Bees, Dogs, and the Freezing Cold

For the past few years I have had an interest in one day becoming a beekeeper. This past summer I had the opportunity to apprentice with a beekeeper in Tennessee, but had to decline due to the Stratford Hall-Monticello Teacher's Seminar. Anyway, I found some resources online today that could be useful one day:

"The Basics of Beekeeping" at Hobby Farms magazine

BeeSource.com

Honey.com

Bee Commerce

Bee Master

Vermont Beekeeper's Association

Fred, Thanksgiving 2008

Yesterday I took Fred to get his annual vaccines. My old vet had sent a reminder in December, but when I asked about the cost they told me it would be around $300 for his appointment! I couldn't believe how expensive that was so I called around to some other local vet offices only to discover that they were right up there in price. Mom told me that in Florida they offer low-cost vaccinations at her feed store (and various other places in Brevard) and then she helped me locate PAWS Atlanta on the Internet. I called and made an appointment, and for $70 Fred got all of his shots and a heart worm test! I was also able to purchase a 6-month supply of his flea and tick medicine and his heart worm medicine for $98 - just cheaper than the vets office or online (with shipping). PAWS is a no-kill animal shelter in Decatur. They do low-cost vaccinations, micro-chipping and spay/neuter services. Unfortunately, because of the bad economy they have been flooded with calls from people trying to get rid of their pets; they said they have received over 50 calls a day! You can donate money, food or time... Or adopt a pet from them! You can read more here.

Last night on the local news the weather guy reported that by Friday Atlanta's high was going to be in the teens! (Some sort of crazy cold weather weather system.) I was curious about the weather in Vermont in comparison: would it be colder here then there? Or about the same? My new favorite weather site is Underground Weather so I checked both Atlanta and Derby temperatures for the week. Of course, Derby is freezing us out by a long shot. Check out these predictions:

........................Atlanta, GA ..........Derby, VT
Wednesday ...43/27 .....................2/-13
Thursday ......36/14 ...................-6/-21
Friday ...........31/14 ....................0/-8

I am not sure what planet my weather guy is living on.

I found this poem on City-Data:

Winter Poem

It's winter in New England

And the gentle breezes blow

Seventy miles an hour

At thirty-five below.

Oh, how I love New England

When the snow's up to your butt

You take a breath of winter

And your nose gets frozen shut.

Yes, the weather here is wonderful

So I guess I'll hang around

I could never leave New England

'Cuz I'm frozen to the friggin' ground

I also found this crazy story about the "Year With No Summer," also known as "Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death." http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/history/1816.htm

Brrrr.... makes me cold just thinking of it!