Bees and Orchards

Posted on February 26, 2018 by vanbraman

This time of year bees are very important for the orchards. The almond orchards of the Central Valley of California are full of beautiful white blossoms and the bees are hard at work.

bee hives, almond orchards, california, central valleyHere you can see hives at the end of the rows of trees in an almond orchard. Two hives are needed for every acre of almond trees.

Each year billions of bees are brought into California to pollinate the million plus acres of almond orchards.

Almond Blossoms, Spring, California, OrchardsHere you see a closeup of the almond blossoms and the first leaves on the trees.

honey bees, California, pollination, beesI was unable to get pictures of bees on almond blossoms this weekend, but I did take some pictures of them pollinating another tree. Here you see a honey bee head deep in a blossom.

glowing bee, honey bee, pollinationThis picture is a bit out of focus and I wasn’t going to use it, but I just kept going back to it since I like the glow of the sun shining around the bee.

bee, honey bee, pollination, California, orchardsHere is another nice picture. It is amazing that the small little wings of the honey bee can keep it aloft. Especially if it has a large load of pollen. I was trying to get a picture of a been carrying a ball of pollen, but I did not have much luck. I am not so happy with the glasses that I have now as they darken in the sun and then I have trouble seeing the screen of my camera.

Honey Bee - Fruit Tree - Blossoms - Orange Tree - Bees and BlossomsI took this picture four years ago, but thought I would end with it. It is one of the better pictures that I have taken of a honey bee.

It has finally stopped raining and I think I might get a quick walk in.

Steven

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Old Blue Burnt Out Blinker

Posted on February 25, 2018 by vanbraman

Another little problem with Old Blue this week. Fortunately it was just  a minor problem that was easy to fix on my own.

On Friday I observed that my turn signal indicator was blinking faster. I was not sure what the problem was, but somewhere in the depths of my mind I drug up the fact that it was an indication of a burnt out blinker bulb.

I did know that I wasn’t out of blinker fluid 🙂

I checked when I got home and sure enough the right rear blinker light was not blinking. However, the light was on which confused me. More about that later.

G6, Pontiac, blinker bulb, turn signal, indicator lightAfter services this morning I stopped by an auto parts store and found the bulb that I would need. Of course they didn’t sell the bulbs individually, I had to buy a pack of two. So, I now have a spare for when the next bulb burns out.

I was lucky in that I got the last one in stock. I am glad that I didn’t have to go from store to store to find a bulb.

Of course the next step was following the directions to replace the bulb.

Pontiac G6, blinker bulb, trunk compartmentAfter removing the cargo net mounts and pulling back the lining of the trunk I was able to see the two nuts I needed to remove. One is in the lower right and the other in the upper left of the picture. I was able to borrow an adjustable wrench from David and I soon had the lamp assembly removed.

G6 Pointiac, Lamp assembly, bulb replacement, blinker bulbHere you see the back of the tail light assembly. I then simply had to unscrew the bulb socket from the assembly.

Blinkger bulb, tail light lamp, blinker fluid, Pontiac G6Here you can see the socket with the new bulb. You can see that the bulb has two filaments. This is why the bulb was still lit when I checked, but was not blinking. A two in one bulb.

On the old bulb you could clearly see that the filament was burnt so it was confirmation that the bulb was the problem.

tail lamp assembly, blinker test, car trouble, blinkers, reflectionsHere I am testing the blinker before bolting the assembly back in place. You can see the glow of the blinker inside the assembly.

If you look close you can see a reflection of me taking the picture.

I am glad that I got the blinker fixed before going back into commute traffic this coming week. I don’t want other drivers muttering about me not using my blinker to indicate a lane change. I am sure I am not the only one to do so 🙂

At least I now know how to change the rear bulbs on my car. I just don’t want to tackle the front ones as they are very tricky and are a two man job.

Steven

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