Victoria Bug Zoo – Victoria, BC, Canada 8/5/2013 – http://fulltimetimeshare.com/blog

AUGUST 5, 2013 (Monday)

It is British Columbia Day today. A Canadian explained it to us last night. She said, “There is no holiday in August, so the Legislature fixed it and gave us British Columbia Day.” I think the economy here is pretty strong to entertain, let alone enact, such a holiday.

Edie celebrated by hanging out today. She did laundry, cleaned, made breakfast and lunch, and stood and sat around looking pretty all day. She was very creative at lunch. We had bought 4 super thin pizza crusts. We used 3 of them and the fourth was getting pretty dry. Edie misted it with water, put sauce on it, opened a can of chili and spread it on the crust. She added chopped onion and some mozzarella cheese. It was good. Never even considered Chili Pizza!

I went out into the world and explored. I spent a couple hours at the Victoria Bug Zoo. It is two rooms big and has millions of inhabitants. You walk in, join a tour guide in progress and go from exhibit to exhibit until you have made the loop.

Just before going in to the bug zoo, I noticed this building top. Fun.

They have an entire colony of leaf cutter ants. They put leaves in a bin and the ants do the rest. The Queen lives from 15 to 17 years and when she dies and thereby stops making replacements, the colony grows old and dies. The workers only live a couple months.

Million plus member ant colony. The queen can lay up to a thousand eggs a day. Big container next to yellow box is where the dead are buried. — Million plus member ant colony. The queen can lay up to a thousand eggs a day. Big container next to yellow box is where the dead are dumped.

Colony waste, guide says it makes great compost.

The food supply for the Colony. The staff put leaves in here and the ants do the rest. They chew the leaves and a fungus grows on them, that is what they eat.

One of the neatest features of the zoo is you get to hold the bugs!

All manor of insect beasts are there.

Beetles, mating, I've forgotten their names. — Beetles, mating, I’ve forgotten their names.

Orchid mantis. Guide says they look like an orchid and when a bee comes they grab them and start to eat them within 1/20th of a second.

I finished the tour and started focusing on when I go to bed and turn the light out and try to sleep tonight, I wanted an early start on getting the creeps. Stepped out into wonderful sunshine and Victoria views.

Not uncommon to look up and see a serene water view.

Then drove home contemplating things Canadian.

Got here 11 days ago, price has not changed on bit. Can't believe how stable. Not like US where a single headline sends it rocketing up and the it drifts down with all the mercy of a greedy man. The price is per liter. Works out to $4.5408 per gallon. — Got here 11 days ago, price has not changed one bit. Can’t believe how stable. Not like US where a single headline sends it rocketing up and then it drifts down with all the mercy of a greedy man. The price is per liter. Works out to $5.392 per gallon.

Got home, Edie was done with laundry. We had a nice sandwich for dinner. She wants to watch the season finale to the Bachelorette tonight, just shoot me now. Hope you had a great day!