog for the latest on the honey flow!

Peachy

Hi everyone. As you can tell, we've been busy. Honey harvesting is in full motion right now and with my work, we've been neglecting our beautiful peach tree! I guess everything just comes to you when you least expect it. This tree hardly ever bears fruit for us in the past years, though we enjoyed a few here and there. Well look at it now! Not only have we been blessed with over a ton of honey (and they're still making more) but we've also got so many peaches, we can't get to them fast enough!

Hay, everyone!

Happy Memorial Day weekend! Hope it's been a good one so far for you. Isn't it wonderful when you have a three day weekend? :-) Lots of bales of hay can be seen all around town and in the countryside these days. I love the different shapes of the bales - round, small rectangle and very large rectangle. Pretty cool to drive over a hill and see the fields dotted with these. Stay cool out there!

Caterpillars & Butterflies

This season seems to be packed with beautiful creatures of all sizes. I love butterflies but before they become those beautiful creatures, they are these multi-legged caterpillars that aren't really my favorite things to encounter. I don't kill them; I just don't want them on me. Yet, for some reason, karma or self-fulfilling prophecy or chance or wicked joke of Mother Nature...they end up on me at times or I see them a mile away, wiggling across the road or near the hives in the bee yards. lol

So, I don't know why but I've been wondering what drives these caterpillars to cross the roads as they are doing now. A LOT OF THEM. Especially on the way to Gonzales. We see many fuzzy caterpillars booking it across. What makes them do that, I wonder. Anyway, they have been turning into pretty butterflies that flutter all over the place, especially out in the countryside. A friend pondered aloud on Friday what butterflies eat. I was happy to tell him that I know the ones we've seen enjoy nectar from flowers, just as the bees do. So, they are competing with our bees for food! Good thing there's plenty to go around this year.

Family Project

Tribute to my parents continue! :-) This is my dad and he still has the same smile now that he did back then. What struck me in this shot is how much like my dad my oldest brother looks! Whoa. I'm over halfway done with the scanning project - woohoo! My deadline is coming fast so I'm glad I got over the hump.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Hot, humid, wonderful.

Project Picture Scans

Sorry but I am on a pressing scanning project and I have a deadline! So I won't have time to tend to this blog except here and there, as you can tell. ;-)

I have my parents' family album - one left - and I need to scan everything in for everyone in the family before we head to FL, when I need to return the album after having it for toooooo long. This is a shot of my parents shortly after we came over to the states. It's one of the only times we actually had formal portraits done as a family. There is one of nine out of ten of us but that 8x10 is hanging on their wall and I'm not carrying our scanner on the plane, unfortunately. I really would love that one! I need to find someone there with a scanner, don't I?

I hope you all are having a great spring so far. We are getting plenty of rain and everything is beautifully lush. I love the greenness of things all around. The only thing I don't like is the humidity lately and the mosquitos. :-o

Sky Watch Friday

Been a busy week with travel involved so I thought I'd try and catch up here real quick before bedtime. Gotta get up early for a workout tomorrow to get some of my birthday celebration off! :-) Hope you all have a wonderful weekend...rain or shine. At least we got a good shower in to water everything. Yay!

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!

Butterflies Galore

Here's another something I notice we have an abundance of this spring - butterflies! They are everywhere! And of course, so are the caterpillars...my favorites. Not! :-)