House of Fish

Image found at fishdeals.com

This place is turning into a fish house. Our 125 gallon aquarium currently has a partition in it to protect the pleco (sucker catfish) from the cichlids. He was under assault and losing fins fast. He is recovering nicely, but the partition can't stay up forever; it's ugly, and the cichlids need the run of the tank for optimal health.

Enter the 55 gallon aquarium, set up and cycling as we speak. The aquarium has to cycle through some chemical/biological phases before it's ready for fish. Once this one is ready to roll, the pleco will move in. His tankmates will be some nice, friendly community fish who will be unlikely to cause him any problems.

We lost one catfish already, sadly, to the aggressive cichlids in the other tank. My web research shows that it was a species of fish best left to nature or the truly large (commercial) aquariums. I think the cichlid mix in the 125 gallon tank (it's not my tank) is a little bit questionable. So what happens when they get bigger and more territorial? Will they spawn more fish tanks? And what happens if the pleco outgrows the 55 gallon tank? He just might.

Welcome to the South Jersey House of Fish!

Lions and Tigers and Bears

Aquariums, laptop-shopping and facebook taking up my time these days, oh my! Must find time to post. I like blogger better than facebook, yet somehow facebook draws you in. Social engineering at it's finest. Or most devious.

I'll come up with a real post soon, I promise!

Surprise!

My very good friend and fellow blogger, Mommanator, is having a giveaway in honor of her 300th post over at Grannie's Ramblings. Stop by and enter for a chance to win something good!

Lost

I recently read the book Lost by Gregory Maguire. Maguire is the author of Wicked and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which I have also read. Lost is about haunting, in more than one sense of the word. It wasn't as good as the other two novels, but it has haunted me.

The main character in the book faces a ghostly haunting that seems to be a manifestation of her own haunted emotional state. She has fallen into a pattern of marking time, failing to move forward, because of the events of her past and emotions that she can't quite seem to acknowledge or let go of. She is stuck and she has lost herself.

I feel like that character. I have made several major life changes over the last few years, some by choice and some not, and I've lost myself somewhere in the shuffle. The fallout is more than I ever expected.

In the book, the word 'lost' applies in at least two ways: the character is lost, and she has lost (suffered loss). I don't think I would have understood this entirely if I were not in a similar state.

The main character in the book has something of a breakdown. I am not about to do that. And this doesn't mean that there is nothing good in my life. It's just that too much change too fast leaves you whiplashed. And lost.

Double Bind

Conversation in my household tonight:

Me: Here's a quote from Oscar Wilde: A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her.

Him: (Laughter - a good belly laugh.)

Me: Do you love me?

Him: (Silence.)

"List 7 things that you love, and then pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you love!"

OK, here's my list of seven things, with apologies to Virginia Gal for taking so long to get around to it! I, too, will not list the obvious things, like family and friends and pizza and pets.

1. VACATION: away, at home, whatever!
2. A well-written book.
3. Quiet. It's so rare.
4. Snowfall.
5. The wind. There's nothing like standing on the deck of a moving ship, or on a hill, and feeling the wind wash over you.
   
6. Valentine's Day.
7. Hope.

I'm sure I'd come up with a different list on another day, but this one is just as good and just as true as any I could construct. I won't tag anyone, I never do.

Daisy and Muttley

Caesar For a Day

We decided that the canoe should be moved today. It was sitting on the spot where we plan to till a strip and put in some azaleas (or something). The conversation in our house just a few minutes ago went something like this:

"Hey, there's a mouse in the canoe! What should I do with it?"

"Chase it out and let it go."

"I can kill it - you want me to kill it?"

"No, let it go, as long as it heads for the woods and not the house."

"You wanna see it?"

"Well, OK."

Sure enough, a little grey mouse was stranded in the now-upright canoe.

"Tip it so it can get out."

The mouse scampered off into the woods.

"Hey, look, there's another mouse! There's a Mama mouse and another baby!"

Mama and baby # 2 scampered off into the woods, as well.

So I got to be Caesar and give a big thumbs up to Ms. Mouse and family today. Too bad I had just seen a cat lurking out there in the woods a few minutes earlier...

Muttley

For Virginia Gal: Yes, Muttley is a Hanna-Barbera character from my childhood. This is a brief series of clips of the Muttley I grew up watching.

Here is the best I can do for a pic of Daisy and Muttley together. Right now, Muttley is recovering from a rite-of-passage medical procedure, complete with bedrest and an Elizabethan collar. He has to avoid strenuous activity for a week or two, so he has to be kept away from Daisy. They roughhouse a bit too much for his safety. There won't be new pics of them together for a little while.

Fave Foto Friday and All That Jazz

Here's the latest member of the family. This little fellow is 6 months old. He came to us from a family member who couldn't take care of him. He puts the Energizer Bunny to shame when it comes to his activity level. He gets along really well with our Daisy. He needs a new name, since the old one doesn't really work for us. Right now he goes by Muttley, which will probably stick forever as his nickname.

Just Right Night

I took the dog out a little while ago. It's just right out there: cold but not bitter (36.6 degrees, according to my remote thermometer). There's no wind, and it's clear and beautiful. It's not damp out there at all tonight, so the cold isn't bone-chilling. The stars are out, and Orion is hanging low over my back yard. I wore my dog-walking coat - a big old faux fur. It's the coziest thing I own.

I hope everyone had a happy St. Patrick's Day. I came home from work tonight and started cooking: beef stew with Guinness, colcannon and store-bought Irish soda bread. I must admit that this is the first time I've ever had to cook leeks in milk for a recipe! They're in the colcannon, along with cabbage, mashed potatoes and spices. The soda bread was good with butter on it, but it was not nearly as good as the homemade soda bread I had at work today. It was made by a co-worker. What a treat!

We finally sat down to eat at about 8:30, and I finished cleaning up at 9:30. That's OK. I haven't been sleeping well lately, but I have the feeling I'll sleep like a baby tonight!

Family Quest

I think I noted in a prior post that I had done a free trial at Ancestry.com. It was so cool to find handwritten census records for my ancestors over the last century and a half. I felt an instant connection to the names displayed on my monitor. That was my family listed there. For the moment, they seemed alive and very real to me. Fascinating details emerged, like occupations (very working class), countries of origin and the names of second spouses (oh, the mortality rate of those days).

A couple of weeks ago I went to dinner with my sister and her sons. My nephews both had birthdays in February. We had surprise additions to the family group in the form of a couple of long lost cousins. We sat there together, all flawed people with histories that were at once remarkably different and remarkably similar. Family stories were told as they had been passed on to each of us. Clearly the same stories, but passed on with a different slant by different parents (my mom and my aunt). Our flaws and our differences can separate us sometimes, but at the price of the things we share.

Through marriage and moving and divorce I've managed to lose touch with most of the folks from my younger days. I haven't kept old friends, and I am such a very different person now that I don't have a desire to look them up. Still, it's good to have some grounding in the past. The connections with family members are based on shared family history, not political, religious or world views. Cousins and siblings will be cousins and siblings forever. That's a bond that you can always revisit, even after long fallow periods. It helps you to remember who you are and how you got to be that way. It's a good thing.

What I've Been Up To

The mind boggles. I've been incredibly industrious lately in a totally non-productive way. I know, I know - that's not quite logical. Welcome to my world!

I've been playing around with Facebook. What a very different experience it is from Blogger! Since it doesn't seem to work too well with Internet Explorer, I downloaded Firefox. My goodness! All of these new formats to learn!

As if that wasn't enough, I signed up for a trial subscription for ancestry.com. I soon discovered it doesn't work too well with Firefox. What a complicated world we inhabit! The effort was worthwhile, though, since I have found several census entries for my family going back several generations on the maternal side. It gave me chills each time I found a record for a household that I knew to belong to my ancestors.

Over the long weekend, I read People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. It was a good read, and gave me food for thought. One of my favorite books, Year of Wonders, is by the same author. I read her Pulitzer Prize winning tome called March some time ago. It was not an easy read. I had ordered March from Amazon, and they sent me a copy signed by the author, which is kind of neat.

I've seen 2 movies over the last several days: Doubt and He's Just Not That Into You. Also managed a ridiculously overpriced dinner out at a fondue restaurant. Incredible what they charged us to cook our own supper! That was a ONE TIME ONLY experience. No need to repeat it.

So there you have it, industrious in a non-productive way. Guess that's my way of saying that the housekeeping has suffered in the pursuit of my hobbies.

Gotta Love It

This is what some folks in Austin, Texas saw on their drive to work yesterday morning. I know this is criminal, but...

Overused

My friend Pax deplores the current tendency to overuse the word awesome. I have a word to add to the overused list: extreme. I'm tired of hearing it used in advertising for new products, and I'm REALLY tired of hearing it used to justify dangerous new (and usually absurd) twists on sports. Just my unsolicited 2 cents on the topic.

Update 1/27: Oops. My friend Pax especially dislikes the overuse of the word amazing.

Happy 2009

Happy New Year to all! Midnight has passed, I have drunk some champagne, and I am going to bed. Sweet dreams, and may 2009 bring you health, wealth and wisdom.

A Sober New Year

I had some sad news today - a dear friend's husband passed away on Monday, and services are tomorrow (Wednesday). I am so sad for the family - they are very close-knit and loving. I know they will find comfort in their faith, in each other and in the love of friends.

I visited Mom very briefly on Saturday, but a virus is going around the assisted living facility, and she was not up to a visit. I have been fighting a scratchy throat for about a week, and it has finally decided to turn into a full-blown sore throat. I was sick for New Year's Eve last year, but this cold (so far) is not nearly as bad. I've had lots of colds over the last 2 years. Guess my childhood immunities don't recognize the new batch of viruses, and my immune system is gearing up for the next several decades. I'm glad I got a flu shot this year.

So this is a sober New Year (truly, no pun intended) for me. I suppose it's appropriate, given the condition of my little world and the condition of the larger world. I'll have a small celebration at home, and I'll be asleep shortly after midnight. Time to gear up for the hard (but worthwhile) work ahead in 2009.

More Good Things

Virginia Gal asked for a Christmas photo of Daisy, so here it is. Sorry, VG, I didn't have any holiday togs for her, so the setting will have to do. This pic was taken on Christmas Eve, with Miss Daisy by the Christmas tree. Some of the gifts in the picture were destined for friends and family - the entire pile was not just for us!

I made out like a bandit this year. I got a new watch (much needed), an office chair (I assembled it tonight and I'm sitting in it right now), an oak file cabinet (yet to be assembled), a Little Green Clean Machine, a jar of my favorite face cream and a new travel mug (ka-ching! I'll save money by not stopping to buy coffee at Wawa). You can see that my list leaned toward the practical this year. I got a couple of items in the pure indulgence category, as well, so I feel perfectly spoiled!

Christmas Day didn't turn out quite as planned, so we just had a peaceful day at home. Acme (a local supermarket chain) was open until 1:00 pm, so I ran out and picked up a small ham and threw together an easy holiday meal. It was unbelievably quiet around here, which was nice. I think this was the first Christmas in my entire life that I did not spend with my family. Oh well. Change is the only constant, isn't it?

We had some errands to run today, so we stopped for lunch at a local diner. It was so nice to eat plain, simple food after all of the holiday delicacies we've consumed lately. I had eggs over easy with Canadian bacon, home fries, toast and coffee. Those eggs sure were good!

Hope everyone's having an enjoyable season. Hope the customers are kinder now that the rush is over, Virginia Gal. And I hope everyone has a peaceful and beautiful New Year.

Coming soon to A Room Somewhere: A Fish Story.

Good Things

Miss Daisy made her annual visit to the veterinarian today. I adopted her on 12/10/07. I can't believe she's been with me for a year already! She was an absolute drama queen at the vet's office - whining and moaning throughout the whole exam. She has to go back one day next week for a nail trim, but I have to give her a sedative first. They couldn't get her to cooperate today. Hope the sedative works!

Daisy has turned out to be a wonderful pet. She is sweet, and she likes people and dogs. She was crate-trained and house-trained when she came to us. I didn't know all of those things when I adopted her from the shelter, so I truly have been blessed!

I am, of course, behind in my holiday shopping and preparation. This weekend will be my catch-up time. I managed to get a few things done online last night and I'm going shopping today. If I'm motivated enough, I'll bake cookies tomorrow. I don't feel overwhelmed by the holidays this year. I'm actually enjoying the process because I'm committed to keeping things as simple as possible.

The new wood stove is working out pretty well! It makes the downstairs nice and toasty, and the upstairs stays just warm enough to keep the heater from going on. I'm looking forward to saving on my propane bill this year. I'll still use some propane, because I don't run the wood stove when I'm not home.

It was a comfort to know I had the wood stove for back-up yesterday. The power was out when I woke up - we had quite a storm here Thursday night into Friday morning. The heater won't work when there is no electricity, but the wood stove will!

Guess I've rambled enough for awhile. Hope everyone is finding some joy in their holiday preparations, for those who celebrate at this time of year. For those who do not, then I hope you get a good laugh at the rest of us with all of the craziness we put ourselves through!

Loss

A lot has happened in my life over the last week or so, but I can't seem to bring myself to record much more than the events of today.

I stopped at the grocery store this morning. After I checked out, the cashier handed me my change: a $10 bill and some coins. I stuffed the bill into my coat pocket along with the receipt and the register coupons. When I got home, the $10 was gone.

I can't seem to find one of my rings. It's not my engagement ring, but it's not costume jewelry. I still hope to find it in some unexpected place, but I'm sad that it seems to be gone.

Tonight little Rudy made his last trip to the veterinarian. He had continued to live with my ex. I visited Rudy last night, and snuggled with him for awhile. Sleep in peace, little Ruru.