. . . to go with my new fishies! Also, there was a button on blogger and expecting me NOT to press the shiny new button is just too.
The kiddos have taken to doing interpretive dance, so I'll have video of that sometime soon. Until then, off to school to work on ze thesis paper.
Stephanie
Monday, July 26, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
from the alps to hogwarts: a journey of endurance*
Annnd we're back. Again. After a long hiatus. I have been working / traveling / generally ignoring my online responsibilites this summer, and it must stop! Too much has happened.
First of all, I must announce some truly sad news. The Von Trapp Family Swimmers, in a series of unfortunate occurrences, have bitten ye olde dust.
Causes of death include
1) loitering near, and then getting stuck in, the filter,
2) genetic abnormalities, including stupidity (see above) and "wonky spine," a condition I have expertly diagnosed and named myself, and
3) fishy ebola.
See, what happened was this. Over Fourth of July weekend, my parents and I went blueberry picking with my grandma and my aunt. Hilarious attire and adorable hats ensued. And in addition to getting many, many pounds of blueberries and a ridiculous sunburn on the side of my neck,** I also got the overwhelming urge to get some new fish. The big tank has been doing well since I got it this spring, and the Swimmers, while lovely, have been dying here and there (see causes #1 and #2), leaving me with ten or so -- Preggers and The Kid in the small tank, and the other eight in the large one.
So I ask my parents as they drive me home if we could stop and pick up some more fish. Being generally loving and accomodating people, they agreed.*** The conversation in front of the tanks may have gone like this:
Me: Oooh look at these. * points at fish similar to Maria *
Dad: Are you going to get come cool ones this time?
Me: I cannot believe you don't think my fish are cool. That hurts my soul, Dad.
Dad: But you could get tropical ones this time! Oooh or one of those fancy ones like Finding Nemo.
Me: Those are expensive. Given my success rate, I'd prefer the cheap kind.
Mom: Daniel, let her get what she wants.
Dad: * eyeballing my mom's and my matching patented serious face * I'm going to go look at puppy calendars.
Etc., etc.
After much debate, I decided to continue with platies, since Captain Von Trapp and Maria had done so well, and since I figured the Swimmers would prefer company that did not try to eat them. So I chose five cool-looking platies to bring home and add to the mix. After a journey back to the apartment, I added them to the big tank and watched as they swam, in wonder, around and around.
The first day was delightful! They were so cheerful! So grateful for their new, festive surroundings! I fed them, and instead of hiding from the food, they chowed down before swishing away.
But then the darkness set in.
A day later, I noticed one of the fish was not doing well. He was covered in white spots and one of his fins was almost entirely gone. His tail had little chunks out of it. I immediately took to the interwebs in search of a diagnosis. I thought it was fin rot, but that wasn't quite right. And I thought it was ich, which again turned out not to be right. It was, in short, a mysterious illness eating my fish! I dutifully moved him to the tank with Preggers and The Kid, in hopes that he would be less stressed in a tank with two generally aloof members who ignore everything (particularly their Mommy, ungrateful children).
Alas, it did not help. He died shortly thereafter, and, much to my horror, managed to pass whatever it was to both Preggers and The Kid. A week later, they both died on the same day while I was at work. The fishy ebola struck again.
I was going to insert a photo of Preggers stuck in a plant here, but I seem to have deleted it. *reminiscing voice * I had just flicked on the light to the aquarium, and she freaked out so bad she got wedged in the plant. I totally did not laugh so hard I cried and then get a camera to take photos and mock her. Nope. That did not come to pass.
Meanwhile, in the main tank, another one of my new fish was overcome with the fishy ebola. Then a few of the Swimmers kicked the bucket shortly thereafter. Soon, I was left with the remaining three new fish and two of the Swimmers. I figured the massacre had subsided.
And then, a day later, I found one of the Swimmers stuck ass-end to the filter, just generally hanging out. I freed him and moved him to the other side of the tank. Only to watch him hobble back to the filter and get stuck again. Darwinism at its best, people. He passed away shortly after two more saves, as did his deformed sister, who had taken up residence in the royal treasury:
Sigh. The Swimmers, alas, were no more.
This happened about a week ago, and since then, the remaining three fish have been doing great. So great, in fact, that today I decided it might be time to a) name them and b) update the blog and introduce them.
And so, ladies and gents, may I present -- the newest members of my fishy household:
Butter Mellow,
Sunshine Daisies,
and Lucius's Peacock (LP for short):
"But Steph!" You might be saying. "Why the Harry Potter names? And how do you tell the first two apart? And more generally, WTF?"
Well.
I really didn't have a sense of what to name my fish, so I turned to my friend Jesse. Jesse has a few key qualifications that made her perfect for this job. She generally has very good taste, and this is especially true when it comes to pets. Her cat, Sophie, is a calendar model. No really. Her cat is an actual calendar model. She also has the best collection of belts and cute shoes I've ever seen, all of which, taken together, clearly qualifies her to name fishies.
She suggested the first two names, because apparently I'm a hippie who loves Harry Potter. Actually, that's kind of true, except for the hippie part. But I'm crazy enough that it works. The last name is mine, because the last fish is actually an unusual blue coral platy on account of its black fins. Jesse pointed out that a Death Eater name was most appropriate here, and since I have assorted reasons to think peacocks are evil,**** Lucius's Peacock (LP for short) seemed appropriate.
So that's the new family, peeps. Butter Mellow, Sunshine Daisies, and LP. Fingers crossed things go well and we have many blog posts of ridiculousness to come!
Stephanie
* Title provided by Jesse, who is on a roll with cool names for things today.
** I don't crisp evenly.
*** Why yes, my mother does read this blog.
**** Mostly this is because peacocks have taken over my grandparents' porch in Texas, where they chase my grandmother while she's watering plants, wake them up at all hours of the morning and night, and poo all over everything. Evil evil evil.
First of all, I must announce some truly sad news. The Von Trapp Family Swimmers, in a series of unfortunate occurrences, have bitten ye olde dust.
Causes of death include
1) loitering near, and then getting stuck in, the filter,
2) genetic abnormalities, including stupidity (see above) and "wonky spine," a condition I have expertly diagnosed and named myself, and
3) fishy ebola.
See, what happened was this. Over Fourth of July weekend, my parents and I went blueberry picking with my grandma and my aunt. Hilarious attire and adorable hats ensued. And in addition to getting many, many pounds of blueberries and a ridiculous sunburn on the side of my neck,** I also got the overwhelming urge to get some new fish. The big tank has been doing well since I got it this spring, and the Swimmers, while lovely, have been dying here and there (see causes #1 and #2), leaving me with ten or so -- Preggers and The Kid in the small tank, and the other eight in the large one.
So I ask my parents as they drive me home if we could stop and pick up some more fish. Being generally loving and accomodating people, they agreed.*** The conversation in front of the tanks may have gone like this:
Me: Oooh look at these. * points at fish similar to Maria *
Dad: Are you going to get come cool ones this time?
Me: I cannot believe you don't think my fish are cool. That hurts my soul, Dad.
Dad: But you could get tropical ones this time! Oooh or one of those fancy ones like Finding Nemo.
Me: Those are expensive. Given my success rate, I'd prefer the cheap kind.
Mom: Daniel, let her get what she wants.
Dad: * eyeballing my mom's and my matching patented serious face * I'm going to go look at puppy calendars.
Etc., etc.
After much debate, I decided to continue with platies, since Captain Von Trapp and Maria had done so well, and since I figured the Swimmers would prefer company that did not try to eat them. So I chose five cool-looking platies to bring home and add to the mix. After a journey back to the apartment, I added them to the big tank and watched as they swam, in wonder, around and around.
The first day was delightful! They were so cheerful! So grateful for their new, festive surroundings! I fed them, and instead of hiding from the food, they chowed down before swishing away.
But then the darkness set in.
A day later, I noticed one of the fish was not doing well. He was covered in white spots and one of his fins was almost entirely gone. His tail had little chunks out of it. I immediately took to the interwebs in search of a diagnosis. I thought it was fin rot, but that wasn't quite right. And I thought it was ich, which again turned out not to be right. It was, in short, a mysterious illness eating my fish! I dutifully moved him to the tank with Preggers and The Kid, in hopes that he would be less stressed in a tank with two generally aloof members who ignore everything (particularly their Mommy, ungrateful children).
Alas, it did not help. He died shortly thereafter, and, much to my horror, managed to pass whatever it was to both Preggers and The Kid. A week later, they both died on the same day while I was at work. The fishy ebola struck again.
I was going to insert a photo of Preggers stuck in a plant here, but I seem to have deleted it. *reminiscing voice * I had just flicked on the light to the aquarium, and she freaked out so bad she got wedged in the plant. I totally did not laugh so hard I cried and then get a camera to take photos and mock her. Nope. That did not come to pass.
Meanwhile, in the main tank, another one of my new fish was overcome with the fishy ebola. Then a few of the Swimmers kicked the bucket shortly thereafter. Soon, I was left with the remaining three new fish and two of the Swimmers. I figured the massacre had subsided.
And then, a day later, I found one of the Swimmers stuck ass-end to the filter, just generally hanging out. I freed him and moved him to the other side of the tank. Only to watch him hobble back to the filter and get stuck again. Darwinism at its best, people. He passed away shortly after two more saves, as did his deformed sister, who had taken up residence in the royal treasury:
Sigh. The Swimmers, alas, were no more.
This happened about a week ago, and since then, the remaining three fish have been doing great. So great, in fact, that today I decided it might be time to a) name them and b) update the blog and introduce them.
And so, ladies and gents, may I present -- the newest members of my fishy household:
Butter Mellow,
Sunshine Daisies,
and Lucius's Peacock (LP for short):
"But Steph!" You might be saying. "Why the Harry Potter names? And how do you tell the first two apart? And more generally, WTF?"
Well.
I really didn't have a sense of what to name my fish, so I turned to my friend Jesse. Jesse has a few key qualifications that made her perfect for this job. She generally has very good taste, and this is especially true when it comes to pets. Her cat, Sophie, is a calendar model. No really. Her cat is an actual calendar model. She also has the best collection of belts and cute shoes I've ever seen, all of which, taken together, clearly qualifies her to name fishies.
She suggested the first two names, because apparently I'm a hippie who loves Harry Potter. Actually, that's kind of true, except for the hippie part. But I'm crazy enough that it works. The last name is mine, because the last fish is actually an unusual blue coral platy on account of its black fins. Jesse pointed out that a Death Eater name was most appropriate here, and since I have assorted reasons to think peacocks are evil,**** Lucius's Peacock (LP for short) seemed appropriate.
So that's the new family, peeps. Butter Mellow, Sunshine Daisies, and LP. Fingers crossed things go well and we have many blog posts of ridiculousness to come!
Stephanie
* Title provided by Jesse, who is on a roll with cool names for things today.
** I don't crisp evenly.
*** Why yes, my mother does read this blog.
**** Mostly this is because peacocks have taken over my grandparents' porch in Texas, where they chase my grandmother while she's watering plants, wake them up at all hours of the morning and night, and poo all over everything. Evil evil evil.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)