Ooh… Purty fishies! I love fish tanks (not salt water ones, though–unless that is a salt water tank. If so, I take it back). I used to have a fish tank, but got tired of the maintenance. Maybe someday…
I am up. TH is back from Boston/Austin. Beautiful day for a soccer game. I am trying to decide what else to do today that doesn’t involve chores or money. It’s harder than it looks to come up with something. Taters–I hear you re the job. Perhaps this is just a honeymoon period and the Slog will begin, but right now, I’ll take it. I am also hear to say that I never thought it could happen to me and it did. Keep your eyes and ears open–something may come up. You just never know…
Oooh nooo, not a saltwater tank. Besides being monstrously expensive, they are a bitch to maintain. I can’t justify spending over 100 dollars on a single fish. and we just don’t have the time to maintain one.
At one point, many years ago, we had three freshwater tanks going (55 gallon, 35 gallon, and 25 gallon). We got rid of all of them eventually. Last year, though, my husband decided he wanted a fish tank for his birthday. Being a nice wife, I went ahead and got that for him.
Fresh water tanks aren’t too bad to maintain, if you remember to do weekly ten percent water changes. We had been so busy of late, that we hadn’t done it in awhile. Last week, we completely broke it down and cleaned it top to bottom. Washing over fifty pounds of gravel is not fun, by the way. We had three fish die during the cleaning though, because we neglected to aerate their temporary bin. We bought two replacement fish (one of the replacement fish isn’t pictured because he was hiding).
At any rate, it’s clean and purty again. I wish the stupid fish would quit pulling up the plants though.
We saw some beautiful Jack Dempseys, but weren’t willing to spend $69.00 on a single fish that could possibly be eaten by the oscars. They were too small to put in our current tank.
I guess I should clean up now. I’m having problems motivating myself.
whew … morning all, although it is almost afternoon now. I was up very early and caffeinated then. Just now finished up brekkie of pancakes, eggs and bacon (very tasty!).
Taters, what a pretty tank and my gosh, those fish have grown! Rigs, it is good to hear that you are feeling happy with the librarian job - just wow.
Hope that BooFae’s back is doing better today. {{{{{{Spaz}}}}}} - I hope that you’re able to find a good situation soon; I’m thinking of you and sending good vibes your way.
I’m resting up today for the “big” day tomorrow! LOL Well, it’s a lot packed in one day, including the round trip to Philly and back. Wish I had more time to spend with family, but I’m glad to have what I do.
It’s nice to hear that things are going so well with the job, rigs.
I’ve been a good girl and shredded lots of stuff, done more organizing, and started to organize and upload Chicago pictures. I’m posting them day by day, [del]because I’m lazy[/del] to keep up the suspense.
I’ll put all the links up in a single post one day next week.
For now, here’s the first: Day One. Pictures of MBG and his wife are in this set.
Preston Bradley Hall is inside the Chicago Cultural Center, which used to be the Chicago Public Library. I think they use it for concerts and lectures and receptions and such. Here’s more info.It a very large Tiffany glass dome, which they finished restoring last year. There are links from this page with more info on that.
I don’t know that I’d make a special trip just to see it, but it’s a nice stop if you’re in the neighborhood. Also, they have a visitor’s center and free wi-fi in the building.
Wow, slow day here. I had a TMI case of teh sick last night, and I woke up several times, then sorta slept in. I heard Scruffy bark just a bit before 7, and realized that we had to get in gear before going to Mom’s. So after some showering and dressing, we hit the road.
The reason we went to Mom’s was to try to help her with an electrical problem. She was facing a large bill from an electrician, and I was pretty sure **FCD **could figure it out. So he took his tool bag and daughter visited with her grandmother while we assumed the troubleshooter mode. The problem was the refrigerator and random other outlets were going out for no apparent reason, then they’d come back on. The power company determined that everything up to the house was fine, so it was inside.
There are 4 circuit breaker boxes in the basement - one was just for the airconditioner, so we could ignore that. One was put in for the generator that is now at my house. One was the original, and I’m not sure what the other was - I think they got it when they got the pool and other outdoor circuits. Anyway, we traced some wires, checked out all the plugs in the house, then rechecked some with multi-meters. There was something weird going on. I’m not going to go into all the details because it’d bore and/or confuse you.
Bottom line, we’re pretty sure half of a double breaker was intermittently bad. For $20 we replaced it. Plus as **FCD **did his initial inspection, he found a couple of breakers that weren’t seated well and one wire that wasn’t secure. It took us a couple of hours and a lot of breaker flipping, and I’m confident that we figured it out. Household electricity isn’t that complicated, if you understand the basics, and having done a lot of wiring ourselves, we’re well-versed in the basics. So it remains to be seen if the problem recurs.
Theoretically, we saved Mom several hundred dollars. And she fed us lunch and sent us home with a container of creme de menthe brownies. Yum! Plus Daughter scored some school supplies that my mom bought for some reason (“The notebooks were only 5 cents!!”) So now we’re home chilling. I’ll soon assume the knit position.
I am coloring my hair after going foraging for foodstuffs. I also made a double batch of brownies because we seem to snarf them down so fast.
Lazy Saturday here. I’m reading an excellent (so far) suspense book entitled The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett. It’s kind of brooding and moody, but not Gothic.
Tomorrow I will ride my bike up to the library and get more Beckett books. I like it when I find an author I like who has written more than one book.
Howdy Y’all! It’s the weekstart! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!
Cool fishies Taters. They grow up so fast don’t they!
MOOOOOOM you can’t say TMI in a MMP without at least a hint. It’s a rule. Sorta.
rigs glad you’re enjoyin’ the job. This week, the preferred method to take down the place at work has been flaming swords and a pack of rabid chee-hoo-ah-hoo-ahs. This was not my idea, though I do rather like it.
Anybody else think MBG is kinda cute?
Moonie hope you’re on the mend today.
Dindin shall arrive shortly. Ol’ y’all know who went down to the local Chinese place to get us some General Tso’s chicken. General Tso is gonna get really po’d at us when he finds out it’s us who keep eatin’ his chicken.
I’ve just returned from the salon where I got my hair colored, cut and styled. I was way overdue and embarrassed to be out in public because of the roots. It looks much, much better now.
Before I went to the salon, I spent some time mucking out the garage. We’ve got a trailer loaded with trash bags and a stack of cardboard boxes broken down and ready to load.
After I left the salon, Mr. Taters asked me to swing by Sonic and pick up some food, so I did. Now I feel kind of sick and overstuffed. I’ll live.
There’s a goat cheese and tomato tart baking in the oven right now, and it smells Teh Yum. We used multicoloured heirloom tomatoes from the farmer’s market, so it will hopefully look just as pretty as it tastes. I used some lemon thyme from the garden in the filling too, for extra yumminess.
In other news, we are now the proud owners of a brand spanking new deck, which (unlike the last one) is not likely to collapse under our feet at any moment. It’s a very exciting feeling… though the less exciting part involves how bare our bank account is after paying for the dang thing. I keep looking out the back door and thinking “this is what $9000 looks like? :eek: but it’s just wood and nails.”
So, I guess the short version of this rambly post is that we may be a whole lot more po’ at Chez Muppet today, but at least we’re well fed.
Nice fishtank, Taters! I’d love to have one here, but I think the cats might mistake it for a new feeder.
Chicago looks like a pretty place, gt. I’d love to go someday… though the list of places I want to go just seems to keep getting longer as the years go on. Lucky you, for getting to meet MBG and Mrs MBG!
Apparently, today was hair colouring day for Mumpers. So, who forgot to send me the memo?
Trust me Mahna, your kitty wouldn’t be attempting to eat these fishies. I know the photo doesn’t really capture it, but the they really are pretty large.
Besides, they have tank covers.
I’m sure I mentioned that I was getting my hair done, Mahna. You threw it in the round file, didn’t you?
That must be one of hell of a deck! Are you going to post pics?
Hmm, I’m fidgety. I think I need to find something physical to do.
Just watched The Bucket List - not great cinema, but not a horrible movie. Good movie to knit by.
One of the Bourne movies is on yet again. **FCD **keeps watching them, but I don’t think he’s ever seen one all the way thru. I find them all to be stupid, but they’re not as gross as some of the movies he watches.
Not sure if we’re going to sail tomorrow or build shelves for the back of my studio. Morning will tell. It’s been a relaxing evening - yay!
I found my bat, and for those who fret, s/he’s still alive, and has grown.
I got off my ass, and actually started putting up the trim work in the bathroom that I was whining about last weekend. I needed my T-square to make some cuts and measurements, and when I took it off the rack, there he was. It was a near laundry emergency moment. Not that I’m afraid of bats, but I sure as hell didn’t expect to see it…
I may regale y’all in puppeh pix soon. And I’m going to services in the morning at the Chapel of St. Bluegill; I have my sacrificial worms already.
Finally getting around to this thread - I’ve been up a WHOLE HOUR!!! :eek:
It’s looking dreary out - or maybe the sun hasn’t risen yet - what time is sunrise?? Anyway, I don’t know what the day holds. I kinda hope it’s a lazy day, but I’m guessing not. We shall see.
It looks dreary here, too, MOOOOOOM. I haven’t looked at the weather thing today, but yesterday said we’re in for a few days of raininess. It looks rainy outside.
Muppet wood is expensive. Especially treated wood. How big is the deck? I know I put 4k into the privacy fence and the small 6x9 deck I added on to da cave six years ago. That was on top of the 10k for the pool. That was an expensive year!
I think I’ll go roust up ol’ y’all know who so’s we can get purtified. He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s takin’ me out for brekkies before churchification.
Ewww, Bobbio, a bat??? Ick. I had one fly over me IN MY BEDROOM in the last place I lived. I ran screaming from the room. Or at least ran. And closed the door behind me, hoping that it would find itself out again. My room was in the finished part of the attic and I’m guessing it lived or hid in the unfinished part. Couldn’t find it later and never saw it again; maybe I scared it off. ::shudder::
How was the tart, Muppet? Sounded yummy.
Awake, but fell asleep way too late. Tried to fall asleep again, but wound up watching all of Legal Eagles instead. I’d never seen it; cute movie, except for some of the music. Love Touch has not aged gracefully.
I’d like to both a) sleep another couple of hours, and b) get lots of stuff done today (last day of vacation). I’m guessing a) will win. But I’m attempting breakfast and caffeine first.
Guess I should see if I can motivate myself to get something done.
