20. January 2009 by admin.

I’ve got several lenses (kind of how-to type pages) all up and ready for your reading pleasure:)

Betta Tails ~ About the different types of Betta Tails
Raising Freshwater Angelfish ~ Name says it all
Breeding and Keeping Betta Fish ~ Again, title speaks 1000 words:)
Waxhaw, NC ~ A bit about my hometown
True Story…Names changed to protect the innocent ~ Ghost Story
Wish You Could Have Been There ~ My thoughts/story on my first ice fall
How to Run a Great Crafting Group ~ Nothing further needed
Sarah Smith ~ had to grab the url before someone else did..lol
Adults That Play Neopets???? ~ *blush* yeah I do
Aquatic Clubs in the US ~ There are tons of other fish geeks out there, find one!

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7. January 2009 by admin.

There’s 2 new pages of betta spawns added to the side here of my blog…just in case anyone’s interested:) The pics above are of the males. There’s a black plakat X black plakat and a Metalic teal plakat x teal plakat. Cross your fingers to many new babies:)

 1/20/09 ~ Welp, these guys are bugging the heck out of me!  In the teal tank, the girl is all ready and egged out, but the male won’t build a nest. They’ve been living together for a…well since I wrote the top part and nothing.  The blacks, he’s got a wonderful nest, but she’s having nothing to do with him…so guess what, just to see what happens, I’m going to put the teal (what I think now is a dragon) in with the black. OY!

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2. October 2008 by admin.

Last week Wed (9/24) I was cleaning out a few of the many tanks we’ve got. I had just finished my 7 year old son’s tanks (he’s got a 30 and a 20). When I clean out my tanks, I use a 20′ hose to suction the water out the window to the plants below, then haul the regular hose up through the window and re-fill the tanks. (we’re on well water, no worries).

So his tanks re-filled and the hose turned off, I put it in the bathroom in case of leaks and went downstairs to make dinner and get the boy’s homework checked. I’m not sure how long it was between then and when I heard the crash. We had a shelf on the wall in the pantry/laundry room that held all my teas and other things. When I ran in there (Christian like cussing the cats out), I found the floor covered with water and the door way dripping loudly.  I ran upstairs to find that the hose had been moved into the middle of my boy’s room and turned on full out.  Not sure how long it was, but stepping into the room the water covered my foot.

To make it a bit shorter, I spent the next hour or so with the steam cleaner vac suctioning all the water out of the carpet. The boys I had sleep in the other room as I was afraid the floor would break through (I had no clue what the floors were built out of as the guy who first built this house cut every corner he could) and I lowered the water level in both tanks so the weight would be a bit less.

Next day I went out and got 2 box fans and a dehumidifier and set them up. Luckily my husband got home late that night (Thurs) and the floor was already starting to dry. Course in the living room now we’ve got a beautiful big brown stain all through the middle of the ceiling, but hey, could have been way worse!

When my husband got home he cut the carpet from the middle of the boy’s room. the wood was still damp, but nothing as bad as it could have been.   Now we need to get that room cleared out of everything and rip up the rest of the carpet. There’s a few things we’ve got to do though to even be able to do that. I’ve got a big tank outside that needs cleaning out and setting up downstair in the living room, then all of my son’s fish will be moved into that big tank. Then…I can take down his tanks and we can clear out that room.  But the big tank is so freakin’ heavy (it’s 75g old style heavy glass) that I can’t move it by myself.  Hopefully tonight either my bro wil be able to come help me move it, or it’ll have to wait till tomorrow when my husband’s home again. Then we can finally start getting that room back into shape. 

I’ve also decided because of this to sell off all my fish but for my son’s and my betta pairs.  So, this Sat Oct, 4th (for anyone interested) is an aquatic auction in town. All my angelfish (babies and adults) will be sold.  There will be various other fish that I have that’ll sell as well. My parents are setting up a 55g there and a few of the special angels that I have will go there till I can get my fish room built in the garage.  But basically I’ll go from 20+ tanks (not including all the betta tanks) to 3 or 4. Will be weird…lol  But will help calm things down here a bit…again, till I get my fishroom *grin*

Okay, I know this is nothing compared to what a lot of our country is or has been dealing with flood wise, I mean we’re lucky we didn’t have to do more than rip up carpet. Just the little bit that we’ve done here though makes me feel terribly for those that have lost everything in floods. And thanks to everyone that has done things to help those that need it!!!

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2. October 2008 by admin.

Alright, well this is because of the next blog that I’ll write about the little flood we had, but because of that I’ve decided to sell 90% of my fish. The only ones that I’ll keep are William’s fish (he loves his too much) and my bettas. Now I’ve decided to put all my females together in a girl’s only tank. I’ve heard it called a sorority tanks, sheila tanks, chick tanks, whatever. But I like the name Sheila tank the best.  Anyway, I’ve set up a 20 tall. The bottom is bare (as all my tanks are) but painted. This tank in particular is black painted with a glitter finish so it truely is bling for my girls.  Then I’ve got a few holey rocks with java moss and java ferns attached. There’s a piece of slate and some floating plants (that I’m having a problem keeping out of the filter intake). All in all plenty of hiding space for my old and new girls.

List of the women-folk are as follows…

• White Opaque HM - Gowin
• White Opaque HM (daughter of the one above) Un-named as of this blog
• Blue HM - Charis
• Mustard Gas, yellow plakat - Un-named
• Black Plakat - Un-named
• Teal/black faced plakat - Un-named
• Steel Blue plakat - Un-named
• Marble Butterfly - Un-named

That’s everyone in the tank. I’ll be getting pics of them soon. The boys are of course all in their own 1 or 2 gallon tanks upstairs.  Ahh Life’s good with bettas….lol

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15. September 2008 by admin.

I’ve been having a thought or 2 running around in my head the last, well for along time. Picture your normal day of running around, you go to the store, check out lady/guy…”Hey how are you?” Not even looking up from the line of groceries, “I’m good thank you.”  You go to the gas station and actually have to go in to pay with cash (card machine outside doesn’t work) Attendant - “Hey how are you?”  Me - “Fine thanks, you?”  Attendant - “I’m good, that’ll be 72 million dollars.”  Everywhere we go it’s “hi, how are you” And the correct response is always I’m good or some variation of that.

I get why we do that, it’s our society of rushing around, not really caring, not really stopping to see or hear.  Now before you shake your head about another blondy head’s thoughts, yes I know that in the food store/gas station/drive through window, there’s not time to hear someone’s life story, I do get that. I just think sometimes that since it’s such a normal response “I’m Good” that’s what we expect to hear and no one ever goes beyond that…lol sometimes people start talking before the “I’m Good” comes out of my mouth…yeah you’re really caring how that person is doing eh?

So I put this to the test (and am going to continue doing so as it’s fun). Last week, going to the food store, get to the cashier, “Hey how are you?” “I’m good. Will that be paper or plastic?” I looked her in the eye (this was a girl, very pretty, just out of high school, I’d venture)…”Plastic is fine and how are you REALLY?”  She totally startled out of whatever thoughts were going through her head and really looked at me for the first time…yes it was a look of “okay, and who the heck are you?” But then she smiled and in that 20 second period (she was a fast bagger) I learned that she wasn’t so fine, had been having a hard day and that my smile and “oh I hope it’ll get better, here’s a chocolate bar on me” made her feel better. (Yes I did buy her a chocolate bar, our food store sells German chocolate, which I feel everyone in the world needs to try at least once, puts Hershey’s to shame).  But the point is, I made someone’s day by really caring, really asking and really seeing.  And that I must say made my day so much better as well! 

 Let’s see what trouble I can get into today!!!

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11. July 2008 by admin.

I just noticed that the time right now is 11:11. So what you’re wondering. Well this is a silly thing to most, but it’s a way that reminds me that God’s watching out for us. Not sure why I picked that time to remind myself of that, looks like eyes a bit on the digital clocks and it’s cool to see the all ones. But each time I see it (and I tend to glance up at the clock at that exact time a whole lot by chance) I remember that God loves me, is protecting me and my family and it’s just cool. Everytime I chance on that time,it’s like God’s saying that to me once more.

 There’s another thing that I use to use to remind me that God will always provide. My very first job in high school was at a nursing home in the kitchen (not a good job that one, but that’s a different subject). One of my jobs was to “set” the trays with silverware, napkins and the whole lot in a huge tray cart.  I would grab a handfull of napkins or forks or whatever and so many times I happened to grab the exact number that I needed…tons of times this happened and each time it did I’d remember that God is our provider and thank Him.

Kind of randomness here, but what things make you think of Him?

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11. July 2008 by admin.

I LOVE BOOKCROSSING!!! 

Just had to get that out of my system:) www.bookcrossing.com is a really cool idea to the book lovers of the world. Basically, you read a book, one that you’re not going to keep to re-read over and over again, and then register it there, write the unique number they give you on the book (I print out their book lables and stick it on the inside front cover), then leave it on a bench somewhere, or in a store or resturant. The next person picks it up, hopefully registers it again, reads it and they too lay it down somewhere…you get to watch your book travel and see what people think of it.  Pretty cool eh?

Okay, that’s all I have to say about that:)

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11. July 2008 by admin.

Alright, I’m not going to write this anywhere but here. I got a free book from an ad I saw with the understanding that I’d read it and then write a review on amazon.  Problem is, when you really hate a book (which is so rare for me!)  What do you do?  I can’t even finish the whole thing…actually, I haven’t gotten past the first few chapters, OY! 

Okay, first just the way he writes. There’s too much choppiness. When I read, I like to get so into the story that I see it in my mind and forget that I’m reading. There are too many “-”s, like every paragraph has at least one of these in a sentence. There was one point at the beginning where the family was going to a theme park, the boys ran ahead while the parents walked “gingerly” through the parking lot.  Why the heck gingerly?  There’s no reason for that word, was the parking lot hot on their feet? Was there spit out gum all over? I mean come on. 

Then another one, what does the word “leer” make you think of?  There’s a part where the kids are “leering” at a coveted football for the game they have.  To leer at something makes one think of a bad thing, like a dirty guy leering at a girl. Not to be said to something that is a good thing you want. It would be better said that the kids looked at it with envy or stared in wonder…not leering. 

And I know that he said before I even got it that “this was to be the next Harry Potter” but the similarities are just too much!  But the comparing between J.K. Rowlings writing and this guy’s is just black and white.  He even signs his name like hers…. lol.  The kid is magic, he goes to a summer camp (instead of winter school) even lives in a castle for the dorms.  There’s a football game they play instead of quidditch and they use batons instead of wands. *sigh* That is as far as I could get in the book…I just can’t stand to read more, just makes me…arg! each time I pick it up!

I’m planning on bookcrossing this book (see another blog about bookcrossing:) ) and ask the next person if they like it to do the review. I’d feel badly if I posted a bad review for a new author.  

Alright, never mind, after going to amazon and reading the rest of the reviews, I had to add mine. I wasn’t as harsh as I am here (maybe I’ll add a link from there to here…lol) but anyway, there it is. I wouldn’t waste my time with this book.

I’m sorry C.K. Bolton.

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28. June 2008 by admin.

Here’s a youtube of her - http://youtube.com/watch?v=ItDjDZGVatc

 Well, I thought for the sake of future use, I’ll document this part of betta life as well.  A few days ago I noticed that my female plakat (the mom of my first set of babies) wasn’t herself. She was staying on the bottom in a head down position kind of gasping a bit, but not trying to swim at all.

After searching for help to see what’s going on, a woman from an egroup I’m in started to help me. (thank you so much Sherry!!!)  Turns out my betta’s got dropsy.  She’s bloated and her scales are sticking out so she’s looking like a pinecone.

She was moved yesterday into a 2 gallon shallow bowl, the type they use to sell as turtle habitats. That bowl is in a larger tub of water to regulate the heat better. I’m keeping her right around 80 degrees F. She’s in there with a slow bubbler and a silk plant to keep her feeling hidden.

With Sherry’s advice (thank you again!) I got some Maracyn and Maracyn 2. I’ve kind of had to eye ball it with the meds as it’s a packet of powder that you put in ten gs of water. I’ve been disolving it in a cup of her tank water and then slowly drip the meds into her tank. So far so good. She’s still with us. I gave her the meds early last evening and then her second round this morning. It’s a 5 day treatment, then can be started for another 5 days. I’m hoping!

6/29 - Not much change, her dose for day three was this afternoon.  Then when I got home this evening, she’s looking worse off. she’s still in the same place and alive and swims when I look at her, but her scales are more so pineconey.  I don’t think that’s a good sign…*sigh*

6/30 - well after today’s treatment, I’ve noticed her much more lethargic, even more than before. I don’t think she’s got much longer:(

 7/1 - nope, she didn’t make it through the night. RIP my little girl.

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15. June 2008 by admin.

I know I’m writing about all this in the Orlando series, but here’s a few thoughts that have been spinning around. 

These Orcas are so amazing! Of course because of the world we live in they are “greening” the whole thing and brotherhood with the animals and things like that which of course I don’t get into much. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m totally against animal cruelty and for preserving nature, I just don’t go as far as save the whales kill the humans as some do.

But when you are actually in the presence of thse animals, it’s a different way of thinking totally. I mean most of you know that I’m hooked and addicted to fish (for those that don’t, 16 current tanks in the house totalling just over 300 gallons raising angelfish, bettas, fancy guppies, limias and habrosus and one very understanding husband!) and since I have this passion for everything water living, seeing these just amazes me! They are so huge and yes killers of the ocean with no natural preditors (so said the trainers), yet these people can ride them, hug them, pet them…I’m awed. Of course I know a lot can be done “through the stomach” and that they are feeding them with the fishes all the time, but still, wow. 

I know it’s all about the show and things, but when the guy gave a hug to the nose of that whale, I got emotional watching that. Of course I WANT TO BE THAT GUY! lol what I wouldn’t give to be able to be a Dr. Doolittle person and have communication with animals.

Course onthat subject, one which my mom and I have talked about in depth, I do think that it is possible that some people may have a “6th sense” so to say and can have a better understanding of what animals are saying and thinking. I know with our horses there’s times that we can tell their mood and thoughts so to speak just by studying their stance and eyes.

Maybe I’m a freak (shut up Seth!) but I think that when God first created man, He created man with a perfect body and brain meaning that they had 100% of their brain use instead of  our measly 10%. Maybe they could speak to the animals the way we do each other? Why not? Adam named all the animals, perhaps they told him their name???

I know that if I had to creat an XMen character, she’s be able to speak to animals and fly of course:)  Who knows, maybe when we get to heaven….

Got to go!
Later!

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