Update From The Ark (Long)

Well, I don't have two of everything- even though it feels like that with all these animals around here sometimes!

First, the bad news. This summer I lost two of my finches, Fawkes, who was a yellow backed male gouldian, and Minerva, the mother of most of the chicks you have seen grow up on this blog. That really sucked!!

I also sold almost all of the Society Finches. I only kept the original couple I had and one of their babies that was born with a twisted foot. I wanted to keep him to make sure he was going to be looked after. Sometimes a flock will pick on a bird with a handicap but so far he seems to be getting along just fine.

So the flock is down to manageable proportions again. Thank goodness! I'll probably slowly sell off about half of those I have left. I want to just keep about six to eight birds total. I don't think I will raise any babies this year either. It's just too much work for me to keep up with right now. Keep reading and you'll see why!

I also lost Marilyn, my beautiful white Angel Fish. Both of our tanks were suddenly hit with weird sicknesses. We managed to put the Discus tank to rights but couldn't cure Maryiln. Diana, the golden Angel Fish, is showing some worrying signs now too. We are treating the tank again but with fish (as with the finches) there seems to be only so much you can do. :(

I try not to get too upset when I lose any of the "little guys", but I do feel distressed. Not like I would if I lost one of the dogs, but you know what I mean. I consider the birds and the fish to be some of the wonderful "bonuses" of life, like the wind in the trees or a beautiful clear night sky. Just a small nugget of gorgeousness that makes me stop and think about how great life is and how lucky I am.

Now for the good news.

Actually just some cute photos. :)

Libby has lost all the weight she needed to and is thriving. She desperately wishes she was a lap dog though. Hubby took this photo of Libby trying to climb onto my lap the other day.



You haven't been kissed until you have been kissed by a mastiff. :)

Luca is his charming, sweet self as usual. Here he is with his most favorite toy in the whole world - a stuffed lobster.



He carries it around smiling and wagging his tail. Never chews it or anything, just loves it. The lobster makes a strange burbling noise when it gets squeezed and occasionally Luca sets it off while he is cuddling with it in the dog basket and it scares the bejezus out of us every time.

And lastly, I haven't blogged about this yet, but about a month after we adopted Libby, we adopted two more dogs! (Why yes, we are crazy.) Two little English Toy Spaniel girls joined our family. Both are retired breeder dogs just like Libby was.

This is Sarah, in the basket with Henry and Luca. She is turning three next week. Sarah is a total sweetheart - the kids ADORE her.



And this is Clementine. She prefers to sleep on the couch. :) Clemmie is five years old. She's a bit of a diva.



(Ten points to anyone who can guess why I named them Clementine and Sarah.) :)

They have both settled in and now our dog/animal family is complete. Seriously - no more animals for us!!

Well - that's the update from the Ark.

Sorry for the long post. I couldn't knit tonight because we took the futon couch out of our sitting room - my knitting spot. Our new couch will be delivered tomorrow. Yay! That futon was major uncomfortable. I just hope the new couch has good knitting mojo. :)

Discus

Nothing new happening around here, just more dust and noise, so I thought I'd share some pretty pictures.

I've already introduced our Angel Fish, now meet the Discus! They inhabit our other little underwater world.







The Discus don't really have "official" names like the Angels do, probably because they are newer and also less interactive than the Angels are. Discus are just a bit more sensitive all around, harder to keep in general than Angels are. It certainly took us longer to get their environment just right.

Anyhow, they don't really have names. They just get called silly things like "Mr. Blueberry" or "Mr. Mango". For some reason in our imagination they are all boys and remind us of food. (LOL) But not fish and chips - more like candy or something like that. I think it is their round shape and wacky bright coloring.



The Discus tend to like to eat their food off the bottom. The cool thing is that they don't just swim down at an angle to get the food. Instead they rotate on the spot as if there is some sort of center point in the middle of their bodies. It's hard to describe but really neat to watch. They also change color quite a bit depending on their mood. Like a chameleon. The Angels can blush a bit or turn paler but the Discus can go from gorgeous full blown color to totally black - if they are really unhappy! Fortunately, they seem pretty happy in their tank.

Two Famous Blondes

Hubbs hasn't emailed me the latest set of kitchen progress photos (we have grout! the tile is sealed! drywall sanded! cabinets delivered - TOMORROW!!!) - so for today, meet the last two Angel Fish.

Diana, with Rasputin in the background.



Diana is actually a golden Angel Fish (looks too light in the photo) and she is also a "veil tail" which means she has much longer fins than normal. She is also a "high fin". You can see why! She always carries her top fin high up like a Princess - hence her name. :)

This is Marilyn.



She is a "blusher" and also has a gorgeous veil tail. She trails her fins after her so gracefully when she swims. I always imagine a Hollywood Starlet in a convertible with a long gauzy white scarf. :) "Blusher" means that the skin over her gills is transparent so you can see the redness underneath & it makes her look like she is blushing.

I don't actually know if they are girls or not but since they are both "blonde" I decided to name them after the two most famous blondes I could think of - Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe. I'm goofy like that. :)

More Angel Fish

Our other Angel Fish couple, Ozzie and Harriet.

This is Ozzie. He is the Macdaddy of the tank. A large gorgeous male.



This is Harriet. She is slightly smaller than Ozzie. You can barely see her little orange lips in this photo. She looks like she has lipstick on.



When we got these guys we were told that the color was "black marbled" but I think because of the amount of orange they have they are probably really "koi". The person who had them before said she was trying to get them to breed but with no success. We had them for a week and they spawned so I think they are happy here!

I really love these fish. They are so smart. They recognise me and come up to beg for food. They each have their own personalities and habits. The tank is in our bedroom and it is so calming to lie in bed and watch them . Today Ozzie and Harriet are having domestic squabbles. They've been pushing each other around and trying to face each other down. Must be getting ready to spawn. :)

Rasputin and Nelson's eggs were gone this morning - eaten during the night. It's just as well since they weren't going to hatch anyway. Here's another photo of the lovely Rasputin. Click on the photo for a look at her pretty rust colored eyes. Can you tell she's a favorite with me? :)



Yep - as Becky noted, it is like Noah's Ark around here. We have two large fish tanks, one with the Angels and another that is destined for Discus. We also have a lizard (an old Bearded Dragon). Then there's my flock of about 20 finches and of course the dogs. We are definitely "animal people".

It's Hot and Dusty Round Here...

Oh the chaos. I'm so over it.

We've had four days of electrical work. Mucho pounding, sawing and drilling. Many wires hanging everywhere and bits all over the floor. It's dusty and hot because we are keeping the doors shut to try to minimize the dust transfer. Supposedly drywall starts at the end of the week so I have alot more dust to look forward to - but at least that will be the end of the demolition mode and the beginning of restoration to normal. But I won't feel like we are on the downhill stretch until at least ONE, just one little new thing is installed. Just one piece of tile. That's all I want right now.

So - between the heat, dust and being sick there's been little knitting or anything fun like that.

How about some more photos as a distraction?

Remember I mentioned I got some Angel Fish?

Meet Rasputin. She is a gorgeous black (obviously) fish. I like to think she is the evil genius of the tank.



This is Nelson. You can see he is missing one of his fins. So I named him after Admiral Nelson who lost an arm in one of his battles at sea. (As an aside and a glimpse of the minutiae with which my brain is filled, Admiral Nelson was created Duke of Bronte by the King of Naples. Patrick Bronte, father of the famous Bronte Sisters,was a great admirer of Lord Nelson. Scholars have argued that Patrick took his last name from the Nelson-Bronte connection, the family name having previously been Prunty or O'Prunty.)



Nelson and Rasputin have spawned. They laid eggs yesterday on one of the broad leafy plants in their tank. Surprisingly they didn't eat the eggs over night and are guarding and caring for them assiduously. Unfortunately black Angel Fish + black Angel Fish = infertile eggs. So I doubt most of them will hatch although I am holding out some hope for the few eggs that do look fertile. It's only about 5 eggs total and they will probably get eaten if they do hatch. Sigh. Oh well.

And speaking of infertile eggs it looks like Ron and Rosmerta's eggs were all duds. Poor things they tried so hard!