Chub in a Tub

This is Chub.

This is Chub in a tub.

Now Chub doesn't normally hang out in a large Tupperware bowl, even though the yellow really accents his nice orangey scales. Chub has his own crib, er tank, to swim around in, a nice model with an air stone, a filter, lots of tank decorations, and Chub's personal favorite: pebbles. Lots and lots of pebbles that cover the bottom of his tank and collect all the Chub detritus that builds up in there. 

Everyone knows that goldfish are the pigs of the aquarium world, which means their tanks must be regularly cleaned. Usually when Chub's environs are being sanitized, he just hangs out in the tank. Sometimes, when a more massive cleaning is underway, he must retire to his snazzy yellow Tupperware tub until the procedure is done. 

Today Chub's tank was scheduled for a regular clean up, so there was no need for him to vacate the joint. 

However, if it hadn't been for my daughter, Super Smart Girl,  he might have vacated the tank in a more metaphysical sense, shuffling off his mortal coil (scale?) 

Normally, we remove a couple gallons of water from the tank every time we clean it. This is done with tubing we run from the tank water to a bucket below the table the tank rests on. Collect the water, remove the tubing, water the plants with the dirty water. Add some new water and voila! Happy fish. However, mom, who has a mind like a steel trap--rusted shut--efficiently set up the water removal system for the fish tank, and then promptly forgot about it when she was distracted by another task. 

Eventually Super Smart Girl entered the bedroom where Chub resides. Good thing. The water bucket was brimming over with dirty tank liquid which was spilling across the bedroom floor. And Chub...well let's just say that Chub was almost like a 'fish out of water'. Because I had removed not one gallon, not two gallons, but  more like 5 or 6 gallons out of his tank! 

Chub was still swimming, but the remaining water barely covered his dorsal fin. (Did you know fish can look panicky?) Fortunately we had several gallons of water that we keep on hand just for the aquarium, so they all got dumped in. The water reached a safe level and Chub heaved a sigh of relief. Actually, he went back to nosing through his pebbles, but if a fish could have sighed, he would. 

 

Crooks and Crazies: Go There!

I have a sister who raises sheep, chickens, working border collies, and Cain, not necessarily in that order. She has friends who do some, or all, of the same. Now these sheep-border collie-(possibly chicken)-Cain people understand each other, mostly, so they know that one of the nicest things you can do for a fellow sheep-dog-barnyard animal person is to offer to farm sit when such a service is needed. Well, it just so happened that recently my sister needed someone to farm sit for her, and her dear friend Laura shouldered the responsibility. She also shouldered some chickens, but that's another story. In fact, it's THIS story:

http://crooksandcrazies.blogspot.com/
Go. Read about frightening fowl and baaaaaaad sheep. And a doorknob. I cannot make this up.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay. 

Robert Frost 

She Went to the Party; I Got the Gift

 

My daughter recently attended a birthday get together for a dear friend of hers. The birthday girl turned 15 years old and all the girls in attendance were in their mid-teens.  As part of the festivities, the girls were escorted to all their favorite places: Barnes and Noble, Ed McKay's, Claire's, and the Mellow Mushroom, to name a few. Along the way, they discovered a little market selling all kinds of handmade goods. After looking at what the sellers had to offer, my dear daughter pulled out her own hard-earned money and bought her mother two gifts. 

Now there are a few things you need to understand. The first is that mom's finances stay perpetually tight.

The second is that  over the last few months mom  accidentally broke not one, but two of her very special mugs--mugs that had lots of sentimental  and symbolic value. Third, mom has a medical condition that causes her hands to break out in itchy red rings when they are too dry or irritated. Cheapo hand lotions don't do a lot to alleviate the condition.

When my daughter came home, she had a brown bag with paper crumpled in it and a crazy grin on her face. The bag was for me. As I unwrapped what was in that bag, she told me all about the little market and the artisans there. Inside the paper were two gifts: a container of  home made shea butter lotion  and a lovely hand- thrown mug. 

But wait, there's more. The shea butter is for my hands and the mugs is meant to replace the ones I broke. Now my daughter doesn't like the idea of deep water or anything floating on it--I mean she REALLY doesn't like it. But I do. My original major in college was marine biology and I adore everything about the tall masted ships. Despite her distaste for the decorations on the mug, she knew I would like them, so she bought it for me. ( I can imagine her squeezing her eyes shut as she gingerly reached for the salmon-colored mug). 

Isn't she something? She went to the party, but I got the gifts. 

Peaceful Porch

The house that we rent is set into a  small hillside, so the back side of our basement is exposed. That means we have a sort of downstairs porch, and then a upstairs porch attached to the back of the house and over the downstairs porch. The upper porch is not screened and we have a clothesline strung across it, but on pretty days it is heaven to go out there with a good book and a cool drink. You can sit in the sunshine that hits part of the porch, or catch a gentle breeze, and listen to the birds sing and the squirrels fuss. You can even curl up on an old sleeping bag and take a nap; just ask my daughter! The dogs might join you, with the little ones trying to find space on your blanket and the big one stretching out in a patch of sun. At the right time of day it is indeed a little slice of heaven.

Black Holes: Light Bending and Mind Bending

My daughter is homeschooled utilizing the Classical Conversations academic program. This year she is in Challenge I. As part of her curriculum she is required to complete a research paper, and she chose 'black holes' as her subject.

Do you have any idea what it's like to try and describe a phenomenon that may or may not exist (although astrophysicists seem pretty sure that  they're out there) and that has properties that incorporate some of the most difficult scientific theories in the field?

Let's just say I'm wishing she had picked something a bit, er, different. Like quantum mechanics, perhaps.

New Month, New Entry

I was blessed to grow up in a house full of music. Although neither my mother or father played an instrument, they loved to listen to music of all kinds. In our home, Harry Belafonte met Aida, Mitch Miller sang alongside Peter, Paul, and Mary, and the great Russian composers followed the Singing Nun. Instrumental, vocal, ethnic, operatic, folk,contemporary, or classical, it didn't matter.We heard it all, and I am thankful for that legacy.

As a parent I have tried to pass this rich musical heritage on to my children. They have grown up listening to all kinds of music, and each has had the opportunity to play an instrument. Their tastes are eclectic and I am glad.

Thank you mom and dad. And mom, you were right; I did grow up to love opera, just like the two of you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOfC9LfR3PI