Exciting Friday.

I started the day the way I usually do.  With coffee.  Lots and lots of coffee.  Then I trundled off to work.  We started with a break.  (The coffee hadn't kicked in just yet)  Then we started working and going through some of the rooms that we haven't hit yet.  We pulled the appropriate broken furniture (this school has become everyone's catchall for broken furniture) that no one will buy it at auction which we were instructed to junk.  We began filling the dumpster.

Then one of the guys from another school stopped by and we decided to have a break, but instead of going in the main building we staying in the room we'd been working in.  For some reason, we just stayed there.  Call it laziness.

We were talking and all of a sudden a loud noise interrupted us.  It sounded like an air compressor coming on.  I happened to be facing it.  One of the florescent light fixtures began spouting flame and sparks and it crackled and snapped.  Apparently the look on my face alerted my coworkers and they and I jumped up.

I, possessing superior moral fiber and intuitive problem solving, went strait to the light switch and switched it off while my coworkers mumbled confused.  One of them suggested using the fire extinguisher, but made no move toward it.  I located it and grabbed it and then used it on the still flaming fixture.  So, single-handedly, I saved the school.  I think I deserve a medal or something.

After all, I am Awesome!

We each began making sure our hearts had slowed down to an acceptable rate.  We now no longer needed coffee for speeding our heart rates.  We began searching for the breaker.  I stayed and watched the light, with the extinguisher ready.  Each time they flipped a breaker, I tried the light...it would instantly flare up.  I would quickly switch it off again.

After our exciting morning, we slowed for a bit to take in our surroundings.  Then I began working again.  Twinky, seeing this, asked if this was what I would be doing for the rest of the day.  He decided he needed to do the mowing I had asked him about right after we got there this morning.  He quickly disappeared.  I worked alone.

My parents happened to be in the area and called to ask what kind of coffee product I would like.  They dropped by and we had a nice visit.  By this time I was warmed up and sweaty...a cold coffee drink was welcome!  Thanks Mom and Dad!!

So, we got a hold of the electrician and he told us what to do to make sure some idiot with "just enough knowledge to burn down the school," doesn't do that by turning on the breakers and lights.  We have a few people who might do that and also fall into the idiot category.

So, we finished the day working at filling the dumpster.  Finally, at quitting time, I made sure everything was locked up and left.  I went to town and bought the paint for the sign.  When I got back, I pulled into my usual spot.  But something was wrong.  There was something.  Just.  Wrong.

I looked out the window and noted that there were some mayflies or something in the yard.  Flying around crazily.  In circles.  I looked a little closer and noted they looked like flies, really, they were bigger than mayflies...yet, now that I looked again, they were orange-ish...a voice in my head said, "Hey...those are BEES!!!!"  that's a swarm of bees.  Huh.  THAT'S A SWARM OF BEES!?

I thought about getting out.  I thought better of that.  I looked to see their flight paths orbited a particular place...the next door neighbor's dogwood tree.  There was a SWARM of BEES in my front yard and the majority of them were settling in the neighbor's tree in a clump of bees.  

I backed up my truck about thirty feet and edged around the swarm and into the house, where I grabbed the cameras and stepped out to take pictures.  Then the neighbors came out.  I showed them.  Then I went to our next door neighbor and told her not to go out there because of the swarm.  We eventually called the city who called a local bee keeper.  I messaged Cora and told her about it and to get home.

She came just in time.  He had shown up minutes before and agreed to wait until she got home before he did anything!  He was a very nice gentleman who brought his eight year old daughter.  She was absolutely fearless.  Which, as we learned, was a good thing, since bees are apparently even more sensitive than dogs when it comes to sensing fear and attacking!!

This guy was exceptional!  He simply knew bees and shared some of his knowledge with us.  We stood in the midst of hundreds of bees as they flew around us!  It was awesome.  He got in the tree and clipped the branches they were on and then shook them off into a box.  He was very nonchalant about the whole thing.

Damn...it was just SO COOL!!!!

Also, I single-handedly saved the school from burning down...pretty cool.