I had troubles with MS FrontPage in October & November and a few of the pages of this diary are lacking
entries. I hope to get them caught up sometime.
Mainly cloudy. Low minus 3. High plus 6.
Thursday 2nd: A mix of sun and cloud. Low minus 7. High plus 9.
Normals for the period: Low minus
5. High 8.
Friday November 3rd, 2000
Today: Mainly cloudy. Wind increasing to west 30 gusting to 50 km/h this afternoon. High
14.
Tonight: Mainly cloudy. Wind west 30 km/h. Low plus 1.
Normals for the period: Low minus 6. High 6.
Saturday November 4th, 2000
Today: Becoming cloudy. 70 percent chance of rain or wet snow late this afternoon. Wind
west 30 km/h gusting to 50 shifting to north 40 gusting to 60 late this afternoon. Temperature steady near
10 then falling late this afternoon.
Tonight: Snow and blowing snow this evening. Wind north 40 gusting to 60 diminishing to
north 30 overnight. Low minus 8.
Normals for the period: Low minus 7. High 6.
Sunday November 5th, 2000
40 percent chance
of early morning flurries then clearing. Wind north 30 diminishing. High minus 4.
I worked on the presentation for the ABA convention today. Had a lot of
fun working with PowerPoint, mostly on the notebook computer.
Monday November 6th, 2000
Today: Morning fog
patches. A mix of sun and cloud. High minus 2. Tonight: Partly cloudy. Low minus
10.
This is the first day of the annual Alberta beekeepers Convention.
I was up at 5, but found it was so foggy I could not see lights 500 yards away. I don't drive in heavy
fog anymore, and decided to wait it out. By dawn it wasn't so bad, and I headed to Edmonton, knowing I
would be late by at least an hour, and not knowing what the schedule was going to be. There were a
number of small details that have been overlooked lately, and pre-registration and proper advance circulation
of the agenda is one.
I arrived an hour late and hadn't missed much. It was good to see all my
friends there. I've been going for 25 years or so with few exceptions. Ellen doesn't bother, but I
really enjoy it and profit from rubbing shoulders with others beekeepers as well.
I always stay at he hotel for the entire convention. It is bit more
expensive, but ensures that I'm around for everything and not out in the cold late at night on the way
to a slightly cheaper accommodation.
Normals for the period: Low minus 7. High 5.
Tuesday November 7th, 2000
: Mainly sunny. High plus 1.
The programme continued and was very good Sue Cobey was the featured guest and was excellent
and enthusiastic. Nonetheless, I had heard pretty much all of what she had to say before and skipped her
talks. Our convention also features local beekeepers and scientists and I find I get more out of their
talks. Adony and Rob Currie gave very relevant talks.
The beekeeper profiles are of special interest to me and I would like to see more and longer
times devoted to them. The participants (of which I was one) put a lot of effort and heart into their
talks and I must say that Neil Specht really did a dandy job with slides and good tips as did (name escapes me
for the second -- age is getting me).
As for my talk, I went quite a bit overtime (no one tipped me that my time was up) and I got
some nice compliments so I assume it went okay. I didn't see anyone walk out and that is usually a good
sign, assuming they are not asleep. If you read these pages, you have seen much of what I presented, but
I may put my PowerPoint presentation onto the web some time just the same.
As it turned out, the plan for the evening was for everyone to go to a
casino or west Edmonton Mall, and no hotel common room had been arranged in advance for those who don't gamble
or who have had enough of the Mall. I tried to arrange a room at the last moment and the cost would have
been only $75, but by the time I got things lined up, it was too late to publicize. The planned trips
were a bust and people drifted around the hotel, so if I had acted an hour earlier, I could have had quite a
party!.
Wednesday November 8th, 2000
Wednesday: Mainly
cloudy. 60 percent chance of snow. Low minus 11. High minus 1.
Thursday November 9th, 2000
Mainly cloudy. 60 percent chance of snow. Low minus 12. High minus 3.
Today was the Alberta Honey Producers Co-op meeting in Spruce Grove. I
awoke and drove out, arriving in good time.
After the meeting, I went over to Bee Supplies and got a few items, including
some menthol -- which I have never used before -- and some Crisco to make up the Blue Shop Towel Method.
"If I make a
living off it, that's great -- but I come from a culture where you're valued not
so much by what you acquire but by what you give away,"
-- Larry Wall (the inventor of Perl)