Breeder!

I realize I haven't been on here much lately, but I have been trying to be good and get housework done on my lunch hours and be productive on my weekends.  House is much cleaner than it's usual state (still not what I would call clean, but it's heading in the right direction at least) and I've gotten sets of some starter plants done up in paper pots to get them sprouting, so we are going to do a garden this year.

To that end, last Saturday I went to a local seminar about mason bees.  Some years ago I did purchase a house, tubes, and bees, but I've never done anything else to them since, assuming it would be an ecosystem which would just continue to cycle.  Well, they may be continuing to cycle (as I do have some tubes out back which are sealed with mud and not breached by predators, at least that I can see), but if you do just a bit of work with the bees and collect the filled tubes to let them mature and then clean the coccoons, it makes the bees healthier, and much easier for the female bees laying eggs next year as they have clean tubes to work with, rather than having to clean out old tubes first.

Rose (the lady who held the seminar) mentioned that she partners with folks to be her breeders, so that they set up the house, tubes and bees, then as the tubes fill up collect them over the summer and store them until the end of the season, then return them to her for her to let them mature and have the work of cleaning tubes and sorting coccoons, etc ... and she supplies the house, tubes and bees free of charge.  So, I signed up and she just dropped off the supplies today, and I will get the wee house installed this weekend, I am sure, at the front of the house where they will be closer to my plum trees.  I'll also pull the old tubes out of the original house and bunch them up there to wait to see if they do hatch, replacing new tubes into the house and if they fill up as well I can return those to Rose at the end of the season as well ... just making sure I can get as many as possible for help pollinating my garden, and figure a house front and back is a good idea!

I still want to stop off at the place south of Nanaimo where I see bat houses advertised, to set up a bat house in the back yard, sometime.  They're north of the apiary, but we never seem to have the time to stop in and see what their hours are and if we can purchase a house when we're out that way.

Oh, well, will have to keep it on my list of "to do" items for the spring when Maxx and I have days off.

Right now I need to go over my list of seeds and supplies I still need for what we want to grow this year (or at least TRY to grow), and see how much it will cost to complete what we're looking to have set up.

Lack of Inspiration

Been sick with the flu, off and on, for some weeks now.  This past week has been an "on" week for the flu, went to the doctor on Tuesday and he confirmed it's just a virus, nothing to be done other than give it time, although he told me to stop trying to eat anything solid, or even to have soups, and to start drinking gastrolytes (powder you mix with water for a salt/sugar/vitamins drink -- rather nasty even with the fruit flavoured variety) instead for a couple of days, then I could start trying soups .... no fruits, no vegetables, no dairy.

I'm finally starting to feel better.  Actually managed to get out on a walk with Imp and Angel today (mostly to check my lottery ticket).  Amazing how tired I feel after only a 25 minute walk!  Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice weather kind of day and Maxx won't be too tired when he gets off work at 7am, and we'll be able to get all four dogs out for a walk on the waterfront.  It's leisurely, but you can make a fair distance depending on what path you take and how you extend the walk on either side.

Angel's dentistry appointment got switched from Monday to Tuesday, so Maxx will have to drive me in to work that morning then drop her off at 8:45, then come back to work and pick me up at 1pm.  Hopefully we'll get her back during my lunch hour so he doesn't then need to drop me off again for 5pm and pick me up again at 9pm.  Good thing he'll be coming in at least in the morning, though ... my five year reward has arrived, and I know I'll need his help getting it out to the car, at least as long as it's as large as it looked in the online ordering site.  It's a Coleman All In One Cooking System.  Supposed to be compact, but it's still essentially a barbeque!

Critter Care

I guess I haven't been on here in a while, last post was talking about Imp's dental emergency.

Well, February is pet dental month (at least at our veterinarian's office), and they have a special on so I made arrangements to get Angel in for a pre-exam today (they have to do blood work and like to get a look at the teeth to do a best estimate of what needs a good clean and what might have to come out.  My poor wee Angel just hates having people in her mouth, always has, and I've never been able to brush her teeth.  Sounds like I may either have gotten her in just in time, or perhaps just a little bit too late, as the vet wasn't sure if there may be a couple of teeth which need extracting.  Anyhow, got my estimate to include flushing our her tears ducts which have always been blocked (once that's done she won't have quite such weepy eyes and such a messy wee face), so with that included, the low estimate is $715 and the high one is $1180 .... usually we've been really lucky so far with estimates from our vet and the final bill winds up being closer to the low one ... so hopefully our luck holds!