Buh-bye Fishies!
2008-08-29, 8:29 p.m.

Day 1468

Firstest � thanks for all the glowing reviews of the �puddle�. We�re exited with the way it�s shaping up. Can�t wait to get the stream & falls built. Soon.

Secondest � We had a bummer moment. Last night Eric said he only saw 13 little comets in a school when he looked in on them late afternoon. I was scrambling to ride my bike home, shower and head out to my Mom�s for dinner, so I had no opportunity to look in on them myself. Looking in by flashlight at 10pm didn�t sound like a good idea either. Instead, this morning, while brushing my teeth, I wandered out back to see what was up. Know what was up? Nuthin. Absolutely nuthin. No little orange cloud of fish scurrying around. Not 24, not 13, not 1. I did pull the basket out of the skimmer and found 3 in there all in varying degrees of deadness.

So now I wonder. Is the water chemistry out of whack? If they all up & died, why aren�t they ALL in the skimmer? Did we have a marauding heron or duck or raccoon stop by? How does one lose 21 little fishies? I mean no bodies, no fins, no nuthin!

Ah well. At least it was only $3. Question is, do I try again? I think I have to. I don�t want to risk the bigger fish. But I think I�ll have to try another store. An;t be going back to the same place for another 24. Although they ARE feeder fish, so they expect them to end up in the belly of something. I still hate the thought of going in there and having the kid say �Dude, - weren�t you in here just the other night getting 2 dozen feeders?� What am I going to say? �Uh, yeah, guess I was a little hungry�? Ahh, screw �em. It�s just some kid working his way through school. I should just be glad I didn�t spring for the $3 each more mature Comets. I was considering getting 4 of those before I spotted the sign for the feeders. Whew!

Thirdest � Work is getting more & more like Big Brother (George Orwell�s version, not that tripe on TV). I�m finding that there are more and more places where I get The �salt mine where I work� internet usage policy has been set to block this site. This sux a whole lot, because it makes it impossible for me to while away my lunch time voyeuristically checking up on all my innerwebz type buds. I�m going to have to break down and import all my bookmarks to my home computer and browse from home. And THAT sux because I have too damn many projects going on to be able to devote the time necessary for proper voyeuristic ogling of everybody�s lives. Dammit. Thank science that Vista has secure accounts. With some minor re-arranging I�ll be able to fully resume nosing into everyone�s lives once my projects settle down. In the year 2056. (I�ll be nearly 98, but so what?)

Sport � you want to start a pond lemme know. I�ll come help you dig. I can drag along a punk-ass-bitch and a mo-fo to help move things along. Sometimes, I think dynamite might be more appropriate in your neighborhood though. You and those dang post holes you struggled with are a valuable lesson.

Q & Rox� I hear your area is even worse for digging. Years ago a bunch of co-workers got re-located to that area. During the house hunting process they were surprised to learn that few houses had basements. They were told that the reason was that the bed rock was very close to the surface and it would require blasting to get deep enough to do a basement. Unless you want to build from the surface up (a very interesting option), you may be stuck. On the plus side � you don�t have to go all that deep. I have to go 3 feet deep to insure there�s liquid water available in the winter. You guys ever get to skate outdoors on natural ice? Didn�t think so.

Neon (and everybody else too for that matter), you bring good dark beer, you can come swim in my puddle anytime from June through early September. Got 2 spare rooms and a kitchen big enough for 2 or 3 cooks. I�m sure we�d get along famously.

Q, you mentioned it, and I�ve noticed the same thing. Some of the pictures just don�t convey the (surprising) size of the damn thing. Even with people lying in the bottom, the camera just doesn�t capture the size. It isn�t quite big enough to swim laps (unless you like 18 foot laps), but we�ve checked it out for just sitting and chillin. The lowest of the side tiers provides a nice seat, your feet can dangle into the deeper water and the water line should come up to mid chest for taller folks, maybe shoulders for some of the more petite human beings. Either way, at the end of a long hard day, grabbing a beer and swimmin with the fishies (pee and all Neon) really sounds like a swell idea.

Oh and Neon � that Rosemary chicken dish? Doing it up for Saturday. Going to start the chicken marinating tonight. Gotta stop home and do a quick inventory. I think we may have picked our basil plant nearly to death and I�m sure I�ll need a thawed fryer and more rosemary. The other stuff we probably have on hand. Maybe. Regardless, I�m drooling in anticipation.

Brief political tangent coming

I�ve been unsure as to whether I would really vote for Obama come November. Then he selected Joe Biden as his VP running mate. In many of the silly on-line candidate matching programs, Biden was the candidate that most closely matched my own opinions. That and Biden�s international experience (Senate Foreign relations committee? I need to research more) really made me feel better about the whole Obama thing.

Now I see that McCain has picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. Palin, Governor of Alaska and the mayor of 6500 strong Wasilla, Ak. all of two years ago. She might be a real smart lady. But in her 2 years as governor and who knows how long as mayor, how much experience did she get in dealing with the UN? With Russia invading Georgia? With casting the tie breaking vote in Senate decisions?

McCain may have selected her to try and woo all the Hillary fans that were on the fence about Obama. I think he got them off the fence all right, but perhaps not in the direction he was hoping for. That pick just cemented my resolve. Unless Nader runs again.

Brief political tangent done.

Time to go buy more feeder fishies. Different store I think. Oh � and Rox � you were right on the money. No fish at our local gates of hell that passes for a wally world. I didn�t check there when I initially got the fish, but I had the displeasure of having to go there for something else the next day.

Hope big brother lets me sign in to post this.

Added later:

Nope. Big brother locked things up. Probably only a matter of time before anything powered by blogger, wordpress, dland are all cut off. I�ll have to set aside some time at home a few nights a week to keep up. Like tonight!