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Cute blog with a project or two – mmmcrafts
The Desert Ironwood is my favorite desert tree. Ours is finally blooming after several years and here ’tis!
Desert Ironwood Tree - Olneya tesota
Lots of thorns, which makes it the perfect home for birds. They can tolerate the pointy stuff, but the neighborhood kitties; not so much. The flowers are about 1/2 inch wide and are followed by pea-pods. The wood is incredibly dense and can be polished to a shine like stone. They can live to be 500 years old!
Nope, but this shrub sure is! The blue blossoms eventually give way to lobed pods with orange-red seeds. As many seeds as it produces, there has only been one that “took” which now resides in another part of the “flower” bed.
Guayacan (Guaiacum coulteri)
Guayacan (Guaiacum coulteri) a closer look
2PM - May 7, 2009
Oh the horror! My Mac has been in the hospital. 
Therefore sparse communications due to having to wrestle my Man for his computer! 
Okay…shout it now…GOD IS GOOD!
I made the Apple Store appointment, bundled the patient in its original box and we headed to the mall. My Man dropped me and computer at the curb … oh come on … you KNOW husbands can be like that! (okay, so he actually went to look for a parking spot, blah, blah, blah).
Anyhoo, before I could get moving, a young woman stepped up to me and said, “Let me carry that for you.” I said, “No, no, I’m fine, but thank you.” She said, “No, really, let me carry it. I am going right next door to Sephora.” (Sephora! Well, she just HAS to be a good person, right?) I said, “No, honestly, I’ll be fine.” She said, looking directly in my eyes, “Please let me do this for you. Here, let me just lift it to see how heavy it is.” And off we went.
We were met in typical Apple style by one of the “orange shirts” who asked if she could help, saw the box, asked for my name and keyed me in. By the time we had made it to the “Genius Bar” (where all good geeks are waiting to help you … Macs on one side, iPods/iPhones on the other) they knew who I was and had my name listed in the cue on a big ol’ screen.
The stranger carrying my Mac said she had never been in one of those stores. I told her how great it is since all you have to do is follow the colored shirts (each color has a purpose). She was impressed, set down my computer, barely gave me a chance to thank her all over again, and disappeared (I never got her name). A young woman (another orange shirt) was standing there with her mouth agape and eyes large. I said that yes, she was a stranger who just came up to me on the sidewalk and would not take no for an answer. A blue shirted woman was standing there and they began to marvel at how wonderful it is to know that there really are still nice people in the world! Yes, Yes, and double-Yes all over again!
Seconds later a blue shirted “Genius” called my name and the story began of “What Has Happened to My Mac” (I’ll not bore you with those details; suffice it to be said that ’tweren’t workin’). The diagnosis was a fried logic board, aka motherboard (that is serious stuff, rather like your nervous system or heart or …). They assured me they would install a new board then run a big long diagnostic to make sure all else was also in good working order. The big result was: because we have never used our AppleCare (extended warranty) for repairs, (which expired with no renewal available in February) they treated it as though it was still active!
Today the precious Mac has returned to its rightful place with new important innards and no other problems noted. Even the dog is happy since she now can quit wandering into “my” room finding it empty. It confuses a housebound hunting dog, ya know?
iMac Logic Board: $545.31
Hardware Repair (labor): $135.00
Total Replace/Repair/Diagnostic: $680.31
Total After AppleCare: $0.00
Apple Store/Genius Bar Experience: Priceless
