A decade ago, a coworker and I picked up some goldfish and a 2 gallon tank. Over time, and with a lot of trial and error, I now have 2 stable fish tanks. One is a long 30 gallon and is home to a few tetras, a pair of cories and a single Opaline gourami that hides all the time. This tank is a bit overgrown with its live plants, but the addition of a second filter and heater has stabilized the plant growth immensely. One of these days I’ll clean up the plants and get an actual light for it (the tank is a 30 year old hand-me-down and doesn’t have all the right pieces any more) and take some pictures. The fish are happy, especially when the cats are leaving them alone.
But this tank isn’t that interesting to me. I built it out mostly for my husband, who likes tropical fish. He likes the colors and the flash that you only get in warmer waters. I actually think these fish are unintelligent and have no personality. Of course, I could be prejudiced by the constant hiding. One of the cats is convinced she can get the fish by swatting the outside of the tank.
My favorite tank right now is the one that’s becoming a problem. I started with 3 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank, not realizing that they’re messy and will get enormous. As they grew, I had to invest in a larger tank. They’re down to 2 (one didn’t survive the move) in a 30 gallon. It’s planet with a few anubias and java fern, since those seem to be the only plants these two won’t eat. In fact, that’s the only thing they won’t eat. They’re now so huge, about 6 inches each, that we need a new tank for them.
So last month we went and bought a 120 gallon tank. We’re slowly gathering all the parts to put it together, and I’m going to aquascape this one thoroughly. I even have a layout in my head for all the plantings, after flipping through some amazing books on layout. I am very excited about this project.
But the best part? Tomorrow we head to the lumber yard to pick up wood to build the stand. We’re not buying a stand from the store, rather we’re taking plan for a generic stand and crossing it with the plan for the bookshelf we built. The melding of these two will give me a stand that has space for books AND all the aquarium stuff. The tank is even deep enough that the stand with have room to hold additional hardware, should I get the bug to go crazy on the plant maintenance.
Between the woodworking and the tank setup, I’m going to have lots to talk about over the next few months.
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It’s been quiet around here, most of my time has been spent either trying to figure out the logistics of moving several large tree segments and all the accompanying branches to a place where they can be disposed of or worrying about paving the driveway. But the last week has been special. It’s been a week of avoiding the cough my husband brought home from our trip down to Portland, OR over Memorial Day. He’s currently at home, trying to find a way to hork his lung out through his mouth. As a consequence, I’m a little tired and cranky, but not yet sick. Insert finger-crossing here.
Before picking up the cold, Memorial Day was a wonderful mini-break. We drove down Friday night, arrived very late, but were able to spend all of Saturday messing around. The weather was great, so we headed out to the Rose Garden, where I took a ton of pictures. Unfortunately, none of them are that great. But I had a great time setting up shots and working around the gardens. The guys (husband and our host) either humored me particularly well or actually enjoyed themselves.
After a few hours wandering around in the sun, we tried to find the Japanese Garden. My fabled direction-fu failed us miserably, it took us about 30 minutes to find the entrance despite it being just across the street. Somehow the signs just didn’t make any sense. I blame the unaccustomed sun exposure.
Once we got into the garden and rehydrated a bit, we wandered around for another hour or so. There I was able to take the best pictures of the trip. This one is my favorite. There’s just something about the sand that brings the foliage out perfectly. Fortunately, this was toward the end because we were all fried from sun and heat and lack of water. So upon leaving the park, we headed straight for the Bridgeport Brewery. This time my direction-fu was working perfectly, because with only an address and a vague sense of where we were, we ran straight to it.
You might think this wasn’t the most brilliant of choices, but before any of us touched food or beer, we drank 4 litres of water. Then we ate enough food to be full through the next mornings breakfast and had a couple beers to go with. Can I just say that Ropewalk is an amazing beer? And it’s even better at the brewery where it’s made than out of the bottle.
Dinner and drinks fortified us to head out to see Indy 4, which we all liked. It wasn’t the Best Film Ever, but it was pretty darn entertaining, even the 2nd time. And it did nothing to harm my love of Shia LaBeouf. He’s one of my indicator actors - he always picks films I’d like to see, so anything he’s in gets added to the list.
After a long day of walking, drinking, and sitting in a theater, we went back and passed out. Somehow we managed to miss the worst of the rainstorms, even after getting up Sunday. The huge amounts of food and milky coffee set us up for a late lunch at McMenamins (yes, it was a brewery tour weekend), which was a good thing because it rained all day.
The rain meant that the farmers markets were all off the activity list, so we had to find something else to do. We eventually settled on seeing Iron Man (which I loved) and managed to kill time getting more coffee and wandering around the hardware store. This is what happens when you get 3 homeowner/geeks together. We buy tools and plan projects. It was a good hour-killer before the movie, and we were able to skip dinner after what with the massive quantities of bar food over the last 2 days.
When we got back to the house, we spent a couple of hours playing Wii games. This was fun and silly, and in now way lessened my desire to have on for my very own. Group Wii games are even better, what with the insults and distractions that become part of the competition. Trying to focus on the screen when someone is talking about politics and saying silly things behind you.
Overall, a really nice and relaxing weekend. I wish I’d used the camera more, but with all the rain Sunday, it was hard. And if we hadn’t come back with the nasty cough attached to my husband, it would have been perfect anyway.
