A Beekeeper's Diary
This is a daily diary of
activities in our commercial beekeeping operation at
Swalwell in
Central Alberta,
Canada, and observations on the business of commercial beekeeping. I've retired, and we've
now
reduced to thirty or so hives, but be sure to visit the logs from previous
years
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February 20th to 28th, 2005
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Left panel on?
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No
Do not condemn the judgment of another because it differs
from your own.
You may both be wrong.
-- Dandemis --
-
Terry's High-Tech oxalic machine in action
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Sunday 20
February 2005 |
All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater things -- Bobby Knight |
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Allen's Link of the Day:Hopefully, I'll get the deskwork done today. Then I'll have to decide whether to drive back, or fly to Alberta. I had thought of going through Keremeos, but have not yet made up my mind. For one thing, I've been watching the weather. Once I get this job out of the way, I'll decide.
Ron went to the office for the afternoon. Joan, Graham and I went for a walk. We drove across town, through surprisingly heavy traffic for a Sunday afternoon, to Stanley Park and found a parking space near HMCS Discovery, then started walking. By the time we finally got back, we had covered about 5.4 miles, according to my map program.
...Okay.
I decided. I have been watching air fares on
Air Canada
and
WestJet. Generally three or four days out, there are good prices, and
they get worse quickly as the remaining time until flight day passes.
I decided to buy a flight back to YYC for
Wednesday. If I cancel, I have lost $30, far less than if I need to
reserve that late. The entire cost, taxes included, was $125. If I
bought it the day before, I might pay $300 or more, one-way. I still have
a credit from my last cancellation, but somehow, the system did not apply it to
this fare. I suppose I'll have to phone to get it used up. It is
good for a year.
Maybe I'll decide to drive, and stop at Osoyoos, but probably not. I'll likely leave the car here and come out with Ellen in a week or two for a visit and go out to Victoria. Although nights are frosty, the days are warm, +10 or so, and flowers are out.
I noticed, in the process of reserving, that WestJet is not competitive with Air Canada anymore, and usually has less flights, costing more. I suppose that, having emerged from bankruptcy, Air Canada has an advantage. I don't think I'd be buying either stock right now.
...And, no, I did not get any work done today.
 More
info today from Terry about the machine mentioned on the 14thHere is how the evaporator works: The tank on top of the unit is filled up with oxalic dihydrate crystals. The tank is then heated to 110 degrees C. At this temp the oxalic is in liquid form. The tank temp is maintained at this temp. The oxalic liquid is metered between 2 ball valves. The metered amount then falls in a vaporization cup which is heated to 175 degrees C. here the liquid oxalic sublimates and turns into gas. A heated air source then blows the oxalic gas into the hive. (the heated air and vaporization cup temp are all controlled by the same controller to keep decomposition to a minimum, and also to prevent re-sublimation in the manifold. The warm air also helps open up the cluster of wintering bees for penetration of the oxalic gas). The amount of liquid oxalic vaporized can be changed by placing a longer or shorter pipe between the 2 ball valves. I have a pipe that holds 6 grams of liquid and use a 2 hive manifold on the front of the machine. I am testing the effectiveness of the machine right now. I gassed 5 locations for testing. Some hives with oxalic, and some hives only with Apistan® strips. It will take me several weeks to determine the effectiveness of the evaporator. |
| Another message on an
interesting topic: Allen, I've
said this in the past but just want to say "thanks" again for access to
your diary and your useful information. Seems the closer I get to
raising my apiary to your size (gearing for 400+ by fall of 2006 to meet
pollination load) the more use I find of various techniques in mass bee
management. Considering open barrel feeding, apparently some things ARE
easier the more beehives your run. Another commercial beekeeper & I recently purchased a couple Ipaq's to keep things organized this year but we're kind of just 'playing' with the PDA's rather than jumping in for lack of where to start with the spreadsheet. I'm hoping either you or someone else using a PDA can start us off with the benefit of their version of spreadsheet to get us started. If you're not using PDA's anymore perhaps this would be a good topic for sharing info/techniques/spreadsheets on Bee-L for better organization by the use of PDA's. Just three months ago I didn't know the first thing about PDA's & now have a very good idea which ones can be purchased cheaply; which ones hold up with normal use and which ones are good pda's to run for std. spreadsheets (i.e. Ipaq 3835 can be regularly purchased on Ebay for ~$100-$150 and has MS Excel rom-loaded, or a Clie-Peg50 or Peg70 which are a bit more expensive but have miniature keyboards built in -- the Peg70V comes with a camera for taking photos of hive 'situations' if the need comes up as does the cheaper Palm Zire71. Coming from a computer hardware background I started picking up broken ones off Ebay & fixing them so now have ~40 on the shelves & why I've become comfortable with the basic characteristics of the Palm, Ipaq, Sony, etc lines of PDA's. For our own use we settled on using the Ipaq 3835 since they're ~$125 used (cheap enough), fairly sturdy, have Excel and Word preloaded, and somewhat fast. Though I might change to one of the Sony 'Pegs' with a minature keyboard for easier typing depending on how our spreadsheet turns out for marking the conditions of our hives. Matthew
Our system consisted of plain black and white entry sheets, carrying the assignment for the day, and a summary sheet, carrying all the data for the whole operation. I've shown it here before. Check these pages. |
Today: Sunny. Fog patches this morning. High minus 5. Tonight: A few clouds. Low minus 13. Monday: Sunny with cloudy periods. High minus 4. Tuesday: Sunny. Low minus 12. High plus 3. Wednesday: Sunny. Low minus 12. High plus 4. Thursday: Sunny. Low minus 9. High plus 8.
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Monday 21
February 2005 |
Art is either plagiarism or revolution -- Paul Gauguin |
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My goal today is to get the job for Lakeland done and go to some marinas or see some beekeepers. So far, I've managed to procrastinate for a few hours. I hate editing previous work. Writing is fun; editing is frustrating.
I see the HoneyBeeWorld Forum is getting active again, so I spend a little while there. I've been having a problem with a 'bot, though, so I've had to make registration a condition for posting. Comments are welcome.
I didn't get all the work finished, but took the afternoon to get down to Granville Island to walk around.
| Here's an
interesting letter: If you are a Canadian beekeeper
and are interested, Write me
and I will pass
on your interest to Lardus
> My name is Lardus Erasmus, I
am a biochemist at the Potchefstroom Yes, I'll mention it on my site and see if anyone shows interest. > Is there still scope for There is lots of room, and
always some outfits for sale, or beekeepers The Alberta Beekeepers
Association
http://www.albertabeekeepers.org has a allen Hmmm. I went to http://www.albertabeekeepers.org/helpwantedaba.html and was quite shocked. In spite of the long list of beekeepers paying that ABA to advertise for workers in the print version of BeeNews, NONE are shown on the website, where foreign and out-of-province people will actually look for, and find, find ads (if they were there). I never cease to be amazed at how delinquent beekeeping organizations can be when it comes to maintaining a website. Web presence is so far down the list of priorities for many, that it is simply ignored. The potential of the Internet is amazing, though, and I suspect that, often as not, the reason that the sites are not properly updated and maintained is not a lack of ability -- maintaining a website is a simple as using a word processor --but a control issue. In many organizations, some people maintain control by managing the flow of information. If you can run a word processor, you can make and manage websites using Microsoft FrontPage. That's what I use. Making or changing pages is a simple WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) process. Drag and drop, cut and paste from another document? ...All the usual features are there. Page formatting can be a little less advanced than in good word processors, but it is not difficult to get what you want. As for putting the finished page onto the 'Net, the process is just as simple as printing, and the world can see your work the second you are done! If you don't like it tomorrow, just change it; the process takes only a few moments. Need to know more, or get a website? Write me and get started today. |
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Tuesday 22
February 2005 |
That all men are equal is a proposition which, at ordinary times, no sane individual has ever given his assent -- Aldous Huxley |
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No rest for the wicked, they say. Another day spent in editing the course, but, now I've sent it all off, and we'll have a meeting with beekeepers at the college Thursday to give it a good checking over. Tomorrow, I'll catch a jet to YYC and be home again, just in time for some good weather for the drive to Sherwood Park, if the weather guessers have it right.
Today: A mix of sun and cloud. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h late this morning. High zero. Tonight: Clear. Low minus 12. Wednesday: Sunny. High plus 5. Thursday: Sunny. Low minus 11. High plus 10. Friday: Sunny. Low minus 11. High plus 10. Saturday: Sunny. Low minus 8. High plus 4.
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Wednesday 23
February 2005 |
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it -- Sir Winston Churchill |
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This morning, I return to Alberta. By mid-afternoon, I should be home.
I arrived on time and collected my bag, after a fifteen-minute wait. Ellen was outside the door, waiting in the van, and off we went.
I started catching up on bill paying, then Shirley came by. Ruth came a while later and stayed for supper, then went to Linden to see the chiropractor.
Today: Sunny. High 4. Tonight: Clear. Low minus 9. Thursday: Sunny. High plus 7. Friday: Sunny. Low minus 11./ High plus 6. Saturday: Sunny. Low minus 8. High plus 3. Sunday: Sunny. Low minus 12. High minus 4.
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Thursday 24
February 2005 |
An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart he would have been not to have taken it -- Laurence J. Peter |
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This morning, I am off to Sherwood Park for the meeting at Lakeland College. I don't know what happened to the predicted warm weather. The probs now are for weather around freezing for the next few days.
The meeting went well, and I think we are about done. One thing that came up during the meeting is that the ground is shifting under us and what was true last year may not be true this year.
I also leaned that a beekeeper at the meeting had just sold a load of honey for $1.00 per pound to make some room in the warehouse. He said that the speculation is that the price will get up to $1.25 to $1.30 in a few months due to changes in the market, but, then, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Today: Sunny. High 2. Tonight: Clear. Low minus 13. Friday: Sunny. High plus 1. Saturday: Sunny. Low minus 6. High plus 3. Sunday: Sunny. Low minus 10. High zero. Monday: Sunny. Low minus 10. High plus 6.
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Friday 25
February 2005 |
The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man hardly anything -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe |
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Only ten more months until Christmas.
I'm home today and have a1,000 little jobs to catch up. One is to finish off the curriculum and get it out of my hair.
I've added a bit of discussion to the HoneyBeeWorld Forum today.
Wow! I got high-speed Internet today by wireless link to to a local tower. My speed is 886 kbs up and 284 down, via the system and through to my notebook connected by 802.11g.
| From BEE-L...
My favourite hangout. > "Every
commercial beekeeper loses half their colonies every year" I always figured about 30% if no attempts are made to save hives in which queens die or go bad during the season. In summer, with brood chambers way down there under supers, or in winter under snow -- or half a continent away -- for a commercial beekeeper, intervening is often not an option, so 30% is pretty normal. Maybe where the queens are laying all year, 50% is normal. > Is it any different this year than
others? I went to one IMO, it's only Super Varroa if your Kryptonite isn't working. If it is, and you haven't poisoned your hives by now with approved and unapproved treatments, you probably won't notice anything unusual. The problem, IMO, is that many beekeepers are not monitoring, and if they are monitoring varroa, maybe they have forgotten about tracheal or other problems. Moreover, after years of putting a variety of chemicals and herbs, etc. into hives, the hives are contaminated to the point where the bees are stressed, even without a varroa load. All treatments -- including formic and oxalic -- are hard on bees. If bees are already under stress from a build up of chemicals in the hive and from a series of failed or partially successful attempts at treatment with Apistan, Checkmite+, plus other things from the environment, they will be much more vulnerable to weather, viruses, new treatments, etc., and many hives may well just die out, even if the varroa is reduced to what *should * be a safe threshold. We must realize, too, that admitting that one's hives are poisoned and one's bees died from a lot of things adding up -- including the very measures meant to save them, is not easy to do. It is much easier to keep looking for a villain, then, when viruses or diseases that seldom proved fatal to any great extent before are found, to blame them. When going back to the bank for more $$$, or having to tell your friends -- or your wife -- why your bees are dead and you are broke, which would you find easier? 1.) Say that your hives died because you
poisoned them and your hives are now worthless, As long as I have been a beekeeper, there have periodically been reports of widespread and somewhat unexplained bee losses. And, all that time, some beekeepers lost their bees over and over, and other beekeepers seldom suffered serious losses. Super Varroa? I doubt it. allen |
I used to list my BEE-L posts here from time to time. I've gotten out of the habit. I can't recall when I last did so, so here is a big pile:
| 049843 | 04/09/28 | 06:03 | 51 | Re: Small cells and small beehive beatle | |
| 049887 | 04/10/01 | 12:22 | 26 | No Treatment for a Year and Then Some... | |
| 049898 | 04/10/02 | 11:23 | 25 | Re: weather/swarming/crop predictions | |
| 049899 | 04/10/02 | 11:19 | 76 | Re: No Treatment for a Year and Then Some... | |
| 049929 | 04/10/04 | 11:07 | 28 | Re: Growing Degree Days | |
| 049988 | 04/10/14 | 14:16 | 49 | Re: North Dakota Has A Situation | |
| 049993 | 04/10/15 | 04:56 | 33 | Cyanogas, calcium cyanide | |
| 050018 | 04/10/21 | 20:58 | 15 | Metarhizium anisopliae | |
| 050031 | 04/10/24 | 13:52 | 68 | Tens of thousands of hives crashing in the U.S. right now | |
| 050034 | 04/10/24 | 17:11 | 65 | Re: Small Hive Beetle. | |
| 050049 | 04/10/25 | 21:50 | 51 | Re: Tens of thousands of hives crashing in the U.S. right now | |
| 050056 | 04/10/26 | 09:57 | 48 | Re: Allergies and Canadian Beekeepers | |
| 050064 | 04/10/26 | 15:05 | 41 | Re: Tens of thousands of hives crashing in the U.S. right now | |
| 050065 | 04/10/26 | 15:58 | 114 | Re: Now formic and oxalic in Canada (was) Re: [BEE-L] Tens of thousands of hives crashing in the U.S. right now | |
| 050066 | 04/10/26 | 16:11 | 45 | Re: Tens of thousands of hives crashing in the U.S. right now | |
| 050073 | 04/10/27 | 01:16 | 31 | Re: Weak colonies and winter preparations | |
| 050074 | 04/10/27 | 01:37 | 52 | Re: Now formic and oxalic in Canada (was) Re: [BEE-L] Tens of thousands of hives crashing in the U.S. right now | |
| 050075 | 04/10/27 | 02:15 | 35 | Re: Tens of thousands of hives crashing in the U.S. right now | |
| 050083 | 04/10/27 | 08:26 | 32 | Re: Weak colonies and winter preparations | |
| 050085 | 04/10/27 | 09:50 | 77 | Re: Tens of thousands of hives crashing in the U.S. right now | |
| 050086 | 04/10/27 | 10:07 | 51 | Re: Now formic and oxalic in Canada (was) Re: [BEE-L] Tens of thousands of hives crashing in the U.S. right now | |
| 050099 | 04/10/28 | 14:34 | 82 | Re: Tens of thousands of hives crashing in the U.S. right now | |
| 050108 | 04/10/28 | 21:46 | 37 | Re: overwintering nucs | |
| 050113 | 04/10/28 | 23:32 | 21 | Re: overwintering nucs | |
| 050120 | 04/10/29 | 06:35 | 55 | Re: Weak colonies and winter preparations | |
| 050123 | 04/10/29 | 09:50 | 34 | Re: overwintering nucs | |
| 050128 | 04/10/29 | 16:18 | 24 | Re: fondant | |
| 050139 | 04/10/30 | 07:49 | 40 | Re: overwintering nucs | |
| 050178 | 04/11/01 | 21:46 | 49 | Re: No Treatment for a Year and Then Some... | |
| 050190 | 04/11/03 | 06:47 | 60 | Re: No Treatment for a Year and Then Some... | |
| 050192 | 04/11/03 | 08:21 | 21 | 2005 US National Beekeeping Conventions | |
| 050199 | 04/11/03 | 13:05 | 21 | Re: No Treatment for a Year and Then Some... | |
| 050201 | 04/11/03 | 14:06 | 27 | Re: No Treatment for a Year and Then Some... | |
| 050236 | 04/11/06 | 14:52 | 59 | Re: So Does Insulation Wraping & Polystyrene Hives Induce More Mites? | |
| 050240 | 04/11/06 | 16:38 | 22 | Bear Problems? | |
| 050285 | 04/11/10 | 20:40 | 25 | Re: Arthritis & bee stings | |
| 050292 | 04/11/11 | 13:42 | 40 | Re: Hives crashing (was Small Hive Beetle) | |
| 050300 | 04/11/12 | 10:44 | 51 | Good news / Bad News... | |
| 050304 | 04/11/13 | 08:31 | 114 | Re: Good news / Bad News... | |
| 050313 | 04/11/14 | 09:30 | 55 | Re: Weaver. [Was: Hives crashing (was Small Hive Beetle)] | |
| 050319 | 04/11/14 | 18:24 | 37 | Re: Bee Size vs Cell Size | |
| 050326 | 04/11/15 | 17:12 | 48 | Re: Bee Size vs Cell Size | |
| 050335 | 04/11/16 | 06:00 | 114 | Re: Hives crashing (was Small Hive Beetle) | |
| 050340 | 04/11/16 | 09:14 | 37 | Re: Hives crashing (was Small Hive Beetle) | |
| 050359 | 04/11/17 | 18:48 | 37 | Re: Bee Size vs Cell Size | |
| 050394 | 04/11/24 | 23:12 | 61 | Re: FGMO testing | |
| 050400 | 04/11/25 | 11:25 | 65 | Re: FGMO testing | |
| 050405 | 04/11/25 | 21:38 | 48 | Re: FGMO testing | |
| 050412 | 04/11/26 | 14:25 | 44 | Re: FGMO testing |
| 050479 | 04/12/05 | 15:12 | 38 | Re: Two-to-One Sugar Syrup | |
| 050484 | 04/12/06 | 19:53 | 20 | Re: New Primer Pheromone | |
| 050496 | 04/12/15 | 09:43 | 33 | Re: HFCS storage and heating | |
| 050501 | 04/12/16 | 04:16 | 35 | Re: HFCS storage and heating | |
| 050531 | 04/12/21 | 09:31 | 81 | Fw: Immediate Attention EPA/Carbaryl/bees | |
| 050536 | 04/12/21 | 15:13 | 24 | Re: Looking for a hand roll foundation mill | |
| 050542 | 04/12/23 | 09:46 | 84 | Re: SUPPLY OF FORMIC ACID THREATENED | |
| 050593 | 05/01/01 | 22:16 | 31 | Re: Almond pollination | |
| 050597 | 05/01/02 | 16:45 | 30 | Re: Almond pollination | |
| 050625 | 05/01/10 | 07:59 | 35 | Zero Tolerance | |
| 050627 | 05/01/10 | 08:27 | 36 | Re: OA and exposed brood | |
| 050631 | 05/01/10 | 09:38 | 37 | 2-Heptanone | |
| 050632 | 05/01/10 | 10:16 | 28 | Addendum | |
| 050633 | 05/01/10 | 12:41 | 22 | Re: Addendum | |
| 050682 | 05/01/15 | 14:32 | 25 | Re: Aethina tumida and honey quality | |
| 050685 | 05/01/15 | 20:35 | 92 | SMR>= HYG? | |
| 050691 | 05/01/16 | 15:45 | 54 | Re: SMR>= HYG? | |
| 050692 | 05/01/16 | 21:18 | 80 | The 2005 Honey Market? | |
| 050695 | 05/01/17 | 11:27 | 61 | Re: So? | |
| 050702 | 05/01/17 | 21:32 | 25 | Another visit to Lusbys | |
| 050704 | 05/01/18 | 03:10 | 58 | Re: Another visit to Lusbys | |
| 050716 | 05/01/19 | 21:03 | 23 | Re: U.S. import & export of bees (was Bummer!!! ) | |
| 050717 | 05/01/19 | 21:07 | 27 | Re: Flux Drum Pumps | |
| 050734 | 05/01/23 | 04:26 | 127 | Brood viability is a complex issue... | |
| 050738 | 05/01/23 | 13:22 | 104 | Incoming | |
| 050744 | 05/01/25 | 12:19 | 30 | Upcoming Canadian Meetings | |
| 050752 | 05/01/26 | 13:04 | 28 | Re: Upcoming Canadian Meetings | |
| 050759 | 05/01/30 | 09:11 | 45 | Re: Chances of wintercluster been broken up/results | |
| 050761 | 05/01/30 | 12:29 | 54 | Re: Chances of wintercluster been broken up/results | |
| 050767 | 05/02/02 | 04:43 | 120 | Present day application methods are too time consuming | |
| 050770 | 05/02/02 | 21:18 | 60 | Re: Formic and Oxalic acids | |
| 050775 | 05/02/04 | 02:44 | 107 | Re: Vs: Re: [BEE-L] Formic and Oxalic acids | |
| 050780 | 05/02/04 | 09:37 | 37 | Re: Plasticell vs. Duragilt. | |
| 050781 | 05/02/04 | 10:25 | 23 | Re: Plasticell vs. Duragilt. | |
| 050789 | 05/02/05 | 20:53 | 28 | Re: Bees moving | |
| 050791 | 05/02/06 | 06:43 | 69 | Re: Bees moving | |
| 050793 | 05/02/06 | 15:10 | 26 | Re: Formic & Oxalic Acid Benefits | |
| 050812 | 05/02/08 | 08:22 | 55 | Re: First Trailer | |
| 050814 | 05/02/08 | 08:02 | 55 | Re: Bees moving | |
| 050821 | 05/02/09 | 03:31 | 64 | Re: Moving for Varroa | |
| 050826 | 05/02/09 | 10:48 | 43 | Re: OA trickling | |
| 050854 | 05/02/15 | 07:53 | 47 | Re: Latest Mite Treatment Device | |
| 050886 | 05/02/18 | 10:28 | 27 | Re: Open feeding | |
| 050887 | 05/02/18 | 10:40 | 41 | Re: Varroa and "Green Muscle" ?? | |
| 050893 | 05/02/20 | 11:33 | 24 | Re: Latest Mite Treatment Device | |
| 050895 | 05/02/20 | 18:29 | 46 | Re: The Bee and the Climate | |
| 050920 | 05/02/23 | 06:39 | 47 | Scraping the green frame | |
| 050934 | 05/02/24 | 23:11 | 61 | Re: Varroa | |
| 050941 | 05/02/25 | 12:20 | 76 | Re: Formic acid and Mite-Away | |
| 050942 | 05/02/25 | 14:17 | 78 | Re: The real story |
Today: Sunny. High 8. Tonight: A few clouds. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h overnight. Low minus 7. Saturday: Sunny. Wind northwest 20 km/h becoming light in the morning. High plus 6. Sunday: Sunny. Low minus 9. High plus 2. Monday: Sunny. Low minus 8. High plus 3. Tuesday: Sunny. Low minus 8. High plus 5.
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Saturday 26
February 2005 |
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say -- Will Durant |
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I called the Mid US Honey Price Line just now (763-658-4193), and the message was from Jan 30. Basically the story was this: prices in the US have softened to 85c (around $1.5 CAD) for white. Chinese honey has been dodging the tariffs, and adulteration by ultra-filtered honey are being blamed.
At the rate we are going, and if packers are permitted to continue to defile the name of honey by getting away with packing anything that tastes sweet, and calling it honey, it looks to me as if honey will soon become just some other sugar syrup product on the shelf.
The very thing that makes honey a special product -- the unique natural constituents and flavours -- is increasingly removed or blended out of honey. Consumers who buy honey in supermarkets are not -- IMO -- getting what they think they are buying. Gradually those who buy because they remember real honey and haven't given up hope are getting older. New buyers coming onto the market haven't the same attachment to our product.
Given the number of beekeepers who do a substandard job of packing their own brands for direct sales, large packers who offer an increasingly uninteresting product to the mass market, and processed food manufacturers who get away with using the word honey on products sweetened with HFCS, the good name of honey -- and its market -- is dying fast.
I spent a few hours trying to get the old PII-266, running on XP to talk to my router, with no success. The computer runs very well, even for such an old machine. It was a high quality unit when new, with good components, a good video card, and a fast frontside bus. As with so many things, buying quality pays, whether it is cars, computers, or furniture, the best ones last longer and look good, even in old age.
Elliotts came by and we talked about cattle and going sailing, then Meijers came for supper. Joe and I made a bet about who could lose 25 pound faster (no pun). When we weighed up, it turns out that Oene is actually the lightest of the three of us.
Today: Clearing early this morning. High 3. Tonight: Clear. Low minus 11. Sunday: Sunny. High plus 1. Monday: Sunny. Low minus 6. High plus 6. Tuesday: Sunny. Low minus 7. High plus 9. Wednesday: Cloudy. Low minus 3. High plus 10.
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Sunday 27
February 2005 |
The best way to predict the future is to invent it -- Alan Kay |
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When I was in British Columbia, I happened to be discussing a heating system for a greenhouse belonging to a friend. I had decided some time back, using energy costs in Alberta, that a heat pump was impractical., but I was amazed to find that B.C. electricity prices (delivered) are about one third -- 6-1/2¢ -- of ours -- 16.5¢ -- here in Alberta, judging by their total bill divided by consumption compared to ours. My rate has been over 20¢ at times recently, but theirs is fixed.
| Okay, here is some
feedback, already: > Sent:
Monday, February 28, 2005 11:42 AM Thanks. That gives me something to chew on. I checked mine and see that the rates have come down a bit since I checked a year ago. They are not triple anymore, but they are still pretty high, though. What is the total, including taxes, and the amount consumed for several bills?? For example, my Nov bill is $161.20
(total) for 1160 KWH = 13.9c/KWH allen What do you think? Let's carry this on in the forum |
Of course, their heating oil and natural gas prices are higher, so, after crunching the numbers, it turns out that heat pumps make a lot of sense in B.C. I noticed that quite a few heat pumps are being installed in Manitoba when I was there last fall. I wonder how much they are paying for power there?
Today: Sunny. High 3. Tonight: Clear. Low minus 12. Monday: Sunny. High plus 4. Tuesday: A mix of sun and cloud. Low minus 5. High plus 9. Wednesday: Sunny. Low minus 4. High plus 10. Thursday: Sunny. Low minus 1. High plus 10.
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Monday 28
February 2005 |
I think the world is run by 'C' students -- Al McGuire |
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I see that, today, we have water on top of the
ice on our pond.
Purves-Smiths came for supper.
Today: Sunny. High 10. Tonight: Clear. Low minus 3. Tuesday: Sunny. Wind becoming west 20 km/h in the morning. High plus 11. Wednesday: A mix of sun and cloud. Low minus 5. High plus 8. Thursday: Sunny. Low zero. High 9. Friday: Sunny. Low minus 2. High plus 10.
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