To Bee or not to Bee

Jackie had a near death experience the other day that we are all a little shook up about. While at the pool with the kids she was assaulted and then stung by a bee! Not any ordinary wasp, or mild mannered yellow jacket, no this was a blood thirsty honey bee. The policeman who took her statement said that it was probably an isolated incident and that it probably wasn't targeting her specifically. Kalli Loveridge, an eye witness to the event (and survivor of 11 wasp stings at one time) had this to say, "Hey Dad guess what, Mom got stung by a bee". This was Jackie's first (and hopefully last) time being stung by a bee. She was quoted as saying "I felt something on my back, so I tried to brush it off, and it stung me". Thankfully the bee died after it stung her so that it can't go on to attack other innocent victims.



Artist rendering of attacker

(I love you honey)

Green Thumb

Jackie made fun of me the other day because I said that "I like gardening". After re-thinking it I realized that what I meant to say was "I like watching the plants grow, and then picking the fruit, and eating it". The whole weeding and tilling thing I'm not so crazy about, but there is something satisfying once you have the ground looking all beautiful and ready for plants.

This year the kids have really helped out, each in there own way. Kade helped me with the first weeding and tilling. It really helps the hours go by when you're answering all sorts of questions like "why we want to throw away some plants (weeds) but let other plants grow (tomato's), and why some worms are good for the garden (earthworms) and some "worms" are bad (tomato grubs, snails). As I was digging up the ground he told me to let him know when I found a worm. When I asked him why he said that "he wanted to let it slobber in his hand." Nothing like a bunch of worm mucus to start the day. Later when the girls came out he told them that "we only want good worms in the garden, not evil worms". I never knew that we had evil worms plotting to overthrow our garden. Worms these days.

Kalli also tries her best to help out, but when it comes to weeding Kalli has about as much interest as I do in eating a pickle. She is however, great at watering. She can water the heck out of a plant. In fact we have a couple of watermelon plants that may not make it because she did such a good job watering them.

Lindsay is just always willing to help out whenever and wherever. She does an awesome job. Hopefully we won't burn her out on helping, before we get the other two all trained up.

So I may not like weeding, but I do enjoy hanging out with my wife and kids. And just in case anyone has any doubts of my mad gardening skills I decided to post a progress picture of my avocado plant "Gwock". He's one year old now. We probably won't be having a party but you can send a birthday card with money if you'd like. I'm not sure what we'll do if he outgrows the house. Move to Brazil I suppose.