Getting Stuff Done.

Well, I slept too many hours for several days, so at 4 am, I was just laying in bed not tired.  So I got up and decided to DO SOMETHING!

Early morning TV is awful, even the usual political channels.  So I did something I haven't done in a while.  I turned on the stereo.  Which was actually funny because I had to figure out how to do it.  No, I'm not stupid, it's just that there are so many options that it took a while to find just "music".  LOL!

Made breakfast.  Fed the cats.  Cleaned the litter boxes.  Emailed my trash collection company about the busted-up bin.  Did 2 loads of laundry.  Emptied the dishwasher.  Well, what do you do at 6 am? 

I had a package to return to Amazon.  Loki had an issue peeing on the bed a few times and I ordered a mattress protector.  Didn't realize it was a form-fitted kind (I have a waterbed).  I could buy a flat one, but I've been using a tarp to cover the bed.  Seems to be working.  But today was the last day I could return it, so I went to Staples as soon as they were open.  

That requires a QR code inside the box and outside for Staples to create a label.  The outside QR printout was too large and fuzzy.  So they cut the box open.  The inside one scanned perfectly.  And the person there said they cut the boxes open anyway to stuff the returns into plastic bags.  Who knew?  And I already have an email crediting my account.  

But at least that was done.

So I went to Petsmart to fill up the cat's pantry.  9 cases of regular Stinky Goodness and 2 cases of Marley's kidney care Hills stuff.  $400!  If I didn't have more money than Donald Trump actually does (joke, maybe), that would be a problem.  I mean, 45 pounds of cats costs more to feed than I spend on my own food at 165 pounds.  And I eat well...

And I bought a new 'betta splendens' while I was there. 

I normally keep a blue and a red one (in seperate tanks).  I was sad when the blue one died last week after a few years (they don't live long even naturally).  They display wonderfully when they see each other, but it exhausts them so I keep a piece of cardboard between the tanks most times.

And then I bought a new refrigerator (LG LRDCS2603D).  I had been planning to for months.  High Consumer Reports rating among bottom-freezers. But website pics don't show everything so I wanted to actually look at one.   I walked in to Home Depot (local DIY store) to just make sure I understood the shelves and freezer divisions.  

I walked out with a receipt and a delivery date, LOL.  No, they didn't trick me or anything.  I knew what I wanted.  I just needed to put my hands on the shelves and crispers and temperature controls.  It will be delivered Wed 27th.

But it has an ice-maker.  Which needs a water line to it.  I can make enough ice manually to suit my needs for my 6 pm cocktail, but it sure seems easier. to just always have more ice without effort.  Many of my recipes say "bathe in ice-water".  I've never had enough ice to do that, so maybe that will be good.

I had to laugh about one part of the sale.  The top door is reversible but the standard is on the wrong side for my kitchen.  The charged a penny for reversing it.  Seriously, it is right on the receipt.  The ink must cost them a penny.  LOL!

The Home Depot guy said to make sure the waterline extension ended with a shut-off valve directly behind the refrigerator.  I don't know why but he stressed that.

But the ice-maker function meant I had to decide on a plumber.  Many calls and questions about labor cost structure.   I looked at Yelp and a few other sites.   I decided on one that had good local ratings and experience and cost structure.

One I declined charged $150 per hour from leaving the previous job. Who gets $150 per hour for just driving, LOL?  Another I declined specifically said the shut-off valve would be in the basement (see above), so I told him I didn't think he was the right person for me.  

I'm hoping I have a good plumber to do the work.  It is pretty straight-forward, so I don't expect any technical difficulties.  But I won't know the cost until he examines the existing pipes and run-lines.  But he will arrive prepared to do the work immediately.  

That will be expensive ice for a while, but I probably grow to love it...

I am probably best off just accepting the plumbing cost...  Waiting for contractors to arrive in a 4 hour window drives me crazy.  They all probably cost the same, so avoiding the aggravation of waiting around is probably worth just having one person come to do the work.  For some things, it is worth getting estimates from multiple contractors.  For smaller matters, not so much.

The ancient basement fridge (37 years old) is probably costing me a lot in inefficiency.  And the local electric company will actually pay me $50 to have them haul it away.  And good riddance to it.  I have had to chip away ice every few months from below the top-freezer for years.  

Why do I want 2 refrigerators you may ask?  The basement one is mostly a root cellar and for more freezing capacity.  I keep the cool part at 40F and the freezer part on full cold (0 F)for long-storage.  Buying large amounts of meat  a few times a year to freeze is both convenient and cheaper.  And I keep my garden seeds and "beer for bread" in the cool part too.

Now it's time to gt to the basement and plant some tomatoes and peppers and melons and flowers...

Well, after I call The Mews in and give them lunch.

A "representative" lunch...

Little Requirements

I'm healing but not "healed".  I can drive the car safely and get through a store OK,  but getting in and out of the car is (literally) a bit of a pain.  

I have to help my right leg under the steering wheel in and out.  It's more "annoying" than anything else.   But I'd rather not do it anymore than I need to.  So I went shopping just for a can of fish flakes in spite of that.  Why?

They needed food suitable to their mouths.  I have some adult fish, some catfish, some baby guppies and a Betta (not all in the same aquarium).  The betta has pellets it loves (beats me why).  The catfish will eat anything that falls on the gravel.  I have frozen brine shrimp for the adult fish.

But the baby guppies need crushed flakes and I was OUT of flakes entirely.  Not even dust in the container.  I'm responsible for them as much as for the cats and the outside birds accustomed to getting suet and sunflower seeds.

So (reluctantly) out I went out bad weather notwithstanding...  I pay more attention to "the closest parking space" than I used to.  The shopping strip has speed bumps.  It drives me crazy when people come to a full stop before easing over them.  They are designed to be passed over best at about 10-15 mph.  

So I followed a car coming to full stops at each speed bump.  And there was a place where we had the right of way and the side lot area had a stop sign.  Guess who came to a full stop to wave the other driver on?  THAT messed up the expectation of 3 drivers and almost got me rear-ended!

I know people like that MEAN well, but they don't understand how it confuses others.  SOME people leave a trail of car accidents behind them and wonder how "others" cause them.  AARGHH!

Then I saw a close parking spot.  Guess who backed into it?  Of course that "full stop speed bump" driver had the right to it, but my bad luck meant the next open space was 50' more walking.

I was shopping at a pet store because I thought I would get a few middle-tank fish like serpa tetras (I'm down to 2 of them) while getting the fishy flakes.  No such luck; the tanks were nearly empty.  Maybe they are going out of business.  Or fish are hard to stock these days.  Whichever, I just got the fishy flakes.

The cashier is apparently required to ask if I found everything I wanted.  I know that if I say "no" they get all distressed and waste time trying to help me find it.  I mean, I already SAW they didn't have the tetras, so I said "yes".  

Which I'm sure goes into some report that they have everything I wanted (which suggests I wasn't looking for fish and was inaccurate).  Sometimes you can't win.  

Something else that annoys me is that EVERY SINGLE CASH REGISTER I EVER MEET NOW demands that I actively decline some charity or another.  I give to my choices regularly by credit card; I shouldn't need to have to press a button to say "no" at every cash register.  Besides, I bet the store would get a %.  And there is some slight public shaming (Oh look, he didn't give to save a homeless pet).

So, needing fishy flakes and not finding fish, I purchased and left.  I was advised that I had $3 reward points and used it.  Felt stupid using a credit card for the additional $2 and change, but I hate coins these days.  They just go into a large jar.  I need to bring them to my bank on a Thursday (they only accept loose coins then with some machine they have).  I understand; it is a bit labor-intensive.

Stopped at the local DIY store to drop off burnt fluorescent tubes and buy new ones for the plant stand.  They didn't have what I wanted.  Went to the next and they did (almost).  Not all artificial lighting is the same.  Watts are not that important.  Lumens and Color/Temperature are.  Very basically, Lumens are brightness, which is like "volume of light". Temperature in this regard isn't how HOT the bulb is; it is the red/green/blue color spectrum like in a star.

Plants mostly use red and blue for photosynthesis.  We see most plants as green because they DON'T use it and reflect it away.  The colors we see are what they DON'T absorb and use and (in light) expressed as "Kelvin" (temperature above absolute zero).  Long story not TOO LONG, plants grow best at 5000 Kelvin which (for reasons I do NOT understand) means mostly red and blue.

A typical room bulb is something like 2500K (which means it has green and gives us balanced color from OUR POV.  Pants like higher Kelvin to a point.  5000 is best, 4000 to 6500 is OK.  All I could find was 6100.  I bought some.  

Sorry for all the details, I never know where to stop.  Maybe I should have been a teacher...

I was pretty much worn out by the time I got home.  Too much walking and I can feel it.  But the fish needed the flakes and the baby guppies moreso crushed small and the plant stand had a few bulbs to replace.  You have responsibilities to things you keep.

So I take care of the birdfeeders even when I have to climb a 6' stepladder, go driving to get fishy flakes when they need them, etc.  

You do what you think you must.

Superbowl Sunday And Other Stuff

I LOVE Superbowl Sunday.  It means I can shop at the DIY store without a crowd there, LOL!  It's like shopping for flowers AFTER Valentines Day or grocery shopping after Thanksgiving Day.

It is supposed to start snowing later today.  The weather-forecasters have (by self-admission) been all over the forecasts this week.  Snow, no snow, snow.  Heavy, light, etc.  Apparently, the conditions are so uncertain that they just can't tell exactly where this storm is moving.

Which is not a great surprise.  Washington DC is a turbulence zone.  That means Southern warms meet Northern colds where the Jet Stream crosses the uneven Appalachian Mountains, so almost anything can happen.  

I mean, we got a foot of snow on Veterans Day one year and they didn't even think it would RAIN.  Took 3 hours to get home!

So they are saying tonight we might get 1-3" of snow followed by rain here.  Or not, depending on some high pressure front moved north or south 20 miles.  Let's just say I usually just look ouit the window to see what is happening.

1" of snow will melt.  3" might be annoying.  I'm not recovered enough to shovel 3" and the snow-blower doesn't real deal with lesser amounts well.

But with the possibility of snow, I had to check the bird-feeders.  I could see the thistleseed ones were about empty, so I brought out enough to refill them.  On the way, I checked the sunflower seed feeder.  The 2 suet feeders were OK, but the main seed tray was nearly empty.  Damn!

Well, I love my birds and snow causes them hardships.  So I carefully set up the ladder and dragged the seed bucket out and up.  I was VERY VERY careful.  I have to order more thistle and sunflower, I'm out.  The thought of dumping a 50 pound bag into the metal trash can I store the sunflowers in is daunting.  Maybe I'll just cut the top off and scoop.  Same with the thistle seed.

You make adjustments to the usual routines when you have to...  But I like my birds.  The cardinals are my favorites in Winter, so very bright red.  But there are many others who depend on the suet and seeds.  The thistle feeders are visited by goldfinches and sometimes by purple finches.  The goldfinches are the Spring/Summer glory around here.  So I support a small flock of cardinals and finches for Summer/Winter viewing.  

I'm still stiff in the morning and after sitting at the computer, but maybe some less each day.  I have to remind myself not to put a foot up on the opposite knee.  It doesn't bother me at the time, but it hurts some after.  Habits are hard to break.  

Cleaning the litter boxes is awkward.  I can't lift them to the workbench where I normally do it (resting the ribs for another 2 weeks) and gettting on hands and knees is not the easiest thing yet.  But I CAN carefully and it is a requirement.

Walking around is not much of a problem the past days.  Not like I can walk FAST, but it is mostly straight-forward.  I can return the walker to Deb anytime.  I plan to do that along with a loaf of warm bread.  She and John loved it cold; warm will be better just before dinnertime.  

That's not actually mine, but darn close.  I need to remember to take a picture.

Ordered some new seeds.  Most of mine are fresh (refrigeration helps) but some are old.  Late for ordering and so some are out of stock, but I made adjustments and am trying 2 new-to-me heirloom tomatoes.  One is a cold-tolerant early producer and the other is a pear-shaped Japanese type that is supposedly very meaty with few seeds.  

Have to replace some lights in the plant stand.  Naturally, they are at the bottom which is awkward.  Oh well, what is life without a few challenges?

Ran out of fish food yesterday, so off to the pet store I go today.  I thought I had a large container half-full stashed away, but no.  But while there,  I could use a few more fish.  They only live a few years and I am down to mostly guppies and a couple catfish.  I want some tetras.  The guppies hide in the floating plants on the top.  The tetras swim around the middle.

Laz loves watching the Fish TV from the stepstool.  He doesn't go after them or I would remove the stepstool.

I am slowly catching up on things here.  Quite a To Do list after a month ignoring clutter and grime.  I wish I could just flood the house with soapy water and suck it up with the shop vac, but one thing at a time will have to do.

Hanging in there...

Tadpoles

I am sometimes a bit harsh with varmints that move into my yard.  The squirrels got at my tomatoes and beans.  The groundhog eats my flowers.  The deer eat the hostas and Caladiums in the front yard.  They are NOT my loved wild animals.

There is a whole wetland and swamp and running water area across the street.  There are oak trees and stuff wild animals like to eat.  They don't need to bother me.

What they don't NEED to eat are my plants.  So I fight back a bit.  I built an entire enclose around my garden beds.  I built a tall fence 30 years ago.  The deer don't jump it.  But that doesn't stop the rabbits and groundhogs. 

The Mews take care of the rabbits.  But they can't handle a groundhog (aka woodchuck or whistle-pig).  But I can. Those normally eat lawn clover, but they sometimes decide to eat all the flowers. 

That's their end.  A hav-a-hart live cage trap is great with melon slices.  They love melons. 

I have a large tub of water that the cage fits into.   One "blub" and they go to "groundhog beyond".  If I knew a faster way, I would use it.  I hate them.  I once caught a new brood outside the den and pitchforked them!  Mom groundhog hissed at me, but I got her later.

So here is the tub.

I'm also growing aquarium plants in it.  But a frog decided to lay eggs.

Most tadpoles will not survive.  Well, think of it.  If they did, my yard would be ankle deep in frogs!  So I was curious about whether my aquarium fish would eat them (free food of high quality).

They attacked like piranha!  That was enlightening...  So I also put several into my 2 Betta tanks (one betta per tank).  One ate them and the other ignored them.  Nature is weird...

The ones in the tank where that betta didn't et them grew fast.  Betta food aggrees with them.  Today, I cleaned the tanks (monthly requirement as they have to pee in the water they live in in small tanks). 

So I netted the large tadpole in the one tank and returned them to the outdoor tub.  You wnt to know how Nature works?  They will eat their smaller siblings.  So I netted out a lot of the smaller ones.  No great favor to them.  They will be aquarium fish food.

 I watch Nature shows a lot.  Everything is eaten by something else without mercy.  Usually alive, and often ripped apart into pieces.  So I don't feel bad about feeding tadpoles to my aquarium fish or tossing a few lucky large-grown tadpoles to eat their siblings.  That's how all animals survive. 

I will have to bury the drowned groundhog though.  Otherwise the vultures find it and that IS rather gruesome.  But I bury them near specimen trees and that feeds THEM, so that is good. 

The circle of life goes on...

BTW "baby fish", once a tiny pair of eyes in the aquarium hiding in the live plants, the only survivor of a platy, is full size now.  It is my favorite for having survived all the others that wanted to eat it like a tadpole.  Some get lucky...

The Aquarium

I have a 30 gallon with community fresh water fish.There are some bottom-feeders like Corys and an algae-eater who keeps the glass clean.  There are a couple of Tiger Barbs and maybe a dozen Minor Serpa Tetras.  There are also pair of Marigold Platys. 

Platys bear live young.  The young never survive in a community tank.  They get eaten by the other fish nearly as fast as they are released.  I have come to hate that.

But I also have live plants and the "anachris" floats on the surface in a rather dense mat.  Baby fish hide in there. 


I disturbed the surface a month ago, and saw "something" dart out that was immediately eaten.  I realized it was a baby platy that I chased from its sanctuary among the floating plants.  I felt horrible about causing it to flee and be eaten by my action.

So, 2 weeks ago, when I opened the top of the hood to feed the fish, I happened to notice 2 tiny little eyes among the shelter of the plants.  It was a baby Platy that had survived its first few days.  With my reading glasses on, I saw it in various places for several more days.  Little black eyes hiding in the plants.

I've bred various fish in my life.  Bettas, cherry barbs, gouramis, and fancy guppies.  They each need special conditions, but most of all, safety from other fish.  There are even V-shape tank add-ins for live-bearers so the babies fall through and Mom doesn't eat them.  I should buy a new one.

Because Mom looks gravid again.

I haven't seen that Baby Fish for 3 days.   And I feel guilty...

Freshwater Aquarium

I have had one type of aquarium or another since college when I built a 2 gallon aquarium from plastic sheets I found in the trash in my college dorm (and bought plastic cement to hold it together - a serious expense at the time)

My first REAL job was in the fish department at a department store in 1971.  I had the aquarium I built and needed a few fish for it.  I visited the nearest department store, and was angry that the tanks were dirty and had dead fish in them.  I complained to the person at the cash register (in those days, each department had its own cash register).

The person was the Department Manager.  A real slob, reflecting how he maintained the fish tanks.  He offerred me a job.  I took it (minimum wage was better than no wage, and I hated asking my parents for "spending money" while they were paying college tuition and board).

In a week, I had all the dead  fish removed (and accounted for, for inventory-reporting), tanks cleaned, and asked what to do next.  The Department Manager guy didn't care, but the part-time Assistant Manager was impressed.


It was a chain operation.  Back then, discount stores were called "department" stores because each "department" was a separate business renting space in it.  I bet you never knew THAT!

So the Regional Manager came along once a month (he had dozens of "fish departments" to oversee).  The assistant manager told him what I had been doing (that the department manager had not) and the Manager was fired, the Assistant went to Manager and I got nothing...  Huh?

So I upped my game.  There was one tall display case in the storage room, and I cleaned it up, set it at the entrance to the department, and set up breeding tanks.  One month it would be cherry barbs, another, fancy guppies, another, Siamese Fighting Fish.

I even found a 2 gallon brandy-snifter in the glasswares department and snuck it away to create a self-contained live plant and guppy "tank" that required no feeding of the fish or water changes (other than adding some distilled water occasionally).

The next time the Regional Manager came by, he announced they were closing the department.  But he offerred me the Manager job at one of their better departments in Cherry Hill New Jersey.  20% above minimum wage.

A 20% wage increase would have been great.  But I was still in college and had hopes for a better future.  I declined the offer.  You never know what changes such choices make.  For all I know, my career could have gone into retail sales and store management with company stocks and wealth.  But I stayed in college.

I mention all this because I still keep fish.  Watching them swim around endlessly is soothing.  It gives me something to be responsible for (as if the cats and house and yard weren't enough).  But you know what I mean.  It adds structure to the day.  And Ayla loves watching them move around.

So When I found a algea-like slime couting the bottom of the aqurium last year, I took the whole thing apart (moved the fish to a 10 gallon aquarium temporarily).   I cleaned the plastic plants.  I scooped out all the gravel.  I scrubbed the tank with a pad and then filled it with water out on the deck and added bleach to kill anything in it. 

Then I rinsed the tank several times, stirring up the gravel as I went.  Then I set it all up again and moved the fish back in.

That lasted 3 months.  The slime returned.

I repeated the process.

In December the slime returned.  It shouldn't have, so I did so research.  I learned my problem was "blue-green" algae.  And that the name was false.  It is a "cyano-bacteria", and bacteria is not "algae".  Bleach doesn't kill it. 

I found help at Petco.  There was a woman with a dog (a customer, I assumed) talking to a woman with a Petco uniform.  The usual fish expert was not there.  So I asked uniformed woman if the expert was there.  He wasn't, but she offerred to help.

I was doubtful.  Be sure to understand it was because she wasn't the fish expert that I doubted she could help.  I know about helping customers (spent 5 years in stores doing whatever I could to help), but expertise was needed here.  She had no idea what cyanobacteria was. 

But she was willing to help.  Unfortunately, I know how THAT goes.  The helpful clerk pulls bottles off the shelf and reads them to see if they mention the problem.  I appreciate the willingness to help, but I had done that already and with more experience.

But guess what?  The "customer with the dog" was actually the Regional Manager and knew EXACTLY what I was talking about!  She handed her dog (on a leash) to the clerk, and said I needed "Chemi-Clean" and walked directly to the spot on the shelf where it was stocked.

The spot on the shelf was empty...   But she said they had just gotten the weekly shipment of supplies in.  She went to the back and returned with a container of The Right Stuff!

$20!  Well, compared to cleaning the aquarium again, that was a bargain.  It is harmless to fish and plants.  You keep the water circulating without charcoal filters at high power (extra air bubblers) for 48 hours and then replace 20% of the water.  The cyano-bacteria is supposedly dead.  And the container has 10 doses in it (endless shelf-life apparently).

A week later, the aquarium looks clean.  Without the plants in the aquarium, I see I have more fish than I realized!  Some I knew of, of course (red-tailed shark, 2 corydoris catfish, 1 algae eater), but 11 serpae tetra and 3 tiger barbs.  I thought I had only 6 tetras.  I guess they hide well.

And, in the picture above, you see a small 10 gallon tank at the bottom.  That's where the 6 new tiger barbs are staying for a week while I make sure they don't bring home a disease.  The screen and brick on the top of that tank is to make sure the cats don't get too pawy at them.

The cloudy stuff in the center are air bubbles from a long strip bubbler...

I haven't added the plastic plants back in yet, but they seem clean.  BTW, that brown block above is a piece of petrified wood. 

I'll add them back soon.  But I'm thinking I should add some live plants.  That can wait, but it is on my list...BTW, that brown block

Fish Loyalty

Fresh water tropical aquarium fish are generally small and only live a couple/few years.   I have a 30 gallon tank, so there are about 2 dozen small fish in it (mostly tiger barbs, cherry barbs, and serpa tetra).  So it is no great surprise to me to see a dead one every so often.  Yesterday, I noticed that the male dwarf gourami of my pair had died and was lying in a corner of the aquarium.  I knew I would have to get it out soon but I was a bit busy.

What surprised me was that the female was within a couple of inches of the dead male each time I passed by.  I glanced at the spot each time I passed for a couple of hours and she was always right there!  So I just watched her.

It's not like I always saw them swimming around together, and I certainly never noticed them trying to build a nest or mate.  I'm also not inclined to ascribe complex emotions to a fish.  But she was staying between him and the other fish in the tank.  I think she sensed something was wrong with him and may have even been guarding him.

Pretty impressive for a "just a fish".

I've Had Better Days

I don't mean anything serious went bad.  No family problems, no accidents, no injuries.  But you know how some days just go "off"...

Yesterday started well.  I slept well after getting up at dawn for the tree removal crew the day before, and got up early enough to make Dad and myself an actual breakfast omelet (with sauted red and green bell peppers, onion, mushroom, and cheese), toasted english muffins, bacon, and cottage-fried potatoes.  He usually eats cereal because I tend to sleep late.  So when I'm up early, I try to give him a change of pace.

I knew I had a vet appointment for Marley to get a 2nd of 3 shots for "something".  All the cats shots seem to have similiar initials.  But I had other shopping to do and enough time, so off I went.

A foot-pedal compost can for Dad (to make it easier) and a wooden toast tong so Dad can get those small english muffins out - after I saw him get at one with a fork), kitty litter at Petsmart, an ATM visit, and then a trip through WalMart!

I was looking for camo jeans (no luck), rechargeable batteries (got them), calendars (got them), candy/tea/V8 (got them), locktite screw-holder (no luck), and aquarium fish (thereby hangs the tale)...

I'm not sure how to say this.  I know some people are not as capable as others and have some difficulties in life.  I understand that, and I am patient.  I have had friends and relatives in my younger years like that.  I was the kid who told the other kids to calm down (or back off) around other kids who had problems.

The local Walmart has this one guy who works in the pet department.  He tries well, but he is slow to do things.  Walmart does not make it easier for him.  They put several kinds of fish in the same aquarium, they don't put pictures of the fish on the labels and its seems they don't provide any training at catching fish in aquariums.

I have dealt with the guy before.  I stay polite and patient.  I know he is doing the best he can.  I had an appointment to bring Marley to the Vet at 3 pm, but it was only 2 pm, and I had some other things to buy.  I got him to write down the 3 fish I wanted.  6 tiger barbs, 6 serpa tetra, and one small plecostomus.  I made sure he saw which fish they were.

 He got the tiger barbs just fine, so I went to finish my shopping.

10 minutes later, he was struggling to get the serpa tetra.  They are coralish-orangy-colored and were in a tank of several kinds of black fish.   He kept taking black fish out of the tank.  I suggested several easier ways of getting them, but he didn't understand what I suggested.  My brain was screaming "just take the net and get them", but I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  It took 35 minutes!!!  I felt sorry for him, but I didn't know what to do.  I could have netted all the fish in 3 minutes. 

Exactly when he was done, another guy in the pet dept called out to him "you need some help?" and "hope you didn't kill any this time".  I felt very bad.  So after I got my fish, I went over to the guy and asked him why he didn't volunteer to help the other guy when he first saw he was having trouble.  He said it was funny watching him.  I said it wasn't funny to ME!

I'm not pure on this.  I just wanted to get my cheap fish from Walmart and get the heck out of the store as fast as possible and put them in the quarantine tank to see if they are healthy after a week.

But the delay meant I was seriously behind schedule getting Marley to the vet.  When I got home, I had to toss the bag of new fish into the main aquarium to stay warm. get out the cat carrier, and get Marley into it.

Naturally, he had to see me take out the cat carrier and he hid.  I HATE sitting around the vet office.  If you are late, you have to sit around through 2 more appointments.  So I got after Marley aggressively.  By the time I got ahold of him and him into the carrier, we were BOTH seriously aggravated.  Marley clawed me good on the neck...

I gave Marley extra attention last night.  But I wonder if that guy at Walmart will be getting any attention.  He needs it.

*Sigh*

My new fish seem OK in the quarantine tank.  Marley has calmed down and is back looking for scritchies and chin rubs.  Dad is happily watching a replay of the golf tournament he watched this past weekend.  I am managing my odd household...

Pleco Has A New Home

The Plecostomus catfish has a new home now. 

After the first round of emails on the Craiglist offer, I was pretty discouraged.  The first person to respond said he would be over that night after work, then the 2nd night because he needed his big net and a plastic container for transport, then... nothing.  The 2nd person also failed to reply a 2nd time after expressing great interest.  The 3rd and 4th never replied when I asked if they were still interested.

 And then there were the 4 pathetically obvious spam emails.  The grammar was so stilted that it was obvious they weren't local.  Forgive me for saying "typical bad chinese spammer translations".  But seriously, they mentioned how much their children wanted a sweet cuddly pet, asked if it had its shots, etc, as if it was a mammal pet. 

So I posted a new offer on craigslist and received two emails.  The first wrote like pet owners do, describing the large 210 gallon heated aquarium, the few large fish, the outside ponds and that there were only goldfish in the aquarium because they hate to leave them outside for the winter, the 2 dogs and 6 cats.  She asked if she could steal enough water that the pleco was used to so that she could slowly add her aquarium water to a cooler to adjust it to any pH differences, etc.  Hallmarks of a knowledgeable aquariast...

The 2nd person sent a picture of what was obviously an "for sale" empty pet store aquarium (in Dallas, based on the displays around it).  I didn't even reply to THAT one, LOL!  And there were more of the spammer hoax offers.

So the 1st person came by Saturday afternoon.  I was comfortable with her the moment I saw her.  She was wearing boots, twill workpants and an old parka, and asked if she was going to scare the kitties before she came in the house.  She apologized to the pleco for scaring it before she went in with her large net, moved the net slowly, joked when I sucked a bit of water in my mouth starting the siphon, and talked to it as she put it in the cooler of my aquarium water.  All good signs.

I think my pleco will have a much better time in her larger aquarium...

Today, I filled a smaller aquarium with some of the existing water and moved all the plants to a bucket and the small fish to the smaller aquarium so that I can clean the large one thoroughly.  I'll add an extra 1" of aquarium gravel to set the plants in better, add new (aged) water, and set the smaller fish bak in after a couple days.

And then I'll go buy a young 1.5" pleco!

My Big 10" Fish

Well, OK, the warm-water Plecostomus catfish/algae-eater is really 9.5", but I love it just the same.  Sadly, it has gotten too big for my 30 gallon aquarium, so I offerred it free to "a good home" on Craigslist, asking for aquarium size and pictures of the new aquarium home.

What an adventure!  I received 6 inquiries the first day.  Only one sent a picture and said the aquarium was 150 gallons, but I saw goldfish in there.  Still, it was in the house, so it couldn't be THAT cold.  That person promised to come by Monday night, then Tuesday with a big net and transport box.  Haven't heard from him since.

The 2nd person had a 125 gallon aquarium and "really been looking for" a large Pleco.  2 emails, no further response.

3rd admitted to having a large oscar that killed smaller plecos.  Forget that!

2 others that haven't replied to requests for pictures of their aquarium.

Oh drat!  The most promising person just replied "no longer interested".  Sad...

And then there were the spam responses.  They were hilarious AND pathetically easy to identify.  They said they wanted a cuddly pet for their kids, and asked if it had gotten its shots.  All said almost the exact same thing.  Some sort of flash mob game, I suppose.  Very strange.

But here I am now with my plecostomus, too big for the aquarium, and only one person left who might want it (I'm waiting for a reply).

I really care about the Pleco.  Its somewhere between 12-15 years old and I got it as a baby at 1".  And I KNOW that some person or business with a large display tank would love having this fish.

JUST got a reply from the best home.  She wanted it for a friend's aquarium.  Friend was too far to drive here and she won't drive into MD.  I won't drive into VA.

I will put up a new ad on Craigslist tonight...  I just want a better home for my Pleco.

Aquarium, Finished

Having finally gotten the plant light stand finished, I went after the aquarium again.  I tried sealing the leak in the old one twice, and failed.  Evidently, a structural failure in the glass just resists sealing.

So I bought a replacement 30 gallon high tank and got it in place.  It took a lot of pitchers of water to pill it 1/2 way.  I added all the plastic plants in.  I set a 12" long bubble aerator in place.   Oddly, it works better than it used to.  Bubbles all along the length instead on just in 2 spots.  I have no idea why, but I'm glad of it.

It was also good to get the several stylers of fake plants arranged into groups.  It looks a lot more natural now.    "Natural" being a relative term in such an artificial environment.  But I do what I can.

It is not a really fancy aquarium.  I have 8 tiger barbs, a few old serpa tetra, a couple of some rasbora that got added to a bag once by a really incompetent Wal Mart employee, and one really old plecostomus plecostomus (hypostomus plecostomus?).  That guy (gal?) is 8" long and my favorite indidual fish.  I think it is about 10 years old.  Possibly 15.  I didn't record the date.

It is SO LARGE I can't get it in a net.  To get it out of the old tank, I had to use a sieve.  To get it out of the temp tank, I had to put a pitcher in the water and encourage it to "hide" in there while I covered the opening with a net.  Fish are very strong.  I grabbed the pleco once and, at 8 ounces, it was like handling an angry cat!  And it had spines!  Not easy to handle.

So it was a relief to discover I could offer it a lace to hide in a pitcher and then cover the pitcher up with a net and slide it into the new tank!!!

You know where the pleco likes to hide?  Along the back of a piece of petrified wood!  You know where that petrified wood came from?  My dad brought it home one day in (guessing) 1957!  I've had that ever since and it is precious to me.  Cuz Dad gave it to me and I know about fossilized trees.

Hurray for the Pleco!  And hurray for the new fish tank!  I'm so glad it is finally up and running again.

The Aquarium

I mentioned weeks ago I had a problem with the fresh water "30 gallon high" aquarium.  It popped a fracture in the glass and leaked slowly.  I spend a long afternoon dragging stuff out of a deep closet to finally get at an old "20 gallon long aquarium" (same base size as 30 gal high).  I successfully moved all the fish to the 20 gallon long sitting on the floor (so I could siphon the water down).

I emptied the 30 gallon high of water, took out the plastic plants, and scooped out the gravel, and let it dry for days.   Then I bought a silicon aquarium sealer and applied it.  I let it dry for several days.  When I refilled it, it leaked again.

I drained it, let it dry, dried it mechanically  with paper towels and left the vaccuum cleaner exhaust blowing on it for hours, waited a few days, and re-sealed it.  It leaked again.  So I gave up and bought a new 30 gal high aquarium.  A 30 gallon high glass aquarium is not light.  I struggled to get it into the car from Petco (they had the vastly better price for the same aquarium).

I spent an hour removing all the plants from the old aquarium and scooping the gravel out.  Square food containers do a wonderful job of that!   It took some lifting to get the old leaking aquarium off the stand and onto a chair.  Then the new one in place.  I spent several minutes making sure the new aquarium was positioned properly on the stand.  That was after removing the background sheet from the old one and attaching it to the new tank.  It's just a colored sheet, but it gives a sense of depth to the tank.

So I filled up the new tank slowly, watching for any leaks at each rise in water level.  I didn't see any.  Sand first with square food container.  Then water, 2 qts at a time.  Man that is tedious.  A 2 qt pitcher takes 30 fills to get 1/2 way up!

But at least I could put the plastic plants back in at that point.  At least it looked better this time than the last.  I grouped the several styles better.  But having arranged the plants in the gravel, I couldn't just randomly pour new water in from a pitcher. Water-force too strong that way.  So I filled up a 5 gallon bucket on the top  and siphoned the water in slowly.   I filled the upper bucket continuously until it neared the top. 

I had an 12" long air bubbler working on the bottom to recirculate the water while the chlorine got evaporated out.  I remembered I had some powder that claimed to eliminate chlorine, chloromate/chloromine, and ammonia immediately, so I added some of that.  But I will still wait til tomorrow to add the fish back.  The old an new aquaria are both at room temperature right now so the fish won't suffer any temperature shock.  But room temp is too low for them in the long term.  As soon as the fish are transferred back to the new aquarium, I will raise the temp 1 degree per day to get the tank temp up to 76 where I think they do best.  I know, some people say 78 degrees, but they live longer at slightly cooler temps.

It will be great to have the fishtank working again.

But I have to tell you something that made me laugh about getting the new tank home.

I found the fine print of the guarantee on a small sticker inside the tank, facing away from view...

1.  They specified that the 5 year warranty only applied to their tanks on their own brand of stands.    What are the odds of that?  My aquarium stand is 50 years old and as solid as rock.  No new company builds them that solid anymore.  But it invalidates the warranty.

2.  They also demand that "the aquarium has not been lifted by the frame"...  Um, do you know any other way to transport one from store to stand other than handling the frame?  At some point, don't you HAVE to lift an aquarium onto a stand?  But there goes the warranty.  Who writes these things?

Idiots...   LOL!

Some Days Are Just Good

I love productive days!  It doesn't matter much what I am productive at.  Some days it is gardening, and it might be planting seeds, transplanting seedlings,  or weeding large areas.  Some days it is building stuff indoors.  Some days it is cleaning the house.  Some days it is organizing things.  Some days it is as basic as cleaning out the fish tanks.  Or other stuff.

It matters that I keep busy in retirement.  It is easy to waste time.  "Tomorrow" is fine...  I don't work that way.  I have less time left than I did when I was 20.  I don't mean to say that bothers me all that much, I stayed busy when I was 20, too.  But I don't want to sit around thinking I will do things tomorrow".

I could go into great detail (and I probably will in future posts), but lately I've weeded 500 square feet of flowerbed, planted small crops (carrots, radishes, kohlrabi, leeks, etc etc),  trapped a threatening groundhog and a rabbit with a taste for cucumber seedlings, cleaned out and rehabilitated an aluminum bass boat with floors, created a new plant light stand for seedlings, destructed the old light stand, drained the hot water heater of mineral sludge, cleaned the washer/dryer/dishwasher/oven, rewired several basement outlets to code, and about finished the new plant light stand (which was a real piece of work)

And then there are the cats.  I love them all dearly.  At least Iza and Marley come in when called.  Ayla doesn't. She likes to stay out a night first before returning.  So I had the idea of letting her out as long as she wanted til she was bored and preferred the food inside.  Its opposite feral adoption, in a way. 

After Ayla escaped out a couple weeks ago and stayed out three nights, I have let her out regularly.  She stays near the fence, just won't come back in when called.   The idea is that I let her out enough so that she gets bored and decides the house is good at least at night.  I don't know for sure that this will work

But she stayed out 3 nights at first, 2 nights the next 2 times, and not at night today.  It MAY be that enough outside time equals more inside time.  She sure loves my attention!  When se comes in she crawls all over we seeking my scritches and neck rubs.  So it may be that, let out enough, se will b more willing to come inside again.

I HAD TO relent.  She had gotten so frantic to get outside after a year confinement that she would hide behind the drapes near the deck door, stalk behind me, etc.  She just couldn't be kept inside anymore.  As strong as my desire was to keep her in, her desire to get out exceeded that.