A couple of weekends ago the bairns and I participated in the Bullhead Derby in Steveston. Scores of kids chasing sculpins large and small off the shore of Garry Point. It was a lot of fun and #2 child took 2nd prize with a 9 1/2" fish (at right). All good.
Last weekend we were treated to an unusual wildlife encounter. A colony of bees, likely in the process of locating and founding a new hive, settled in our garden on Saturday afternoon. 
After trying out a branch in our plum tree, they dropped to the ground and settled for the next 24 hours or so. Individual bees, perhaps scouts, shuttled in and out of the cluster until sunset and then again throughout Sunday morning. Finally on Sunday evening they rose in one great cloud (well, they did leave some stragglers) and made their way to Pacific Spirit Park. 
It's great to see honey bees around and, it seems, in good health.
A park near my house. Under fog instead of under snow is a welcome change.
The strike has gone on for almost 2 months. What are people doing with the garbage? Some are dumping it in the parks, others with friends and relatives in nearby municipalities. We are fortunate to have a garage and a few garbage cans to stockpile away from the house. But if we were back in our old apartment in Kits we’d be screwed (particularly with the flow of dirty diapers we’re generating). Some people we know are burning stuff in their fireplaces. I’m sincerely curious about how people are managing their garbage & recycling pileup.
Link: Strike makes woman easy pickings for garbage scam.
A Vancouver woman and three of her neighbours are out $40 after being tricked by a bogus trash collector.
Tara Wohlberg told CBC News a man with a van full of garbage knocked on her door at 5 p.m. Thursday and offered to take her garbage away for $20.
She said she collected up a bag of her own trash and three from her neighbours and paid the man a total $40 to take it all away.
But the next morning, her garbage had been returned to her alley and "the rats, crows and raccoons had an all-nighter with my fish skins and cat litter," she said.
Sea nettles (Chrysaora fuscescens) at the Vancouver Aquarium, Saturday.
the Vancouver Aquarium, August 13, 2005. Or see for your self: The Beluga Cam
today in Camosun Bog
one of the many beautiful BC images at Tilo’s Flickr page.
A few weeks ago my six year old daughter attended a presentation on sexual health at her school, put on by Saleema Noon. Yesterday the presentation paid its first dividend. My daughter and her friends found a used condom in the schoolyard. Recognizing what it was, they called a teacher who had it removed. While waiting for the teacher, another kid picked up the condom and insisted it was a balloon, against the protests of his classmates, and proceeded to play with it. Trust me when I say I am grateful my six year old sees a condom to avoid, rather than a balloon to play with. Early education in sexual health is a good thing.
And they think so in Bali too:
Balinese teenagers, said the Doctor, preferred to have information and
advice about sex to come from their teachers, rather than their
parents, not surprisingly, and so Murjana urged that sex education be
adopted as part of the national school curriculum, and not only taught
in the biology classes of the science stream (IPA) at senior high
school as at present. Such education should begin at junior high
school, he added.
Heather Deal will be bringing a Climate Change motion to Council for debate next week. From the text of the motion:
WHEREAS the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states:
o That eleven of the past twelve years rank among the twelve warmest years since 1850,
o That warming of the global climate is “unequivocal”,
o That “it is very likely that anthropogenic greenhouse gas increases caused most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century”
o And that “climate processes, feedbacks, and their timescales imply that anthropogenic warming and sea level rise would continue for centuries even if greenhouse gas concentrations were to be stabilized”;
AND WHEREAS the coast of British Columbia has seen its temperature rise by 0.6% over the past 100 years;
AND WHEREAS the Environment Protection Division of the BC Ministry of the Environment stated that the sea level has increased during the 20th century at a rate 10 times faster than the previous 3,000 years;
AND WHEREAS a sea-level rise would result in increased coastal erosion, flooding, and a resulting loss of coastal wetlands;
And WHEREAS sea-level rise threatens drainage, sewer and other coastal infrastructure;
AND WHEREAS, the economic importance of both the Port of Vancouver and Vancouver’s recreational/residential waterfront makes Vancouver especially vulnerable to impacts from sea-level rise in combination with storm surge events resulting from global climate change;
….etc etc….
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT
1. Council direct staff to examine potential impacts of climate change on City of Vancouver infrastructure, including port facilities, stormwater and sewage systems (including the Iona sewage plant), seawalls and foreshore development;
2. Staff report back to Council with recommendations for measures which could be taken to mitigate these impacts, including targets, timelines and budgets;
3. In light of IPCC findings, Council affirm Vancouver’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gasses by 6% below 1990 levels by 2012, and direct staff to begin discussing more significant reduction targets beyond 2012;
4. Council request the Mayor send a letter to the Premier of British Columbia and the Prime Minister of Canada requesting that they commit to important and meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, both consistent with the Kyoto Accord and to long-term reduction targets;
5. Staff integrate community engagement around climate change issues into all City communications.
I thought that the city was already engaged in 1 & 2. I would be surprised if the designers of the Convention Centre have not built some sea level rise assumptions into the layout of the facility:
Anyone wishing to speak to the motion can contact the City Clerk’s office.
iBiome 