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Post by 3piggles on Apr 7, 2015 19:17:51 GMT
I just realized no one started an April chat thread. We are way overdue! Happy April, everyone
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Post by Bean on Apr 8, 2015 11:51:41 GMT
Oh yes, well spotted!
We're having a good Easter break so far. Started off with a trip to visit the in-laws and now we're home and have been enjoying the fantastic weather - the sun's been shining and it's hit about 17c, nice!
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Post by 3piggles on Apr 8, 2015 17:41:44 GMT
Ooh, nice weather for a break We're supposed to get similar temps next week, and hopefully not any hotter until I get the a/c set up. This weekend might be nice enough for us to get outside and wash the family room windows, so we can put the screens back in. Hubby takes them out to keep the squirrels from climbing them during the winter. I just brought in one feeder, and the other feeder is out too far for the screen to help them reach it. Are you doing lots of outdoor things, or just enjoying the yard and the bunnies? I'm sure the buns are happy to have good weather for a lot of grazing
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Post by jolovespiggies on Apr 8, 2015 18:35:05 GMT
It has been beautiful here today, just like summer but not too hot. I so wish it would last but we know it won't. I would love a walk on a coastal path but alas it isn't possible but I do want to see the sea again very soon. Looking for bumble bees, I just adore them.
Hugs JO xx
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Post by Bean on Apr 8, 2015 20:20:45 GMT
You should ring up about those beach wheelchairs while the weather's nice, Jo! Do you know, I always think of you when I see a bumble bee now, knowing how much you love them!
3piggles, we've mainly been at home since we got back. If the weather stays nice we might head out somewhere nice though. We've done a bunch of jobs in the garden - lots of clearing weeds, pruning, mowing and preparing beds. Also lots of messing around - football, hula hooping (I've just got a weighted one - think it'll be great exercise but you should see the bruises on my hips from just a few minutes yesterday!) and cooking food outside. The kids have been on their bikes too, so we've all been worn out in a good way by the end of the last couple of days - lots of fresh air, sun and exercise. The kids got silly amounts of chocolate for Easter so it provides balance to all the sugar-scoffing!
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Post by bootygurl on Apr 9, 2015 2:30:26 GMT
I love Bumblebees too! They are rapidly declining in population around here We must have the biggest population in our yard. We get dozens each summer. I grow lots of bee friendly flowers Weather was very rainy today...always is on my bday. My gift to myself was to give the girls C&C cage a facelift. I am still working out how to add pictures from my phone here! :s I waa snoozing all of March apparently. The 4th of April was World Rat Day and we had a big couch party with special treats. A few of my bday gifts were pretty awesome this year. I went to a community "Dream Big" event and met an actress named Lauren Potter who is a character from Glee "Becky Jackson". She has Down Syndrome. She is such an inspiring person!! On Saturday my mom got me tickets to see Fred Penner who is a children's entertainer who also has a snappy adult humour side and I will be going to see his adult show my brother is taking my niece to see the children's show also! I watched him as a child on television and loved him. I'm glad my niece will get to see his show! Thats the big updates for now. I'll try to be more vigilant here!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Apr 9, 2015 19:00:23 GMT
Thank you Bean love, I really should as the weather is gorgeous here again today. it is also nice to think that yu think of me when you see a bumbly. It is getting hunny organised which is the problem, but I will find a number and give it a call. Oh Bootygurl, a fellow bumbly bee lover, don't you just love the softness of them the cutie little darlings? Are you a member of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust? Yes their decline is getting serious and I must admit it worries me. Not just for this reason but they have more right to be here and thrive and enjoy their little lives than we have in my opinion and this makes me so cross.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Apr 9, 2015 20:29:15 GMT
I got a post for a bumble bee waterer that I'll try this year. I put out water with some sugar in it, last year, and it seemed to help. I had lots of bumblers, but they didn't live very long I plan to plant more bee friendly plants in the garden this year, too, if I can just get hubby to help me clear out the old junk. I don't have a big garden, but I can do some great flower bunches for them and for butterflies. Woke up to everything white, again this morning. Then it snowed for the better part of the day, which mostly maintained what was already there. My car was covered until about 30 minutes ago, when a wet spot appeared in the middle of the windshield. The rest is still covered with snow. It should get warmer tomorrow, and then up in the 50s and 60sF by the weekend and into next week. It won't last, but it lasted a lot longer than I expected. I posted a picture on Facebook, which started a long discussion about the effects of the drought in California. One of our members said the cost for water has gone sky high, there are limits set for each household, then the water is turned off, and there is talk about lots of California becoming desert like Arizona, in 10 years. I think that's a bit exaggerated, but every above ground source of water is gone, and the agricultural communities have been bleeding dry the ancient aquifers, so even that water won't last much longer. They desperately need rain. She said her grass is all burned and brown, and looks terrible. I suggested she have it replaced with native plants that are drought tolerant. I have a friend in Arizona, who posts pictures of the fabulous blooms after a rain. The rest of the time, Arizona is mostly brown, with green foliage. I think, to recover, California is going to have to go native. At least then, the lawn looks the way it's intended to look, despite the drought.
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Post by bootygurl on Apr 10, 2015 1:44:38 GMT
They can have some of the rain we got today. Poured on and off all day today. There were tornadoes in the mid-west U.S. today. I'm up in Canada so not warm enough just yet. But its lightning and rumbling now. I find Arizona beautiful when people just plant a few cool cacti and use rocks for their front yard. I'd love to do that but here it would look pretty silly! I'm not a fan of the heat or I'd live somewhere like that. I like my cool rainy weather actually. Probably my favourite type of day. Or just about 22-24°C with a light breeze
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Post by Bean on Apr 10, 2015 9:28:28 GMT
We're having a glorious week for this time of year - just under 20c and sunny skies. I think it's due to get cooler and rainy tomorrow, but glad we've had so many nice days, especially with it being the school holidays. We're having a BBQ tonight, before it turns! Need to get my meat marinating.
A belated happy birthday to you, bootygirl! I've just had my birthday too and it was a milestone one! I've had some really thoughtful gifts too, it's all been super lovely.
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Post by jolovespiggies on Apr 10, 2015 18:35:59 GMT
Oh Piggles hun, I am glad you like bumblers too, we have been friendly plants in our garden. None of them live for very long I'm afraid so we must make their short lives are happy as possible. Lack of water has been a serious problem for so long and I hope things improve for California very soon. You would think it was scarce here when you get the water bill!!!
Hugs JO xx
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Post by 3piggles on Apr 10, 2015 20:07:18 GMT
Definitely like the bumblers, but I think the most bumbler friendly plants are annuals. Short lives. I was planning to get some, just because I'd like to have a really flowery garden this year. Nothing seems to survive outside over the winter here, so annuals work. I have 3 railing planters on the balcony, and I will get some for those, too. I saw a great idea from a The Backyard Beekeeper post on Facebook. It uses marbles to fill a pie pan or other shallow pan, so the bees don't fall in the water and drown. I've heard they want sweetened water, but this says fresh water, just in a safe medium. I plan to buy some marbles, and give it a try.
Our HVAC ducts are sealed, and their performance increased almost 98%. The living room and front bedroom are actually getting heat out of the vents, strong enough that we didn't have to bend over and put our hands on the vent to feel it. We may not need anywhere nearly as much help heating and cooling, as we did before, though I will still set up the room a/c in the bedroom and snug. I think the attic snug will still be too hot to go without help, as cold air is heavy, and it has to get up four stories to cool the attic.
These condos look nice, but the behind-the-walls work is definitely lacking. Our heating and cooling ducts weren't even sealed at the seams, just in the basement utility room, up as far as someone could reach. Now they are totally sealed. One of the workmen said it's becoming law with new houses for all the ductwork to be sealed this way, and the next 5-10 years. We figure it will be a selling point, along with the LED lights, showing an energy efficient house.
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Post by jolovespiggies on Apr 11, 2015 19:01:29 GMT
That sounds a great idea Piggles love, please let me know if our little bumbly friends enjoy it. You have to be so careful these days when buying a place, they can look very nice on the outside but the inside could be a different story.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Apr 11, 2015 21:04:21 GMT
We didn't figure these were top notch units, but were really surprised at home many corners they cut. I think the push was to get the units built and sold, not to get them built really well. We are also really spoiled from our last house, which was a prefab home. It arrived on 4 flat bed trucks, bottom front, bottom rear, top front and top rear. Since it was trucked to the site, each section was completely contained. It was like putting 4 small houses together. No leaks, and really sound proof. With this house, we can hear the a/c units through the floor, hear the bathroom exhaust fans through the floor, etc. It's just built radically differently from the last one, which was really solid.
We are noticing a definite improvement in the effects of the heating. I have all the space heaters turned off, and haven't noticed a major change in the temperatures. The temps seem to have leveled off around the house, which they never did before, with the hot back of the house and cold front of the house.
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Post by jolovespiggies on Apr 12, 2015 18:46:41 GMT
There are a lot of corners being cut these days love, I remember when I moved into a new house with my first husband, it was amazing how many faults there were. I so hope you find one you like.
Hugs JO xx
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Post by margaret6 on Apr 13, 2015 14:13:45 GMT
Yea Jo, you need to get out and see these bees, booty where do you live to get all the bees? I might try this sugar and water business that Piggles mentioned but I do try to put Bee Ttracting plants ib our garden, we get a few but not lots. Jo google all the areas that have the electric go cart/chairs. We have a beautiful tearoom called lochlevens larder and lots of people use them on the track...Bean I try hula hooping with the Brownies, I just can't do it, does a weighed one sort of stay up more easily? Talking about Easter eggs, I buy some for my nieces, nephews and grandkids but I had to buy them 3 times. Hubby and I kept eating them every time we had a cuppa, maltesers, caramel, cream eggs, Lidl's rabbits and chickens and their white chocolate sheep was delicious.....and I wonder why slimming world doesn't work for me! Glad you've got your condo all up to speed Piggles, nice and cosy now we hope. Builders here are the same, you get 10 yr warranty on a new home but not sure how well that works when you need to claim anything. Xx
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Post by 3piggles on Apr 13, 2015 15:18:14 GMT
Compared to our first house, this one is a palace, lol Every hot water heating pipe on the first floor burst, the roof was covered with 2x12 planks, not plywood, no tar paper. We went into the attic areas, and could see sky through the roof. I pulled up all the wall-to-wall carpeting, because no matter how much I vacuumed, I couldn't get it clean. The bathroom was so filthy, as if someone shook a can are coke and popped the top to spray it all over the room. We couldn't see any of this when we looked at the house, as they had the lowest possible watt bulbs in all the lights, or they did the soda spraying after we signed the papers. The basement flooded every time it rained. The water pump was big enough to run an apartment building, and cost us a fortune to run, and the furnace was from back in the really, really old days This place is actually decent, just a lot of corners cut, that we've been fixing. We will leave it in much better condition than we bought it, that's for sure Only a few, small patches of snow left, and the crocuses are blooming in the front garden. Hubby grilled burgers on the gas grill last night, and had a great time being outside talking to the neighbors. I made pasta early this morning, while it was still cool, so we have that for a lot of different meals. It could get up to 75F/24C, so no cooking once the kitchen heats up. We'll have a cold salad tonight. Temps going back into the 60sF for the rest of the week, and the nights are still nice and cool for sleeping. Definitely have to get the a/c set up before we get a hot spell
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Post by Bean on Apr 13, 2015 17:24:58 GMT
Bean I try hula hooping with the Brownies, I just can't do it, does a weighed one sort of stay up more easily? Lots! I've not been any good with the light ones for a while, but get along much better with the weighted one. My mum says she's never been able to hula but can do it with the weighted one (she's bought one since I got mine and my sister's getting one too!). It's much more fun than sit ups and I can feel my stomach muscles tightening up from just a few minutes every day, so I'm hoping to just make it part of my routine a few days a week. It was quite sore at first and my hips are all shades of bruises (which my daughter's told me off for showing people as apparently it's embarrassing haha, but they are impressive!), but that's supposed to tail off as your technique gets better and you get used to it.
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Post by jolovespiggies on Apr 13, 2015 19:24:56 GMT
You are right Margaret love, if we get a nice day this week we are going up to the Minions for a picnic, I will be searching for buzzers up there. I do intend to google those chairs, a few days out would do me good. I used to love hula hooping, I cam just imagine what would happen if I tried it now LOL!! Favorina chocolate at Lidl is gorgeous isn't it Margaret hun and they are so reasonably priced? Ah tea rooms, there is nothing I love more than a traditional tea room and I have heard there are lots of lovely ones in Scotland.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by bootygurl on Apr 14, 2015 0:33:58 GMT
I'm in Ontario Canada Margaret! We seem to get them later in the year July-Sept. Last year while we were re-scaping the yard we kept seeing dozens of them. But head 39 minutes in any direction and people we know say they never see them anymore. And if they do they are dozy and seem to not know what they're to do. The problem with it is a few invasive bugs taking over their homes and food sources. I plant purple irish thistle and they love that. I did a great photo shoot a few years back when I had bumbles and honey bees all over. My moms house is decorated in my framed photos. Here there are packets of flower seeds that are a mix of faves for bumbles, butterflies and humming birds.
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