A Day in the Life... d:

[aggienaut]

   You see that, that is one of the sweet bee hive trailers we have. There are currently 18 of them, with number 19 under production back at the shop.

   So today started out pretty good, considering its a Saturday and I had to work. But then there was a little... incident.

   But going back to yesterday first. Yesterday morning I had to call the beekeeper I've been working with here, Greg, to talk about what we were going to do. Now Greg is a rather crotchety old man with a bushy white beard. He can be amusing and funny, or bristley and contankerous. He likes to mention he's been beekeeping for "50 years," and also he doesn't own a computer OR A PHONE.
   So I had to call his wife and ask for him. "Hi is Greg there? This is Kris the beekeeper" I says.
   "Who?" says she
   "Kris the beekeeper on Cross Farms"
   "You mean you work with the beekeeper on cross farms" and then I hear her yelling to Greg in the background "hey this guy on the phone thinks he's the beekeeper on Cross Farms, I told him he means he works with the beekeeper..."
   ::eyeroll:: What I said does not necessarily translate to implying I am THE one and only beekeeper on Cross Farms.
   As it happens, I am. This morning Trevor and I decided to give Greg the week off, because his crotchety self was getting in the way of things.
   He's not so bad to work with, but he doesn't seem to have gotten the memo that he really isn't my boss -- I've been given very specific instructions to countermand anything he thinks we should do that I disagree with. And he no doubt has a lot of experience beekeeping in his own particular way, but I think he's become far too set in his ways and fails to appreciate certain ways the rest of the world beekeeps.
   But there's something smugly satisfying about working with someone who thinks they're your boss, and are sometimes rather bristly about it, and knowing that, in fact, you are more akin to their boss than vice versa.

   So that was a thing that happened this morning, when I showed up at the "home farm" to get some rope and ended up talking to Trevor (the farm owner). It also turns out my pay is being readjusted, and/or is not what I thought it would be...
   ...he had initially mentioned a set weekly rate which I wasn't complaining about. It turns out I am to be paid hourly instead. And given the loong hours I've been working, that should result in an approximately 20% raise for me!
   Then I drove to the bee shed to load up with boxes (supers) so I could take honey off some hives and replace the boxes, and drove down to the field known as Goombarra (or Gumbarrum? Gummy-bear?) and Trevor was THERE. This time I remembered to ask him if I could have next Sat off for Thanksgiving (a bunch of Americans here in Queensland are getting together on that Sat to celebrate) and he totally didn't even hesitate to agree. So by now I was on top of the world, thinking everything was just perhaps maybe TOO good, and how could my boss be so amazingly nice?

   Removed the boxes full of honey and drove back to the honeyshed.... when suddenly CRASH!!
   Stopping on the two lane road to let a car in the other lane pass before I crossed that lane to turn onto another road, the car coming up behind me failed to break in time and slammed into me from behind. ):
   I pull over and jump out of my truck to make sure the other driver is okay and who is there before I've even gone ten steps? Trevor. I'm starting to suspect he has some kind of magical ability to be everywhere at once at this point.
   Also my housemate / coworker Sam drives by at that exact moment.
   Anyway the occupants of the other vehicle were okay and readily admitted to being at fault. I was a bit concerned because, while in California the behind vehicle is automatically at fault in a rear ender, I'd heard here that its possible for them to claim the forward vehicle stopped too fast.
   Their car was a bit mashed up but my pickup ("ute")only had minor damage. I was able to proceed from there to the honey shed while Trevor straightened things out.
   I was sure I had just used up all my good will with that Trevor fellow, but when he came by after finishing with it and talked to me at the honey shed he seemed just as cheerful as ever.
   Unfortunately the vehicle IS going to need to go over to the home farm in the morning so our mechanic (who works on Sundays??) can fix the damage (one of the taillights was knocked off and a bit of the exhaust pipe had to be removed, among other things) which means I'll be without wheel for me "weekend" (ie, Sunday). So I won't be able to go into Bundaberg, which I'd been looking forward to all week. ):

   Several hours later, thoroughly covered in honey from extracting, I drove home and got supplies for a weekend at home -- Season 2 of "Walking Dead" from the video store, a six pack of Coopers Pale Ale and a bottle of Southern Comfort. Looks like its just me, booze and zombies this weekend!! Oh and that god damn tropical beach ;)

   Picked up a burger too (from the same place that made that delicious South Seas Pizza, had a hawaiian burger) (oh and guess who was down by the shops?? ....No just kidding Trevor wasn't there too. But his son Cody (9 or 10?) was), and once again plopped myself on the beach as soon as I got home. Looked a bit stormy out, with low clouds scudding swifty in over the water. I hope it's nice tomorrow, if I'm going to be stuck in town for the day I hope I can at least finally get some swimming in.