Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
20 May 2010
25 February 2010
A while ago an experienced climber wanted his picture taken at Mount St. Helens.
Everyone who takes a good look at the rim of the crater knows there are very dangerous spots, especially when there's a thick layer of snow.
They guy however must have forgotten that or just not have used his brains.
He took of all equipment and even his coat, to have the best picture of his life taken.
Moments later he fell in the crater.
Even though his friends threw a survival kit towards him, he was found the other day: dead.
Another sad example of the irresponsibility of people.
Harsh, but true.
Here is one of the common videos everyone can see.
11 October 2009
Plant bulbs for christmas now
I want some flowers at christmas.
When do I need to plant the bulbs?
Or am I too late already.
The next two to three weeks is the best time to plant bulbs.
Some people begin as early as september 15 to be sure to have flowers all days of december. They keep the pots outside for some time and move them inside when it gets too cold.
But you can plant them and keep them inside all the time.
Get some good compost for potting or special bulb fibre that you soak well.
Use clean, fresh smelling, bulbs without a trace of fungus. (That goes for the compost too).
Put the bulbs close together or in layers, but make sure they won't touch each other.
Make the tip come above the sand just a tiny bit.
Keep the pots cool for a few weeks. No need to keep them dark, just cool, but not in the freezing cold.
You will enjoy to see the shoots grow.
When they're 5 cms you can raise the temperature a bit, but not too much at once.
Depending on the growth and room temperature you can move them to the livingroom.
Maybe you have to experiment a bit the first year.
Write down which bulbs you have used and what you have done.
I'm sure there will be a christmas you'll make some photographs to send to me to. :) Read more...
21 September 2009
Earthquake Bhutan and Assam
Today Bhutan and the north Indian state Assam were hit by an earthquake of 6.3 on the scale of Richter.
The epicentre was 180 km east of Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan, and 125 km north of Gauhati, the capital of the Indian state Assam.
Reports of feeling the quake come from as far as Bangladesh and Lhasa, but no damage was done there.
Not many reports are in yet, but from Gauhati we hear about buildings with cracked walls.
21 April 2009
Introducing nature to your child
I was asked when I started to make my children aware of nature.
Isn't it strange that we're now so conscious about introducing nature into the lives of our children?
In the past we just lives and nature was part of us.
When my children were born, the first 23 years ago, I wasn't conscious at all about the subject.
I just took my baby walking a few days a week.
Which was quite an enterprise... taking the pram downstairs three steep stairs.. and after that the baby. (Well, that was the reason we moved.)
When we moved, we had a garden and I put the pram in the garden for the afternoon sleep of the baby.
When he woke up, he heard the birds.
(And me chasing a cat! LOL! I didn't want cats to jump on the pram.)
I also often walked into the garden holding my child and pointing out the flowers, smelling the roses.
There mini-walks learned them that some insects needed to stay away and that could be done by slowly walking away. Not by trying to slap them.
When my children got a bit older and were able to walk themselves I took them to the park and we tried to find the plants we had in our garden and to see which animals were new. Like the ducks.
I taught them the difference between swans and geese, and warned them for their power.
Etc etc.
I just followed my heart and explained everything my dad explained to me, like never stepping at the part between the land and the ice on the lake, because the rim is the weakest.
It was fun!!
Over and over again.
15 April 2009
When to plant bulbs
This week I was asked when to plant bulbs.
Well, it depends.
Some bulbs need to be planted six weeks before it starts freezing, so that's before winter.
When you're not sure, then follow another rule.
The ground should be to 55°F, that's 12°Celcius or cooler.
When the soil is too warm or moist the bulbs will start to rot.
Some bulbs can be planted in spring.
It will say so on the package.
When you're not sure, buy bulbs in containers and put them outside at the time their collegues bloom.
Never ever put them outside just like that.
First water them and keep them in a cool area with temperatures above freezing for a few days.
When the narcisses and tulips are flowering you can put them in the ground.
Remove the container and plant the bulbs in the ground. Not too deep, but at the same level from the top as they were in the container.
29 March 2009
earthquakes in The Netherlands?
I was asked whether we experience earthquakes in The Netherlands.
The answer is: YES.
But we're not in a ring of fire or an area where the bottom is moving because of the shift of continents.
Our earthquakes are relatively small.
In the south of our country, Limburg, coals where mined for generations.
Once in a while part of an old coalmine collapses and it causes some shaking.
There are some breaks in the earthcrust which cause some movement too.
I've witnessed the worst with a magnitude of 5,8.
It was during a night that the earth moved.
It was like a huge truck was driving into our back yard.
Then everything started shaking and my meds fell from the shelves.
First I woke up my husband and he told I was nuts.
Then I switched on the radio.
The studio is situated far more north, and the quake even reached them.
They called: "What's that? What's that?"
Then my husband finally believed me.
In the north of the country quakes are induced because gas is taken out of the ground.
The quakes are minor too.
18 February 2009
planting bulbs
Are you ready to start spring yourself?
Buy the bulbs of flowers you like, a huge pot (or more), good compost.
Plants the bulbs that flower last the first, add compost and plant the ones that bloom a bit earlier and plant the ones that signal spring the first on top.
You'll have a long time of fun of a pot like that.
When you put the pot inside the house, the bulbs will flower sooner.
25 October 2008
08 March 2008
Vulcano Santiaguito 2006
I was asked for the Volcano Explosion of Volcán Santiaguito - 2006
Here it is:
21 February 2008
6.2 earthquake in Norway
The Svalbard Region, Norway had been hit by an earthquake of 6.2 on the scale of Richter.
It's the strongest earthquake in Norway in modern history.
The epicentre was located about 140 km south east of Longyearbyen, 10 km deep in the sea.
Yet it was strongly felt at Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen).
Luckily the area is sparsely populated.
14 December 2007
Laane answers- ampelmann
Laane,
Wat is an ampelmann?
The ampelmann is the little man on the trafficlights in Berlin.
It shows when you can cross the street.
The most recent meaning of the word has to do with stepping from one side to another too.
At sea.
You know the windmills in sea?
When they need repair, someone goes there by boat, steps over and then repair the windmill.
You can understand that that's not possible when it's bad weather.
The waves would smash the boat against the windmill.
Now it's impossble to do repairs 20% of the time.
That can be reduced to 5% by using the same system that is used in flightsimulators, but upside down. So the stable part is on top, enabling the repairman to step over from ampelmann to windmill and back.
The use of the system is the idea of some researchers at the TU Delft, The Netherlands.
First frost
We've had the first night of frost.
Ofcourse we went for a walk at night.
Like so often.
There was a thin haze above the lake and between thje trees.
It gave that extra glow to the lights that enables one to see the freezing.
The grass was white and the wind a little bit too unkind.
A part of the sky was clear and we could see quite high up.
The geminids presented us with their ballet.
I saw 5 falling starts and my son 8!
So I have made the necessary wishes,a dn boy, feels that good! LOL!
01 December 2007
superstorm
People are still waiting for the superstorm that was supposed to hit northern europe between november 24 and 27.
Well, let's say I'm happy there was no need to go into hiding, because we have no other place than the house.
I remember the leaflets we got in the sixties.
With pictures and text we were told to go into hiding under the table in case of a nuclear attack.
Later we were told to tape the doors and windows.
No one ever bothered to ask how we could tape the radiation out at the moment that we saw a bright flash of light.
I wonder what the next advice for us will be.
16 July 2007
washing a cushion with feathers
question:
Can I wash a cusion which is filled with feathers?
Well, you have to read the label.
Many cushions can be opened and the feathers taken out.
You can wash the cover, and air the feathers.
Expensive cushions are better be taken to the drycleaners.
If the cover is very closely woven, you'd better not wash it yourself.
If the cover is losely woven you can have a try.
Take a natural soap, or very soft detergent, no bleach.
Lots of water.
Keep taking clean water untill it stays clean.
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