Gabriel

 His little tank looks so forlorn and empty without him.

He was a good little fish.

I will miss him. 

Gabriel

Says hi. 

I have a friend who calls this stage of life "mental pause".  Now that I'm there, I can understand the reasoning behind her colloquialism.  It's like my brain has quit working.  That is why, instead of a clever and witty post, you are getting a picture of a fish. 

And I'm going to bed. 

Goodnight.

Tired On Tuesday

I was at work yesterday, just a workin' away.  Group Leader Fernando wasn't there.  I didn't think anything of it.  I just figured he'd taken a day off. 

We all do it from time to time. 

But then, people started running up to me and texting me and asking "What happened to Fernando?" like they thought I would somehow know.  I'm not sure why they all thought I would know, but they did.  Think I would know, that is. 

After about the third time someone asked me that, I figured I'd better find out.  I started asking questions.  Seems he'd been having severe headaches, and was just feeling lethargic all weekend.  Sunday his sister talked him into going to the hospital. 

Well, I'm not going to go into all that, because it's his business and not my place to be putting it all over the internet.  Be that as it may, the hospital wanted to send him to Jackson, but they didn't have any beds.  They sent him to Greenwood instead, where they ran some tests on him. 

One of my friends said she and another co-worker were going to go see him after work, and I asked if I could ride with them.  I did want to go see him, but you know me, I wouldn't have gone on my own.  I was really glad she said she was going, and that I could go, too. 

I'm always like, thinking that people wouldn't want me around, but this morning, she stopped by and thanked me for going with them.  She said they really had a great time. 

Anyway, we got to the hospital and found his room.  Crystal knocked, and Fernando's sister called for us to come in...

"We came to see how you are doing," said Crystal, hugging him. 

"We're here to cheer you up," said Edna, hugging him.

"I'm here to finish you off," said I, strangling him...not really.  I just hugged him, too. 

We visited with him a bit, and the doctor came in and said he was OK, and could go home.  A few more minutes and the nurse came in with his discharge papers.  "Oh, I still have to take your IV out," she said.  "OOOOOH, can I?"  I volunteered -- which was met with a resounding NO from Fernando.  Gee, I wonder why...

We saw him safely off with his sister, then we came on back to Grenada.  I made it home just in time for the season premier of The Big Bang Theory, followed by the season premier of Sleepy Hollow.  By that time, I was just tired and ready for bed.

The bad news is, I tossed and turned until after midnight before I fell asleep.  Even then, I woke up two or three times before the alarm went off at 5:00 AM.  Needless to say, today has been a bit of a zombified day for me. 

But look who came to visit:

This is the neighbor's puppy, and he's the cutest little thing.  I was trying to figure out how I could keep him without them finding out.  Eventually, I decided that they wouldn't appreciate that too much, so I let him go on home. 

In other news, I bought another pie pumpkin and cooked it down over the weekend. 

I found a pumpkin soup recipe that I want to try.  You know I'm all about the soup.  I'd better be.  I've got enough soup in my freezer to feed an army. 

Finally, the fish has decided he wants to be named Gabriel.  

"Why Gabriel?" I asked him.  "It isn't a very fishy name." 

"Because I like it," Gabriel said.  And that was the end of that discussion. 

So, Gabriel it is. 

We Has Fish!!

The day dawned chilly and overcast.  It was so chilly, I had to put my sweat jacket on this morning.  I've had the windows open all day.  I'm loving that fresh air in the house.

But first, I had to go on The Great Fish Hunt.

Most Wal-Marts have male Bettas.  Ours has a space for them, but alas, that space has sat empty for several weeks now.  I kept watching, hoping they would get some in, but no...

Finally, I decided I'd go check the Wal-mart at Batesville. I was really hoping they would have some, because I sure didn't want to have to drive all the way up to the Petco in Southaven.  So, it was with some trepidation, I began my journey...

Upon arriving in Batesville, after a trip slowed by construction, I discovered to my delight that they had plenty of Bettas. 

They had red ones, blue, ones, green ones.  They even had one crowntail, but I decided just to get a plain one.  I knew I wanted a blue one.  Really, I wanted one that was TARDIS blue. 

There was also a lady in the aisle who told me she wanted an aquarium, but was afraid of fish.  I wonder how that is going to work out.

Back to my quest...after much deliberation and decision making, I finally chose this one.  He isn't quite TARDIS blue, but he was as close as I could get.  I put him on the dash of my car to take a quick photo before tucking him safely into the passenger seat and bracing his little bowl with my jacket. 

After a return trip also slowed by construction, we finally made it home, and into his little tank he went.

He seems to be adjusting well, and has even eaten a little bit.  I'm going to have to get him a heater, because I'm afraid he'll get too cold this winter. 

He also needs a name, but that will come in time.

Rylea says, "Why you get fish, Mama.  You not love me any more?"

Of course I do. You're my Baby Girl.

No More Fish

We had a minor tragedy here this morning. I used to keep fish--lots of fish. When I started getting interested in reptiles again, I decided that I would get out of the fish keeping business. As each fish died, I simply wouldn't replace it and once a tank was empty, it could be converted to a herpetarium. That's what I did, and for the last year or so, I've only had 5 little corydoras left in a 10 gallon tank. These are like the immortal fish. I don't think they'll ever die. They've got to be at least 8 years old.

This morning, I discovered that their tank had developed a slow leak. Not wishing to spend the money for a new tank since I wouldn't be keeping fish any more anyway, I gave them to Mike. Actually, I talked to Dennise and asked her if she thought Mike would want them. "Yeah," she replied, "he probably would. He's such a fish-a-holic." So I bagged the little buggers up and took them down there to him. They are now happily swimming in a new tank, and I have more counter space in my kitchen.

I joined a new Knit-A-Long yesterday evening. I love doing dish/washcloths, and so this one seemed just perfect:


This one is a true KAL in that you are sent a few lines of a pattern each day for about a week, and when you are done, you have a beautiful and functional dishcloth. They do two patterns a month, and when they are finished, they post the pattern in its entirety. Since I was way behind for the month, I whipped this one out last night while watching Indianapolis run all over Philadelphia.

It's a poinsettia, if you can't tell from the picture. I had a devil of a time getting a picture that would show the details of this cloth. This one isn't that great, but it is actually the best one I got.

The second pattern for the month is a textured or patterned one. This will be great for using up my cotton stash, which I don't have much of anyway. Well, except for those two cones I bought on clearance...

I finally cashed my birthday checks (my birthday was two weeks ago) and this is what I bought:

It is a vacuum sealer. The first thing I did was to reseal some of the snakes' mice so they would stay fresher longer. This'll be really handy to have around. I'm off to find some more stuff to seal up.