Not so bad after all.....

I've not really been in the mood for Spring Break......I could do with quiet days with the kids in school to be quite honest! Instead of chaos with extra kids around. But actually the day turned out to be quite fun after all!

Laurie slept over at his friends house last night! They picked him up at 4:30 yesterday for a movie night and supper at their place and then he called to ask to sleep over. We picked him and his friend up at lunch time today and then we all went in to the mall and had lunch there.

Chris went off and met his friend Matt and they went to a movie. Laurie and his friend Chris went off shopping and had lunch. I wasn't hungry, so I bought lunch for the girls and Sam, and then we did some shopping for Susie. She's now wearing age 12 jeans!!! They are my height!!! (sadly not my waist size lol) Then we got her shoes and she's a size 4....

Heather!!! I bought The Secret Life of Bees!!! Then I sat in the library and started reading it while Sam played with the train and the children chose books and used the computers.....

Today was really my only quiet day of the week and I had originally planned to be at home until Susie announced her pants and shoes were all too tight! This she announces all of a sudden this weekend! So now she has a few things to get her through the week until we go further afield to get her some clothes.....SP doesn't have many stores but I am not going further afield with ALL the kids lol.....

OK off to bed :) night night!

More articles from back home....Julie Ridley

And some articles by a wonderful friend of mine that sadly I am no longer in touch with - she was my role model when I first started as a homeschooler/ unschooler and I really looked up to her - spent many many wonderful days at her house with her amazing family...she got me interested in astrology and La Leche League too!!! :)

I believe Julie Ridley eventually ended up Chairing Education Otherwise and campaigning for home education rights in the UK!! Well done Julie!!! :) She runs home birthing support groups over there too :)

www.education-otherwise.org/Links/HE_Adult_St/JRidley.htm

An article by Moi!!!!

www.underhill.nildram.co.uk/article_2.htm

I wrote this article when I was homeschooling my three oldest children in the UK. My Son should have started school three weeks after his 4th birthday in England, where children start much earlier than here in Canada.

Still frozen...

The beaver pond by the campground at Astotin Lake is still frozen, but one of the beavers was out sunning himself on the lodge this afternoon. He lifted his head to say hi to Susie but by the time I had my camera ready he had gone back to sleep...so you can only make out the furry bump amidst the sticks I'm afraid.....

I altered the colour/ exposure of the beaver lodge piccy because the exposure was so bad.

A sign of Springtime

Catkins...a sign of Spring.....

We took a drive out to Elk Island Park this afternoon and I just HAD to take a picture of these Pussywillow by the beaver ponds.

For Charlynn...

This is a picture of me eating my toe nails.....for Charlynn....

And no I don't eat my toe nails...but I could if I wanted to :) lol....Mmmm yummy!

Little guest!

Ladybug! Ladybug!
Fly away home.
Your house is on fire.
And your children all gone.

All except one,
And that's little Ann,
For she crept under
The frying pan.

We had a little visitor to our house this afternoon...our first Ladybug of the season.....its now enjoying the sunshine in the jungle that is our dining table :)

New blog!

bee-tales.blogspot.com/

So as not to fill up this blog with everything bee......(thinking bee....thinking bee) I have started a bee blog where I will post everything about keeping bees and starting my hive etc etc so if you want to follow along my new new apiculture hobby you can click on the link above :)

Behind in posting...

This morning Lloyd and I had to go over to the West End to pick out taps and sinks for the new kitchen. We've chosen a lovely chunky white apron sink (which is basically what they call a farmhouse sink). We also chose a white sink for the island. We've chosen taps for both those sinks and also a tap to go above the stove top - I think they call it a pan filler tap - it basically comes out of the wall and is just to fill saucepans :)

We also went to West Ed Mall for a while as I needed new underwear and some new jeans and clothes in SMALLERS SIZES!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!! The girl in Reitmans said not to feel bad if the jeans don't fit in the smaller size because that rise is often cut smaller....but they DID fit :) and they are sooooo comfortable :) and they will even loosen up when they get worn :) she only had one pair left so I'm going to look in town to see if they have more.....Oh I love these tablets :)

This afternoon I have been reading up on bees again - my latest obsession! Lol! Lloyd printed off a free E-book on beekeeping for me from Penn State Uni. I've also been surfing Youtube and there are some amazing videos about beekping and bees in general....

On one of the videos it said that one beekeeper who keeps bees for a loving gets paid by a pumpkin farmer $27,000 to provide 12,000,000 bees to pollinate his crops for 6 weeks!!!! He requires each flower to be visited approximately 30 times!!!

So you need a lot of bees to make money with bees BUT as a farmer you need a lot of bees to visit your crops!!!

Hhhmmmmm

So thats my day :)

All in all it's been a good week. Date night was at OPM this week :) It was a fun evening - cheap night actually - we were in no hurry as we were just there to chat and be together - but they forgot to put my salmon on the grill and our server was too nervous to come and tell us so he got the manager to come and tell us - lol! He came and apologised and he said my dinner was on him!!! :) so that was nice :)

Really we wanted to go to Joeys Global but there was a 35 minute wait for a table and we couldn't be bothered to wait - whereas at OPM there was no wait. I'm never that impressed with the food there but then to me nothing ever compares to Joeys. We had a lovely evening though.

Wednesday we went swimming - that was fun....

We were out every day this week...can't think what else we were up to but it's been a busy week all round! Fun yet busy!

Thursday I was home for a while during the day - I signed Sam up for a preschool class that he starts next week and I signed both he and Abby up for some workshops in Edmonton at various facilities between now and the summer. I am so loving that Winter is over.

Oh and this week we ordered my hive - and my bees :) I'm 247th on the waiting list for bees but because I only want one package they say they are confident that I will get mine - I should find out for sure on Monday or so......I'm hopeful. I think Lloyd is excited now too - he's even talking about having two hives next year! He wants one at the front next year and one at the back!!!! Too funny!

Last night was online crop night at Scrappers Haven.....I scrapped one page of Abigail and added a little to my atc's - I've also signed up for another atc swap - this time I have to make atc's of my 'hottie'....I had to pick a hottie but I couldn't think of one...and then I had a revelation! I picked MATT GOSS!!!!!! My 'hottie' from when I was 16!!!!

Not sure what we are up to tomorrow - think we may take a drive out to Elk Island Park. Off to dish up dinner - lasagna with Rosemary and Olive Oil wedges :)

The Honey bees.....my thoughts

Charlynn asked me what I thought about the bees disappearing. It's somthing I've been reading a lot about this week. I'm not quite sure what to think. On the one hand a lot of bee keepers seem to say that these things happen every few decades and bees always seem to come through and survive. their numbers dwindle and then they come back fighting and all is well again and they wouldn't have survived sor so many millions of years otherwise.

But I also think that they are up against a lot more these days. I don't think they are up against 'nature' this time. They are up against chemical warfare really instead.

The entomologists all seem to have various ideas of why bees are disappearing - apart from the diseases that is (I'm talking about colony collapse disorder rather than the diseases and parasites). Some say it is caused by the stress bees are under these days from being transported from State to State to pollinate crops. Some say its caused by pesticides like Neonicotinoids (same as nioctine - it breaks down the bees immune system, causes memory loss and damages their sense of navigatin. This has been banned in France after campaigning by French Beekeepers).

Many believe the bees lives follow our lives - that when our lives get stressed the bees lives get stressed :)

Many try to raise their bees in an organic way but when you think about it, you can only keep your hive in an organic manner - your bees don't stay on your own land - they fly off and take nectar from other peoples plants - so you can't say your bees are organic......they are taking their nectar and honey from the environemnt around us....you can't keep them safe from the environment around us......sadly you ahve to hope the farmers and land owners around you don't use too many pesticides....

My bees won't be moved around much......They can feast on my dandelions and clover and my garden as much as they like. I plan to grow a bee garden and vegetables and MANY sunflowers for a late Summer feast. My neighbours all grow hay......so not much there for my bees to feast on but the odd dandelion and clover.....

As for Colony Collapse Disorder.....I don't know.....I hope they find an answer. The amount of bees really is astounding - this is MILLIONs of bees disappearing each year.......the price of ICE CREAM is going up already because of bees disappearing!!!! That really puts things into perspective!!! It's really amazing! And so sad....to watch videos on youtube of beekeepers crying because of loss of livestock :( Very sad.

Oh YES!!!!!!!!!

www.vanishingbees.com/blog/?p=136


SEE!!!!! I am NOT the only person who feels this way about Bee Movie!!!! Oh THANK YOU!!!!!! Yay!!!!!! :)

And not just the UK...

Colony Collapse Disorder is destroying bee colonies across the North America - various reasons are given - from stress because of of beekeepers moving their colonies from State to State to pollinate crops, to various things within our environment. Who knows....

Tuesday

Lloyd went back to work on Tuesday :( boohoo.

Chris had the day off of school although we had to run in to school t pick up a recommendation from his drama teacher. He had his audition for Drama 10 at the high school he wants to attend downtown. He needs Drama 10 if he wants to get into the Directing program he wants to take.

We stopped off for lunch at McD's and the younger two had fun in the playground. Abby made friend with a bunch of girls in there and Chris and I hung out chatting.

Chris did well in his audition and won a place. He was also thrilled to find out an old girlfriend from his last school also has a place so he will know someone there when he starts in the Fall.

Laurie won a place on the school singles badminton team on Tuesday to - he has been trying out for three weeks so he is very proud :)

I'm sure other things happened Tuesday but I can't think what else happened :)

Playing catch up - Easter Monday.

The children played out on their quad bikes much of the day. I was extremely lazy and stayed in bed for AGES....it was LOVELY :) soaked in the bath :)

In the afternoon we all went bowling which was so much fun! I am totally useless at bowling and poor Susannah has inherited my usless bowling genes - to the point that her three year old brother beat her!!! It was a great time though! After bowling we all went out for pizza and pasta and had the restaurant to ourselves :) It was a lovely way to end Lloyds week off!

Home and the kids got ready for school (showers/ lunches etc) and Lloyd and I re-potted all the tomato plants and pumpkins. They are now so big and we have run out of space so they have taken over the dining table! Lloyd and I will have to eat off of our laps for a while which we don't like at all but the plants must come first!

My Mom has told us that the plants grew so big because they didn't get enough light!!! So they grew tall to reach the light! So we learned what NOT to do next year! We started too early this year and we didn't give them enough light! I like this experimenting :) We're writing it all down in Lloyds gardening journal ready for next year and keeping it with the gardening Bible Jennifer sent us :)

Gardening is fun! I'm glad you tempted us to get started Jennifer!!!

So that was our Easter Monday and the last day of Lloyds week off :(

No more Honeybees in the UK.....

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7240456.stm

No more bees in the UK within 10 years? Could it happen? And could Colony Collapse Disorder happen there too? What would this mean to the environment in the UK?

If the UK lost its honey bees the countryside would face devastation, and that is exactly what beekeepers fear could happen.

Imagine a country lane. Hawthorn hedgerow on either side, clouds scudding overhead, apple blossom drifting gently by, the only noise the gentle hum of honey bees and the chirping of birds. What could be a more idyllic vision of British country life?

Then fast-forward 10 years.

The hedgerow is deteriorating, the birds are silent, the orchard is disappearing and the countryside is changed. Why? The hives are empty. Their once-buzzing occupants mysteriously vanished.