Friday, May 01, 2009

Black Eyed Susan Vine

My first bloom on one of my multitudes of vines I started, I can't wait, I love these vines :) I moved them into my hanging baskets yesterday as they were getting a little long, and they can sit inside for a few more weeks.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Alberta Campground Bookings Go Online

This was VERY interesting for me, I doubt we are going camping this year since our trip is taking up lots of fundage, but we are hoping in the next couple years to get another tent trailer and get out there with the kids. I live online, so this is just awesome. I hate phones. LOL. Booking online = perfect.

These two facts on the site I can't wait to check out, the 360 view of the campsites? That's AWESOME!

  • Provide “real time” information on campsite availability; and
  • Include leading-edge geospatial technology that allows panoramic 360-degree views of campgrounds and campsites

From the Edmonton Journal:

For Cindy Ady, finding a campground with showers, flush toilets and power is a must when it comes to vacationing in the great outdoors.

While unveiling the new online camping reservation system on Wednesday, the minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation joked about her need for the extras while camping.

"I am a recreation camper, not a hardcore camper," she said.

The reservation service will be available to the public May 1 at www.Reserve.AlbertaParks.ca. Campers may reserve campsites at 25 provincial campgrounds chosen for a pilot project.

The new reservation system will allow people to choose campsites based on individual preferences, such as size, proximity to washrooms, even firepit location. Campers can get a 360-degree panoramic view of campsites and campgrounds on the website.

"This new service that we're announcing today will make it easier for campers to use our provincial campgrounds," Ady said.

The move to create an online registration service came in response to a 2007 survey of campers, many of whom were frustrated with the existing booking system.

"Eighty per cent of (campers) were selecting their campsite online, but they couldn't book the site," Ady said. "It felt like an incomplete service to them."

The first phase of the online service will cost the province $8.4 million, and the estimated cost for the first year of operation is $1.8 million.

In addition to camping fees, users of the online registration will have to pay a $10 reservation fee. The added cost does not sit well with Harry Chase, Calgary MLA and Liberal critic for parks and protected areas. Chase said he is concerned the extra fee will make camping more exclusive and too costly for some families.

"This may force families into random camping on Crown land in the backwoods, and that's where the yahoos are," he said. "The potential for conflict between a family trying to have recreation and a bunch of good old boys boozing it up is a concern."

Camper Lavona Bailer is frustrated with the $10 fee as well. She said she doesn't understand why the government is adding an extra fee when so many other places offer discounts for booking online.

Bailer has started an online petition to protest the fees, which she thinks will hurt tourism more than help it. She said, given the choice, she would choose the campground that does not charge extra for booking online.

"Half the time, the weather on weekends is crappy, so you end up cancelling and then you are out $10," she said. "Where is the money going? It just seems like a bit of a cash grab to me."

The $10 fee is not new to campsite reservations, says Camille Weleschuk, spokesperson for Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation. She said people phoning campgrounds to make reservations were charged the same fee.

Campgrounds in the pilot project were chosen based on popularity and proximity to major cities and highways. Ady said the province hopes to add 100 more campgrounds to the online service next year.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

You May Not Like The Snow...

...but my plants sure do!

My delphiniums (I think lol, they could be larkspur, the leaves are similar and I planted both) are exploding faster than most of my spring plants, I am surprised at how hardy they are. I am so excited, they should bloom this year!

My giant onions are growing sooo fast.

And some sorta bulb that I can't remember the name, but they are already turning blue, and should be gorgeous in a week.


Pssst...Jane.....my honeysuckle FINALLY CAME BACK this year! What is this, #3 that I have tried? I was shocked to find buds on it.

Animals move today to new Edmonton shelter

Very cool, I knew they were getting a new facility, but didn't know they had revenue generating ideas and classrooms for summer camps etc! I LOVE the idea of classes to educate children on responsible pet ownership, I think that it makes a bigger impression rather than parents, (tho lord know we try) kids going to a class especially for it, and perhaps with some hands on learning as well.

From the Edmonton Journal:

More than 200 shelter animals will be transported from the society's cramped, crumbling 60-year-old facility on Yellowhead Trail on Tuesday morning into the new $22-million Chappelle Centre for Animal Care.

Suffused with natural light, the new 56,000-square-foot facility is the vision of executive director Stephanie McDonald, who developed her ideas through touring more than 70 animal shelters across North America.

Designed to promote animal care and reduce stress — a trigger for disease — the facility also includes a number of revenue-generating elements, among them a day care for dogs, a coin-operated dog bath and an off-leash park that's fenced and gated.

It also has community classroom space, which will be used for workshops and seminars, and for a summer camp where children can learn about responsible pet ownership.

The society plans to develop programs, too, focussed on socialization and behavioural issues, two of the biggest reasons owners surrender their pets.

"We're going to shape young minds here and they're going to change the face of animal care in our community," McDonald said in an interview earlier this year.

"This will be a place you'll want to come to, not just because you want to adopt an animal but because you want to educate your kids, or because you want to volunteer."

The new centre, which is located at 13620 163rd Street, is scheduled to open during the first week of May.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

You might be an Emergency Physician if...

(stolen from the U of A emerg medicine website, I guess they have to have a sense of humour to survive!)

-You have the bladder capacity of 5 people
-Discussing dismemberment over a gourmet meal seems perfectly normal to you
-You find humour in other people's stupidity
-You believe 90% of what you are told and 75% of what you see
-You have your weekends off planned a year in advance
-You plan what you are going to have for dinner before doing a gastric lavage
-You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if the phrase "wow it's really quiet" is uttered
-You take it as a compliment when someone calls you a dirty name
-You are prone to complimenting complete strangers on their great veins when you are out in public
-You have ever answered a "lost condom" phone call
-You have ever wanted to hold a seminar entitled "Suicide…Doing it right."
-You believe that "too stupid to live" should be a nursing diagnosis
-You have ever had to leave a patient's room before you begin to laugh uncontrollably
-You have ever restrained someone and it was not a sexual experience
-You have ever wanted to answer "yes" when someone calls and asks "is my husband, wife, mother, boyfriend, etc. there?"
-Your most common assessment question is "what changed tonight to make it an emergency after six [hours, days, weeks, months, years…..]"
-You believe the waiting room should be equiped with a Valium fountain
-You have been exposed to so many X-rays that you consider radiation a form of birth control
-You have ever had a patient look you straight in the eye and say "I have no idea how that got stuck there..."
-You believe that waiting room time should be proportional to the lingth of time from symptom onset. "You've had the pain for 3 weeks…well have a seat in the waiting room and we'll get back to you in 3 days."
-You know the number for the local Detox by heart.
-When checking the orientation of a patient, you aren't sure of the correct answer.
-You always try to schedule days off around the phases of the moon.
-Your alcoholically challenged patients know you by your first name, and can point to "their room."
-The hem of your uniform is held up with either 3-0 chromic or steristrips.
-You believe things would go much quicker if everyone would just get a head CT, AB's, Narcan and a loading dose of dilantin at the E.D. entrance.
-You associate possible house paint colours with body secretinos or functions such as: Bile green, venous blue, arterial red, puffer pink, mottled blue, etc.
-You believe the sight of a full moon can ruin a perfectly good day.
-You find yourself avoiding an unhealthy COPD patient in the grocery store in fear that he'll drop near you and you'll have to do CPR on your day off.
-Your family members have to have a fever of at least 40 or be missing a limb with active bleeding to receive your sympathy.
-You've held a 14 gauge needle over someone's vein and said "now there's going to be a little poke…."
-You are the only one at the dinner table not allowed to talk about your day at work…
-You've ever sworn that you were going to have "NO CODE" tattooed on your chest (or you already have it tattooed!)

Alberta Spring