Scream Out Loud

Unsure

2011-10-24T23:32:00.000-05:00

Thelma is sick, I don't know what wrong, her personality is completely intact. She makes noise constantly, like she always has, but now she is walking around like she is drunk. Four days on antibiotics and in her own apartment( ie dog kennel with her own nest box and food and water dish) and she still isnt any better. I worry, she isn't getting any worse, but I worry. maybe I should let her free and just build a ramp into the coop, see if she can keep going, give her some dignity.

Chickens III

2011-06-18T22:24:00.000-05:00

Yes, my life is all chickens right now. I wanted more eggs a day, so logically, Get more chickens right?

I added four more to my flock, and now get fewer eggs....sigh.

Chickens II

2011-04-16T10:54:00.003-05:00

I get two eggs a day right now with two laying hens and one about to start, they have deep orange yolks and taste delightful. I would encorage everyone who is able to grow there own eggs.
Red, the production red hen lays the darker egg, Henny Penny (I have no idea what she is, maybe a sex link) lays the pinkish one to the left, and the white one is store bought to show you the contrast.
Henny laid a double yoker last month, a monster of an egg.
This guy was abandoned by a bad neighbor, he survived the 8 degree nights we had this winter and was mean as hell. I sold him on craigslist because he was attacking everyone who came near him and crowed at all hours of the day and night. How he and Red came to live here is a strange story that still gives me nightmares, I'm glad its over, maybe some day Ill reminisce.

Chickens

2011-04-16T10:35:00.003-05:00

Failures and triumphs have happened in the last year, Ive moved twice and can have chickens. Coop building was breeze and cost me all over 6 bucks in hinges as I scavenged everything else.

Simple design, and the chickens seem to like it. Its been holding strong since october of 2010.

And this is Sweet Pea, my newest and house trained chicken, not so much potty trained as in trained to want to roost in the house rather then in the coop, my fault it was cold this winter.

Fun Web Site

2010-01-04T23:31:00.002-06:00

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a wonderful website. Its well laid out, has beautiful pictures, and even better information.

The animal guide was caught my attention of course. Check it out for yourself!

Tools of the Trade

2010-01-04T16:41:00.003-06:00

I wanted to show you some of my favorite tools for working on the tanks and around the house. Everyone should know how to use a sewing a machine or at very least a needle and thread. I repair clothes, make simple toys for the ferret and modify bags and carbon pillows with mine.

Sewing these things by hand is a pain but well worth the effort if your like me and can only find 55 gal carbon pillows but have a 10 gal tank. Sew a double line down the center, being very careful to not hit any of the resin pieces with the needle, with a very small tight stitch. Make sure its far apart enough to cut down the center, leaving enough seam overhang to prevent the stitches from tearing out.

Don't forget to save the bag(or can if its the old packaging) and keep the unused half sealed up because it will absorb toxins from the air as well as water. As a disclaimer, bio-zorb says that cutting or modifying the bag in any way is a big no-no.

Pipettes and turkey basters are wonderful, I had read about other people using them but didn't buy one until after starting the salt water tank, should have starting using them years ago. Bamboo dowls have been on my must have list for many years. You can use them like chopsticks to move things around the tanks, poke holes in bags, scrape off undesirable algae, apply glue and silicon....and a myriad of other things. Pictured is my main piece of tubing for doing water changes, but I also use a short piece at times and smaller diameters for acclimating.

Jan Saltwater Update and Additions

2010-01-04T13:08:00.008-06:00

I'm currently battling green hair algae and cyano-bacteria, aka red-slime algae. After reducing my feedings by half, blowing the cyano off with a pipette twice daily, and increasing my water changes, the cyano problem has improved, but the hair algae is trying to take over. I've decided to take drastic action and purchase a sea hare to consume it. I'm hoping that by combining this with the twice weekly water changes I can rid the tank of algae and export the nutrients at the same time.

Things are starting to fill in nicely but I'm still not happy with the aquascaping, it just seems to bland. Click through for a larger picture.

Some new additions that I'm very happy with:

The radioactive dragon eye zoanthids I aquired a few months ago are doing well and have doubled in number and size. With out and with flash.

Its taken a lot of research, but I've finally decided on an ID for these anemones I bought two weeks ago, Rock flower anemones, Epicystis crucifer.

With the anemones I brought home this porcelain anemone crab, I just couldn't resist because he was so cute. Of course he flat out refuses to hang out with the anemones, probably just to spite me. I was fortunate enough to catch him hanging out next to the fromia star that has been hiding for the last few months. When I put the fromia in the tank he was near death with only three legs and most of his body cavity disintegrated, he has healed nicely and has begun to regrow his missing body parts.

These purple zoanthids have been a pain in my side since they were given to me by a friend. First, every appointment I made to pick them up had to be canceled because of work drama. Then, they refused to stay attached to there ceramic plug, taking half a bottle of superglue gel to stay in place. I am happy with there growth and size though, even though my lighting is not strong enough to sustain there deep purple coloration. In two weeks their skirts have turned distinctly brown.

After several months this florida ricordia still hasn't attached to anything so I took matters into my own hands. It formed two mouths soon after adding it to the tank and I'm hoping that rubber banding it in the middle will help it split faster also.

My El Fab Mod

2010-01-04T11:11:00.003-06:00

It came out great. My bulb seriously needs to be changed, and as the cost is beyond me at this point, I just added one of my t5 reptile lights which conveniently fits over my filter as well.
Top down with the light removed. I decided to make the two chambers a bit more equal then what El Fab had his since I use Bio-Zorb rezen pillows and wanted room for them to fit.
With the filter floss(ahem...*cough*...quilting batting) removed, below it is my bio-zorb with some rubble mixed in.

You can see how the organic matter is building nicely.

I love this thing.

Salt water, Dec Update

2009-12-15T21:56:00.005-06:00

A number of fortunate circumstances lead to me upgrading the saltwater tank last month, overall I'm happy with the results.

My birthday rolled around and allowed me to buy and Aquaclear 70 so I could mod it in to a refugium. A bag of black sand went on clearance at work the week before, which I saw as a sign from the heavens that this tank was ment to be a 10 gallon. The other issue was one of light, I needed to raise the tank so it would be closer to the light, so since I needed to empty it anyway, might as well up the size.

The Aqua Clear 70:
The AquaClear was by far already my favorite filter, just for its pure versatility and toughness. I've run many of these dry for hours at a time (unintentionally) and they keep on kickin'. My enthusiasm for the brand only increased when I found this mod for a nano-tank refugium on Nano-reef.com.

El Fab's Simple Guide to Pico Tanks

The link is halfway through the article at the AquaClear mod instructions. The gist of it is: Shorten the intake tube, reduce the flow by removing the tab, dissect the media basket and use the parts to make chambers and add a light for cheato.

Something fuzzy for a change

2009-12-14T12:05:00.003-06:00

The newest addition to our family, Nibblit:

We adopted her about two months ago and she has been a delight. Her hobbies include spilling water glasses and playing whack-a-mole with the dog.

Playing Catch up

2009-12-14T11:56:00.002-06:00

So much to post, I don't know why time flies, but it does....
I acquired a crested gecko some time ago, and never took pictures

Introducing Betty Boop, a tiger striped dalmatian that someone didn't want anymore:

She lives in the large terrarium with the two red-eye and two big-eye tree frogs, which hasbeen replanted and need to be photographed as well.

YCG

2009-10-16T01:37:00.002-05:00

I realized that I havn't posted a memorial for my little yellow fish....he disappeared about a week after relocating the tank....so sad, but you know, I saw another at the work the other day....

hmmm...

sorry little yellow fish, you were my favorite, you will be missed

2009-10-12T12:09:00.002-05:00

Here is what the new setup looks like....I got ride of the homemade stand, and found this 55 gal stand on clearance. Much homier now.
My friend gave me this still as of yet unkown coral frag...I'll let you know when I identify it.
and if you look real close to the left of the ricordia yuma, you can see its little baby, I finally had a coral split...horay.

(Bigger pic on the click through)
The green thing in the bottom right corner is the skeleton of the bubble coral that finally bit the dust. I cant get a good shot of it but I aquired a very small piece of green star polyp thats just to tiny to see.

I went ahead and got some cheato in anticipation of refuge build I would like to do.

Just found the camera....

2009-10-12T10:53:00.000-05:00

I don't think I'll ever catch up...there have been a lot of additions to the tanks....we'll see what we can do about it.

Bubble coral imminent failure

2009-08-22T10:35:00.002-05:00

The bubble coral isn't doing very well....it makes me sad. The bubbles haven't been out for about 5 days now and there is algae growing on the skeleton....sad sad sad.

I had to walk next door to hasting to look something up on the bubble coral. I have not been able to find any specific information online or at work. But luckily they had a book on marine inverts which stated that the bubble coral will retract its bubbles only when it is being poisoned by poor water quality or other corals...so I'm trying to fix that now.

Saltwater success

2009-08-10T11:00:00.005-05:00

I'm way behind on updates on this one, there are lots of new additions and a rearrange.
First I got a great deal in June, two finger leather frags for just under 20 bucks, one has attached well and the other is taking its sweet time. But the polyps are extending so I hopefully they are doing ok.

The only concern was that in such a small tank, leathers have a tendency to poison other corals when they shed there waxy coating. They did this soon after i put them in and siphoned it off just in case, but by then I had already added the bio-zorb and was counting on it to do the trick.

About a month ago I added this guy, i had been wanting a peppermint shrimp and about the time I was ready to add something else he appeared at work so of course I snatched him up.

I decided to do a re-arrange when the bubble coral came in on a shipment to see if I could get it to fit, I actually researched it first unlike the finger leather coral. Shame on me.

And here is some random pics that came out nice.

Garden Update 1

2009-08-09T23:01:00.005-05:00

We will start with overviews of the three beds before we get into details and potted plants.

My first bed:

This year I have:
2 varieties of tomatoes
pees, which promptly died
cantaloupe, story to be told
a giant carrot
jalapenos
2 varieties of zinnias, one dwarf, one giant
white antler looking plants,Dusty Miller
snapdragons that refuse to bloom
sun impatiens
a giant onion
basil
bell pepper plant, very successful
mexican heather
chives from last year
a grapevine I was given, it dominates the picture because it has been trained back on itself ,many times for lack of a proper trellis

Bed 2:
This year I have:
more white antler things
the Rosemary from last year that has been pruned back many times
a little white flowering plant
a mystery plant
a red mexican bell pepper plant that is beautiful
a purple vining flower that refuses to climb, clematis bees jubilee
gladiolus
a maiden head plant
Cosmos that have refused to bloom until now

And finally the 3rd bed, the shade bed:
Caldniums
many hostas
club fern
a red plant
a rescued plant that my boss almost killed
and 2 varieties of fig plant

Ya know, two days ago i could have named all of these....I will have to go look at all the little tags when its light out.

Mistaken Identity

2009-08-09T11:12:00.002-05:00

What I thought were Xenia, are in fact not:

I found a wonderful description here on Pet Solutions. The difference seems to be that Xenia has several heads or hands on one stalk, whereas Anthelia only has one head per stalk.

My new secret weapon

2009-08-09T02:10:00.002-05:00

I LOVE this stuff:
It does a wonderful job of keeping the water free of toxins from corals and lasts for 3 to 6 months depending on your bio-load. As long as you keep your pre-filters clean that is. That is the only drawback I've seen, I have to rinse the pre-filters about every three days to keep from forming a nitrate spike.

Before I added the bio-zorb, I wasn't using any sort of sponge in the filter, just a back of carbon that I changed weekly. But this has definitely reduced my costs.

New Saltwater Additions

2009-07-04T00:00:00.004-05:00

A rock I inherited a while back(all the mushrooms had died on it and they didn't want it anymore) has one survivor:

While I was taking pictures look who is looking back:

Peek-a-boo
A gentelman from East Texas Reefers gave me these:
Two ricordia yumas

and a watermelon mushroom
Such a camera hog:

Got it!

2009-06-22T23:31:00.004-05:00

The elusive Gobiodon atrangulatus!:
Now turn:
Ok, now everyone together!:
The kenya tree decides to open:
Pretty crabs:

My flowers

2009-06-22T22:03:00.002-05:00

OMG!

2009-06-22T21:23:00.003-05:00

I figured out my macro lens option on my camera!

Finally got a great pic of the clown goby, he is still going strong!
Hove no idea what they are, but they are new:
And a full view shot:
You can see the goby peeking on the left hand side. I have also added another clown goby that is different colors, but he is shy, and of course my beautiful kenya trees decide to not come out today.

White antlers

2009-06-22T21:15:00.004-05:00

I'm just mesmerized......

Saltwater

2009-05-30T11:30:00.002-05:00

So, had a few trials and tribulations but everything is doing pretty good. The yellow goby has fattened up and cured himself of ick last week, he is a strong little fellow, I of course almost had a heart attack when I saw those four little dots.

All the original hermit crabs and snails and emerald crabs died, I suspect it was a combination of starving to death along with an immature tank although there is no way to know for certain because my water was testing fine.

I started to add essential elements by kent and have upped the calcium significantly. I estimate I'm putting in about 1/4 of a teaspoon 4 times a week. I had to add more saltwater plants because the others melted, I suspect it was a lack of iodide, which the essential elements should be helping with.

I have since added another emerald crab, a feather duster (who fell into the rocks and disappeared, I have no way to know if he is still kicking), two scarlet reef crabs, a blue legged crab, and 2 snails, margarita and the little one with the snorkle.

All my red brown algea that was lightly covering everything has disappeared and the rocks are turning some amazing colors.

All in all, I don't know exactly what I'm doing, but I'm apparently doing something right.

Stepping Stone

2009-05-14T12:29:00.003-05:00

I've been carrying around this stepping stone kit for ten years.....and finally, here it is.

Everything is pretty banged up from our travels, but still functional. I had some concrete stain I used to make it darker.
The glass pieces weren't originally this small.

After sitting for an hour. I had never done this before and had no idea how it would turnout.
And the finished product, I waited to long to scrub the stone, so there is to much concrete covering the glass, but it still looks pretty. I'll know next time to not use such small pieces and to pay more attention to how fast it sets.

Garden Additions for May

2009-05-12T10:47:00.004-05:00

I wish I had taken pictures before I tore out the collard greens and trimmed the rosemary and lavender, they were absolutely huge.

Last year I failed miserably at cucumbers and in this bed, I've added more mulch and its holding water much better. The chives, huge onion and grapevine are left over from last year,everything else has been planted in the last month.

A friend gave me this grapevine last year, and I barely kept it alive by sticking it in here, Not optimum conditions I know, but we'll see how it does.

You can't tell, but this onion blossum is almost 4 inches across.

This is the rosemary and lavender after the trim, I got 12 huge bundles from them that are drying in the trailer. I planted two Clementius , one in dark purple and one in light purple and the trellis a couple of days ago, of course between the shock of moving and a heavy rainstorm,I didnt get a picture of the huge gorgeous blooms before the fell or were beaten off.

Backside of the same bed,looks like the lavender needs a trim again already.

I planted these onions in January and they have bulbed up nicely. Someone told me the trick this year of pulling the dirt away in order to get them to....wish I had known that last year, I would have had more then just green onions.

Last year this bed was full of elephant ears out in the open, I figured why not just go full sun and plant hostas, Needs some more, but it will have to wait till next month.

Still alive!

2009-05-11T12:28:00.003-05:00

I added my first saltwater fish three days ago. The water is testing great and the little guys color is coming back nicely.

I can't say the same for the two bullseye mushrooms I added. They are melting because of the highlight....and there is nothing I can do.

Tank updates, April

2009-04-28T13:55:00.005-05:00

The 29 is still going strong and beautiful! If started adding ferts with iron (hate to do that, but it needed it) I have added two platys and a whiptail catfish and so far no deaths. The ghost shrimp have been holding massive amounts of eggs and the sword tail female dropped fry before I moved her to the 20 gal.

The 20 gal has been broken down and the sand replaced with eco-complete and replanted. Looks great, and everything is filling in nicely. Must have had some severe ammonia though because all of the guppies and the female sword tail died from fungus. So its residents are now a green sword tail male with a crooked tail that I grew from a fry, the pineapple female from the other tank, one Otto catfish and one yoyo loach. When the plants fill in more I'll add some more fish, maybe we'll try tetras again. I've also moved one of the Chilien swords(they are getting huge!), the Anibus, and some pennywort trimmings from the other tank.

The saltwater is doing well, I've resisted the urge to add a fish, I'll post about what my options will be later. The two coral frags are actually kenya trees and are finally trying to attach and growing. I was also gifted with some saltwater plants that I have no clue about, one looks like feathers and the other looks like suction cups on the ends of little stalks. One of the emerald crabs died and I havn't seen the starfish for a while, but I think I've gotten that straightened out and the water tested really well this week. I've been adding calcium and the live rock is looking amazing.

Fail

2009-04-28T03:44:00.003-05:00

Completely dropped the ball on pictures on this one, and it still isn't completed as far as a professional looking terrarium is concerned, but I accomplished what I was trying to do. So I suppose this is a test on does and don't s for terrarium construction.

Its been several months since I did anything with the Australian White's Tree Frog enclosure and it was about time I changed out the substrate. Most of the plants didn't survive my care and the ATF's abuse.

I figured I could take a few minutes and bust out a false bottom in no time....

Well, about six hours later this is what I've got.

I cable tied the stucture together and covered the entire thing with screen. Mistake one, no access panel for the pump. Mistake two, I didnt add enough stable supports and it bows in a couple of places. And I'm pretty sure the terrarium itself is leaking....but its a slow one.

I had to improvise a few times, I had no sicors, no time to let anything cure and and three different sizes of tubing, none of which fit the eco-terra mini terrarium pump I used. So why exactly does a company that builds things for reptiles to use in aquariums not use an outlet size that is compatable with the two main sizes of hosing avalable in the aqarium industry? How much sense does that make exactly?

So, we have an illfitted hose that was heated to expand around the pump outlet and a piece of airline tubing inserted into it....yeah, it leaks a bit.

I used the shell, well because I had it, and didnt have anything else that would creat a waterfall. So I used the channel in the shell to hold the airline tube. The pics don't include his vine, so of course that is shoved in there.

All and all, its shoddy, sloppy,and uggly but it works for now.

blog love

2009-04-23T01:32:00.001-05:00

Absolutely loving this guy...

a geek after my own heart

SALUTE!

Plants are the strangest people

Giant Goldfish

2009-04-18T08:45:00.003-05:00

Someone dropped off a koi, 2 fancy goldfish and a comet, I gave away the largest koi and the smallest fantail and took these home to put in the RV camp pond.

I wish I had taken some pics of there release but I was afraid of dropping the camera in the pond. That comet is almost 12 inches long and the fantail has to be 8 or 10. I look forward to seeing them in the pond this summer.

Photo Shoot

2009-04-18T08:15:00.005-05:00

It was such a nice day.

Drop the Bucket

2009-04-18T07:17:00.004-05:00

I finally couldn't stay away any longer, I had to set up a saltwater tank. The only room I had left was the little ledge next to the 29, which of course has reef lighting over it, so it was perfect. I had a 5.5 that I had been keeping crickets in, an extra 10g filter, a tetra or whisper or whatever,some crushed coral and a 50 watt heater.

Since I've bought the live rock as pieces I don't know how much they weight but I guess I have about 3 pounds of base rock and 4 pounds of live-rock. The two smaller pieces are well cured and well populated with tube worms and sponges and a few nice colors of Coraline algae. The larger piece on top came in uncured but was apparently well taken care of on its trip, because it has three pieces of life leather coral still growing on it and hopefully some other live corals, but since they are stony corals it will take longer to see any growth.

Its been set up about a month and has 2 emerald crabs, 1 blue dwarf hermit crab, a margarita snail, half a starfish and two Christmas tree coral frags. At least they are supposed to be christmas tree corals, they don't look like any pictures I've found online though.

The starfish and frags were donated by a coworker.

The coraline algea is spreading nicely and the entire tank has been taken over by red algea but the crabs and snail are taking care of that nicely.

The 29 has filled in amazingly well also since the addition of the light, and this is after a trim.

Blogs

2009-03-26T10:32:00.001-05:00

My mother has started a blog about her paintings and other things, its just in its beginnings but she is rather poetic don't you think?

Texas Treasure Journal

Memorial for a Mouse

2009-02-26T10:34:00.004-06:00

Now I feel bad, but I did what I had to do. I'm sure my karma will suffer as a result. For six months I've been finding little nests, and holes chewed in left over lunch bags, the downfall of the mouse was finding a large hole chewed in my favorite hoodie. It had gotten out of the box on the way home from work. A guy caught a nest of pinky field mice and one juvenile. I took them home hoping to feed them to my frog, so I suppose I gave hm 6 more months then he would have had. Despite all the evidence I never actually once saw the mouse, there are nests in the trunk and glove box, as well as in every inch of the cab of the car. So heres to you mouse, hope you had a good time chewing up my stuff, and dont hold it against me that I knew your weakness was peanut butter.

APC Post

2009-02-23T09:32:00.006-06:00

Having some problems with my large tank, so I posted a question on APC.

The pictures are kind of embarrassing because I didn't wipe algae off the inside of the glass or water spots off the outside, but hopefully i got my point across.

APC Post

Some things I have noticed:

I used to get large piles of mulm around the plants and sometimes just everywhere. I don't anymore but don't know whether to thank the MTS or the YoYo Loach. (mts= Malaysian trumpet snails)

Botia almorhae

(pic borrowed from www.tropicalfishco.com for reference, its not mine....mine wont stay still long enough)

(pic borrowed from badmanstropicalfish.com for reference purposes)

When I added all that extra light, it didnt really increase my algae all that much, I get a lot more green spot algae on the glass (just like it says, little bright green spots that are a bugger to scrub off and nothing seems to eat it).

crypts

2009-02-23T09:29:00.002-06:00

i have at leave 4 species of crypts and now i know what two of them are
wendtii-the big brown one with the wiggly leaves
and undulata- the little bright green one with the chain sword like leaves

Crypt Identification Post

New acquisition

2009-02-13T23:44:00.000-06:00

I now have a Chillian rose tarantula....

Once more

2009-01-13T20:39:00.002-06:00

Upgraded the ball python to a 20 long, he is much happier now:
His former tank had an undertank heater, so I put the giant millipede in it. He was in a 10 with some frogs and skinks before and I was using a heat lamp for heat, so he will be better off without the light drying him out. I'm putting the heat lamp over the snake because he needs it more then the native animals which can handle colder weather.

The 29 after adding new light and pulling up a lot of the swords and dwarf sag on the right hand side:
I also moved my one gallon under this light since I had extra room. I've been fogetting to turn the light on since the betta died, most of the dwarf sag is still alive. Amazing what that plant can handle:
And the 20H after doing all those waterchangings and planting it:

Endless Task

2009-01-13T16:32:00.002-06:00

Adding additional substrate to 20g ofter realizing I didn't have enough to plant in.

Lessons we have learned from this experience:

Do not use Pavestone Brand Sand in the aquaria.
Wash all substrates before putting them in the water.
Test all substrates in a jar BEFORE putting them in aquaria.
Do not leave an open bag of sand on the floor when you have dog that likes to eat...well everything.
Drain tank to less then four inches before adding substrate.
Do not add 30 guppies to the tank with the idea of culling them later, only the ones you want to keep will want to be caught.

I'm sure there is more, but those are the ones that are sticking out in my mind. I have completely changed the water more then three times, and now it looks about like the picture of it with the plate still in it a couple of posts ago.

29 gal update

2009-01-11T12:54:00.003-06:00

I have no pics today, I've misplaced the camera.

I have acquired a 48 inch Coralife light fixture for a rock bottom price, my tank is only 30 inches long so there is a bit of hangover. The fixture creates 130 watts of light but there is no way of knowing exactly how much effects the aquarium, either way its a LOT of light. I will need to get some more floating plants and emersed plants to help compensate for the extra light, but the design of the light will make that easier since the brackets hold the fixture 3 or so inches above the top of the tank.

My platys have been experiencing a plague recently. The sunset fire I had for so long was growing deformed, with a bent back and sunken belly and looking in general rather gross. When she finally weekend and looked about to die I put her out of her misery, and mine. I added more platys but they have all died except two , one of which is getting deformed and has a fungus on its head.

Strangely though, the green corys that I have had for about four years now are unaffected, as well as 3 ottos, a yo-yo loach and the ghost shrimp.

I did a 80% water change after adding the light to reduce the nutrients in the water, which are evident by the amount of black algae I have beginning to grow. I'm going to have to monitor this more closely then I'm used to to keep it from growing out of control.

Once I did the water change it apparently reduced the tannins enough in the water to let more light through and the plants are exhibiting signs of false pearling. In high tech tanks plants will pearl , most usually in the morning. It is the natural process of oxygen production amped up enough to make it visible to us.

False pearling is somewhere in between, the oxygen is created faster then in lower light situations, but isn't coming from the pores of the plant, it is escaping from damaged and broken areas of the leaf. You see it as a tiny stream of bubbles coming from on point in the plant, instead of allover little bubbles that sit on the plant.

fish tank update

2008-12-24T00:35:00.001-06:00

The 29 is really over grown, the dwarf sg has taken over the left hand side, and the red ludwiga is three times the height of the tank.

the 18 high had evaporated down halfway, i let it because the surface area was to small when full so was killing fish if the filter wasnt going full blast. The plants kept growing, how the amazon swords attached to the wood i have no idea.
I broke it down and set up a 20 reg, its better this morning but still cloudy, all the plants are floating in a bucket for now.

Winter crop

2008-10-07T11:57:00.003-05:00

I pulled up all the marigolds because even though they were flowering, they had all laid over and looked pretty messy. I relocated some of the plants that had been in pots to the beds and plan on pulling all of the cannon flowers up and planting them around the anaerobic sprayers in the back 40. It will give me a lot more room next year for flowers and vegetables. I have also planted collard greens and salad mix greens. The lettuce seeds have already sprouted after only three days, the weather must be perfect for them. As soon as I locate some sugar snap peas I will complete my winter planting, along with a few fall flowers.

The wandering jew and calaudnims are doing great, if it doesn't freeze severely then they may look nice through the winter.
and here is a random pic of my dad

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-16T14:12:00.004-05:00

Wasn't to bad, We got some serious wind but all the trailers survived and the debris was minimal. This is about halfway though our cleanup:

The only casualties were some trees that were left standing after cleaning the back forty up...They arn't exactly standing anymore....

Finally!!!!

2008-09-13T02:19:00.009-05:00

I finally got to work on the terrariums. I decided to tackle two at once and here is my progress so far. These are the products I used...I was going to try two different types of expandable foam....but neither one of the bottles worked so....I had to make a mid project trip to walmart and bought two more cans....I still need more. I also picked up some zip ties which are not pictured here, and neither is the egg-crate....but ya'll know what that is right?

20L will be a planted fishtank, it is supposed to eventually be a stone circle with two moniliths:
After two layers of foam, about 20 min apart, wait longer and put smaller amounts if you dont want it to cave like mine did (i fixed it)

I put on two or three more layers after this pic

the 20High will be a tank sutable for newts and fish maybe, I havn't decided. But either way it is an island on stilts.

supports siliconed first:
then island layer attached and zip tied:

upper deck attached and all the zip tied joints siliconed

These are some independant decorations I am going to experiment with:

still so much to do.

I'm going to start carving tommorrow but don't know if I'll get back to walmart for more foam....we'll wait and see what hurrican Ike does.

Body Modification Ezine

2008-09-11T04:22:00.002-05:00

...

2008-08-28T13:07:00.001-05:00

I have been ill. Posts will resume shortly.

I killed them

2008-07-31T19:46:00.005-05:00

Its all my fault. I forgot to water the garden.

and I noticed the cloudy water and the snails heading toward the top, but I didn't do anything, figured I just needed to do a water change.

Well, I had moved the filter and apparently I wasn't getting enough surface agitation. Both blue rams are dead as well as the cory and all 5 of the harlequin rasporias.

So I Lied

2008-07-29T11:35:00.003-05:00

I said I was going to start my Viv yesterday, but everything went wrong, I overslept because the dogs were whining and the batteries in the camera died, just nothing fell into place. My next day off is Thursday. We'll see what I can get accomplished then.

Score

2008-07-25T23:39:00.004-05:00

Scored another 20H today, someone dropped of a Red Tailed Boa in it, and I found a good guy to re-home it with. But he didnt need the 20gal since it didn't have a reptile lid.

So now I have 2 aquariums to practice my terrarium skills on....woot

But now I need to find a home for a full grown female leopard gecko if anybody wants one....

Perfect Pork Chops

2008-07-24T14:22:00.004-05:00

You need a hot grill (you shouldn't be able to hold your hand over it for more then 2 seconds)
Or preheat an oven to about 375

put pork chops in a Ziploc with enough soda to cover them, I'm using Dr Pepper but Coke or Pepsi will work as long as it is a dark cola
a teaspoon of salt and pepper
two cloves of garlic (Italian dressing works well too)
or any combination of herbs that you like , I'm using basil, rosemary and garlic chives
marinade in the fridge for at least an hour
pour off the marinade
you can put them directly on the grill if you like or make a pouch

put pork chops onions/bell peppers/ corn on the cob or any other vegetable that steam well
into enough foil to fold over and close
one teaspoon of butter or olive oil
seal pouch and put in oven for 30 minutes or on grill for 15 to 25

i usually put one directly on the grill to eat for dinner and then the rest of them in individual pouches to reheat later

this method also works for steak or chicken, the soda gives it a nice flavor and tenderizes the meat

pouches are almost full proof, the pork chops come out tender every time

FYI

2008-07-24T00:49:00.002-05:00

Don't transport tanks with weight in the bottom...it doesn't work.

Poor Fire Belly Toad

2008-07-24T00:31:00.003-05:00

Someone dropped off a single little fire belly toad at work today. It was in a little plastic habitat that was molded to have little grasses and a blue pool in the middle, pretty fancy compared to some of the "fire belly landing"s I've seen, but still completely inadequate. It was completely dry and covered in cricket poo. I had a heart wrenching gasp and got him cleaned up and into a 10 gal with fresh water.

I of course had the urge to bring him home but I just couldn't. I'm out of unbroken tanks and he can't be housed with any of my other frogs....so he stayed at work. Hopefully someone else will have room for him.

Sqeeeeal!

2008-07-23T00:08:00.001-05:00

Yeah! One of my fellow Frog lovers and friends has started her blog, and LINKED to me. Makes me feel special.

Frogger Freak

Anibus

2008-07-22T10:59:00.003-05:00

I'm doing a water change on the 18H with the Blue Rams in it. And I found a bunch of anibus leaves floating at the surface, I planted them to deep in the substrate and the roots rotted, I've lost two more Anubis Nana plants, they are so expensive and hard to find, its frustrating, that makes four total I've lost I have two left that I still haven't even planted, and I've only seen 8 for sale in the past 10 months. So unless I have better luck with them...*sigh* this is going to be an unending battle.

PS, Crawdads love to eat Anubis

On the bright side, My java fern is going crazy, i have little babys under almost every leaf and the stands i tied to the grapevine have rooted well, my ludwiga that I planted all of two stems of is actually growing and rooted, I've never been able to keep stem plants alive before, the penny wart has sent a shoot all the way to the surface, it looks like it made a direct beeline. And the dwarf sag has filled in nicely.

I'll have a lot of excess plants from this tank, I'll ship some to some friends and use the rest for some of my terrariums. I'll post a pic of it in a couple of days when the water clears, I kicked up a lot of mulm.

Click Me

2008-07-17T15:07:00.001-05:00

I know its silly....but then maybe it just proves I'm a girl

Fish Tank Backstory

2008-07-16T12:20:00.004-05:00

Not long after I set up the 29 gal I took this photo. Its been through many changes and trials since.
Lots of the plants didn't make it, even though they should have been well suited for the environment.

I took a bag of cheep potting soil from wal-mart as instructed by Diana Walstead's Natural Planted Tank Method, I haven't read her book but took most of my information from the APC or Aquatic Plant Central. I cleaned out all the pine bark, which is a feat considering its about 50% pine bark. I laid about 3/4 of an inch of this over the bottom. i added a light layer of carbon and crushed coral over this.I then laid a cut to it piece of window screen. My theory for doing this was to keep the Corys and Loaches from digging up to much of the dirt which I had seen them do in the past. It has had the side effect though of not allowing the larger plants like the Amazon Sword Plant to send larger roots to the bottom. It could still get nutrients from the soil but not anchor to deeply so was easy to remove when it got to big. I could not locate any skrit which is my preferred size of gravel (a fine gravel that they use to put on iced roads, I found it in houston but couldn't find it in east Texas) so I used pool sand from a local store to cap off the dirt, about 2 or more inches worth.

The coral helps to keep the PH at about 7.5, which the Platys that I like prefer, normally the organic material would lower it to around 6 or even lower.

It now looks like this:

The red decoration lost most of its paint within 2 weeks so I took it back. My dwarf sag and 3 varieties of Crypt have done very well. I am still not happy with the hard scape and removing the amazon sword had to be done because it was shading other plants, but it removed a lot of the impact of the tank visually. The onion plant to the right was an experiment to see how well it lived, it has done well so I will be adding more of that. Most of the plants floating at the top still need to be planted, or are trimmings that I'm giving away to people but haven't gotten around to yet.

This is the Blue Ram Tank:
It to is in a perpetual state of needing to be planted. Most of the Annibus is floating still, and II added this filter after the hang on the back I had died, just havn't gotten around to moving ti to the back. It was started 6 months after the 29 but is actually closer to being finished. I used about the same method of substrate, 1/2 inch of potting soil with 2 inches of skrit that I had left over form tanks I had in Houston before I started planted tanks. I cured the driftwood myself, which is 3 pieces of grapevine which I plant to have completely covered in annibus and java fern.

I'm hoping to work on these this week and will post progress photos.

New Garden Additions

2008-07-15T13:44:00.003-05:00

I found these on clearance at Wal-mart and Hobby Lobby. I had another terracotta sun that Indy broke a while back and finally found one I like at a price I was willing to pay.

I have to finish cleaning off the rust on this display grate for my Cantolope plant. It looks much like the one I am using for my tommatoes. I will paint it with rustoleum when I'm done so it looks pretty.

I've been Yolked

2008-07-15T00:20:00.002-05:00

So, I'm sure you've all heard in grade school or at some point that an egg can be applied with a large amount of force as long as the pressure is even it will not break. It might be even demonstrated by a teacher squeezing an egg in her hand and it staying intact to the amazement of third grade minds....

It does not however work as a good bar bet between uneducated rednecks.

redneck1: Hey Hey! ya gotta egg?
redneck2: My friend just made a stupid bet! Says I ain't gotta payback tha hunerd dollars I owe 'em if I can break an egg in ma hand. So, ya gotta egg?
redneck1: It ain't possible I tell ya!
redneck1 and 2: (Unintelligible arguing back and forth seeing as how they are both drunk and from the backwoods)

me: Yeah, I've got an egg.
redneck 2: Bring TWO! I'll do it twice!

I bring two, we go into the commons area and redneck 1 is demonstrating how redneck 2 is supposed to roll it in his hand to squeeze it.

me:So what exactly is the bet?
redneck 1:That he cant break an egg in his hand. If he does it then he dudn't have ta pay me back.

The egg is handed to redneck 2 who promptly breaks it, squirting egg yolk over everyone and bystander 1's truck.

redneck 1: NAW NAW! You didn't do it right!
redneck2: I broke it did'n I!

redneck 2 grabs the second egg and does the same as the first.

redneck 1: Naw! your usin' your fingertips or sump'n!
bystander 1: My truck! Ya'll better wash that off or ya'll are gettin me a new paint job!

The story ends with no one oweing anyone any money. The neighbor getting his truck washed. And everyone covered in yolk.

Moral of the story: Don't mess with a southern mans truck.

Garden Update

2008-07-14T15:50:00.002-05:00

Ok, I knew about this one...

But this one snuck up on me! (you cant tell in the pic but its about 6 inches long)

My basil has gone completely crazy. Its almost 3 foot tall with huge shoot of little white flowers.

And a bell pepper!

AWTF Habitat

2008-07-14T14:47:00.003-05:00

I finally got around to redoing the Australian White's enclosure, it had gotten pretty bad. A lot of mineral deposits had built up on the glass and the eco-earth had turned mucky. So I put done a layer of sphagnum moss and a nice thick layer of eco-earth and douglus fur bark and jungle bedding and planted some of the plants I had from the last posts.

Creeping Jenny,Club Moss, and Bugleweed are at the bottom with the unknown terrarium plants we sell at work for hieght. They look so much happier.

I used one of my half finished pieces of art for the background so you can see better in the photo.

These guys are so layed back, its a joy to clean their enclosure, they just hang out on the edge of the bucket and watch me. They are still a little obese but not nearly as bad as when I first got them. They are so easy to overfeed. Their former owners were throwing a couple dozen crickets in the enclosures about once a week and just replenishing them when there wernt any left.

Now I put 2 to 6 in every other day or so.

THE List...

2008-07-12T01:24:00.002-05:00

So I realized,

I haven't actually posted a list of what animals/habitats I actually have.

8 habitats
3 fishtanks
1 birdcage

1 dog, bluehealer/australian sheppard mix, Indiana "Indy" Rose, in kennel at night and while I'm at work adoption
1 stray cat,Miss Kitty, stays outside, hunts, adopted me
2 parakeets, Clovis and Sparks, bought at petstore
29 gal natural planted tank, 13 fish, 5 species of snails, I lost 4 fish after fumigating,12 or more species of plants
18H gal,"Blue Ram Tank" 10 or so fish,8 or so species of plants, self cured grapevine driftwood
1 gal, houses a blue betta and is my first planted tank, it has been ongoing for almost 2 years
habitat 1; 3 green anoles,3 green tree frogs 1 southern leapard frog,abandoned at work
habitat 2; Mississippi mud turtle as yet unnamed,abandoned at work
habitat 3; ball python, The General, male, abandoned at work
habitat 4; 3 south plains skinks, 2 plains leapard frogs, 1 giant jungle millipede, frogs abandoned/millipede bought
habitat 5; argintenian ornate horned frog "pacman", Creepy, planted, bought on clearance
habitat 6; 2 bearded dragons (I don't know there names) about 4 months old, baby sitting for a friend
habitat 7; 2 australian white's tree frogs, abandoned at work
habitat 8;2 hermit crabs bought over 4 years ago,2 bought about 2 years ago and 3 abandoned at work
I don't count the cricket 5gal as a habitat

I only name the animals with a lot of personality, I don't know why, I just don't have the drive to
I have in the past had a hedgehog, Skittles, which I found a home for because I found him boring, he had been abandoned at work
Willy the white cockatiel whom I loved dearly I gave up because I found a home that was better suited to him,I miss you Willy

ROTFLMFAO

2008-07-12T00:32:00.000-05:00

No offense....really....just a whole lot of amusment:

Jungle Hobbies

Habitats

2008-07-11T13:58:00.005-05:00

So four days later......the house still isn't clean, but the habitats are re homed, although some still need there dirt changed out and all of the cords need to be organized.

However all of the habitats are much more accessible, I don't have to move the turtle tank to get to the frogs or lift a bunch of things out of the way to feed the Beardies, I can feed everyone and fill water bowls and spray from my spot on the couch.
Close ups:

I came home and part of one of the beardies tails had fallen off, I'm glad, I thought I was going to have to amputate it. They are about 4 months or so old, and I am baby sitting them for a friend while she is away. The tail was dead when sh handed them off to me and although I'm pretty well versed in reptiles, I had little personal experience with bearded dragons. She is asumed that they were just picking on each other becasue they were getting older, but after soem research I discovered it was probably because of malnutrition. Either the beardies body was ridding itself of unsustainable mass or its cagemate had literally picked it to death. I upped there food intake from 5 small crickets a piece a day to 10 crickets a piece 3 times a day and reduced there salads to every other day finely chopped, when before they were constantly given whole leaves that they never really ate. There salads have also been switched up to include different greens, fruits and vegtables for variety. There growth has exploded, making the poor little dead piece of tail split off....so time will tell if it continues to rot further up.

FreeCycle

2008-07-08T14:36:00.002-05:00

For all the Hippies, Conservationists, Horders, Cheepskates, and anyone who loves free stuff...

Freecycle

Day Off 2

2008-07-08T12:24:00.000-05:00

More then 24 hours later...

No...I'm still not done yet
Damn the internet!

My Day Off

2008-07-07T09:22:00.004-05:00

Its time for pest control. Ants, Roaches and various other buggies are a fact of life in east Texas. I have two days off in a row, so I am going to take out several things on my list. Almost everything will get moved outside, all of the animals and their supplies for sure, and a pile that is going to storage. The two larger fish tanks will get duct taped clothes and everything will come out of the cabinets so I can spray.

I'll be using Bengel Roach Spray for pesticide control, it is supposed to be nontoxic to animals(dogs and ~~cats~~ (I take that back, apparently the data sheet says its highly toxic to cats) anyway, I have no delusion about the frogs being immune to it), and I have used it in a house with fish before with no ill effects, just be carful to not spray directly in the tank, and will work for 3 to 4 months.

I'm going to treat the Ball Python enclosure with Provent-a-mite and almost everything else with Bio-shield. In a house with this kind of humidity, not to mention spilt water, I need all the mold and mildew protection I can get.

....It's going to be a hell of a day.

terrarium reference link

2008-07-06T11:04:00.004-05:00

cichlid background, foam and greatstuff
ninja kids rock, quikcrete
ecoarium, forum
blackjungle, expandable foam driftwood

To Do List

2008-07-05T10:30:00.005-05:00

~~Change Eco-earth in AWTF habitat~~
Clean House
Wash clothes
~~Change water in crawdad tank~~
Finish planting 29
Finish planting Blue Ram tank
Refinish trellis for Cantaloupe
~~Take stuff to storage~~
~~Get box fan from storage~~
Find flagstones
Lay flagstones
Lay brick
~~Pollinate vegetables~~
~~Find expandable folders~~
Get rest of RV park contracts signed
Find Tire for Indy
Organize contracts
Organize bookmarks
Deconstruct 6 broken 10g tanks to reuse glass

I'm sure there will be more....

Miss Kitty

2008-07-03T19:13:00.005-05:00

Just picked up Miss Kitty from the Animal Protection League. She is drunk with her tongue hanging out and she can't go outside for 48 hours. Miss Kitty was a stray that wandered up several months ago. She was obviously young and at one time a house cat. We were sure she would only have one or two kittens survive seeing as how it had to be her first pregnancy and she had them out in the woods. Fire Ants are vicious in this area, and small newborns are consumed by them on a regular basis, they have decimated ground nesting bird populations in Texas. But one day she decided the best place for them to be was in my house, and of course I couldn't turn them out....that is untill they were moving around on there own and pooping little kitty poops. So outside they went. I underestimated how difficult it would be to get rid of them....

Garden

2008-07-03T14:47:00.005-05:00

I used the square foot gardening method, the book is well worth the 20 bucks btw. I bought most of the plants already sprouted. My plants aren't near as big as some of my neighbors, but I have been pruning the tomatoes in order to have a single stem, and a hail storm set me back by about a month. my tomatoes however are sweeter and far prettier. The bell peppers I planted right after the hail storm are more then twice the size of the first pair.

Immediately after planting, My boyfriend says it was the spring equinox:
On Apr 1st, about a week after planting the second bed:

Today:

Aren't my tomatoes pretty?

I'll be eating this big one tomorrow for sure.

More Plants

2008-07-03T13:00:00.004-05:00

Bugleweed "Chocolate Chip":Ajuga x

Sun to Partial Shade, adapts to dry or moist conditions,Vigorous and disease resistant.
And it has a nice purple color that doesn't come through well in the photo.

Button Fern: Pellaea rotundifolia

it will get way to big but I needed something with more hieght.

I found these at the garden center, the next ones came from Petco.

Im pretty sure the one on the far left is a bromeliad, and I have another one in with the Austrailian White's Tree Frogs, its in sad shape but will live. I thought the red in the two taller plants would go well the the purple colors in the bungleweed and the hosta and the bright light green of some of the other plants.I'm keeping the plants that will get to big for the terreriums to a minimum but I need there hieght and textures to add more variety. I would also like to incorporate some lucky bamboo, its strength will come in handy in the AWTF enclosure. The Anoles,Skinks, and Green Tree Frogs are a lot lighter and wont cause any problems with the more delicate plants.

The plants that require less water and more light like the mint , will be located near the top and shade plants will be located under other plants or closer to the water to compensate.

The Plan, Two 20L Aquariums

2008-07-03T01:53:00.005-05:00

So, here was the original plan:
But this has sense been revised. I've only built the rock wall (in green), but both realizing that the dirt ( possibly a combination of eco-earth and peat moss compost) cant sit in that much water, and that I actually need a larger body of water then that. If I were to follow this plan not only would the dirt turn rancid but there would only be about 1 to 1.5 gal of water.

Rock wall, built with river stones and clear silicon:This is a pic with it only half finished. I now know I should have used black silicon because the clear silicon will yellow and the black silicon will look more natural with algea on it. There are small holes in the wall to allow water flow and hopefully for a few single stems of plants

This is closer to the new revised plan, the gravel layer is raised and only about a 1/2 inch of substrate is submerged, enough for a wick effect but not so much that causes it to rot, and not shown in the diagram, the planting shelves will be expanded to make a terracing effect. The black lines are pvc pipe, this will shorten my growing area but will increase my water volume. I will have to include soem sort fo grating that is large enought to allow fish to pass back and forth in order to hide and be more comfortable but small enough that frogs can not get accidentally traped underneath. This will give me about 5 gal of water and room to include a heater or filter possibly, therefore the grate will have to be removable. I'm thinking plexiglass cut to fit with holes drilled in it.

The two aquariums will be almost miror images in design and hopefully look like one complete terrerium with a divider. Plant placement will be completly different though.

Kittens

2008-07-02T14:35:00.002-05:00

They have gone to a local store front to be given away and will find new homes soon. They were to cute, I'll miss them, but I wont miss the destruction they unleashed on my garden.

Plant Resources Due

2008-07-02T12:14:00.000-05:00

Aggie's Horticulture Picture Pages

Miss Kitty

2008-07-02T11:20:00.001-05:00

HELLO.

I'm getting spayed today, hats off to the Longview Animal Protection League.

Plant Resources

2008-07-01T22:53:00.001-05:00

I collected these plants from The Home and Garden Center in Longview Texas, they have a spectacular aray of marginal plants, ferns, trees and flowers that I have never found at many other nurseries, many of which would make great terrarium plants, thanks to their very knowledgeable staff.

Corsican Mint: Mentha requienii
I hope to use this in th top portions of some of the terreriums where it wont get much water but plenty of humidity, it needs little soil and lots of light, mostly intense multiple wavelength light, so good for terreriums with reptile and/or reef lighting.

Side note:Links do not do justice to this plants smell, it fills the room, the slightest touch gives a super frangrant release of pleasureable scent

Peacock Moss: Selaginella uncinata
Guaranteed to do well in a terrerium, and to also sense when it is winter outside and change colors.

The next four plants:

Hosta 'Elegans': Hosta sieboldiana
link1
link2
Info from card: Partial shade to shade, adapts well to dry or wet conditions, 30 to 36' tall, foliage is sricking blue grey and more so in brighter light, resistant to insect damage.

asparagus fern:

This is supposed to be a variety of asparagus fern and should with proper cultivation, (ie. trimings and basicly bonsai-ing it) should create a feathery fern like leaf, but i have yet to find any documentation as such

Club Moss:Selaginella canaliculata

So pretty, the pic doesnt do it justice, and DENSE
Creeping Jenny: Lysimachia nummularia
It was guaranteed that it would be shade loving and "swampy", i found it stashed it under plant racks in partially shaded greenhouse, all six pots were quite healthy but sparse compared to the other plants, in my opinion all things point to a shade loving marginal.

I hope to use all these in my next posted project/s, two 20L aquariums turned on end for frogs.....of various species

Progress

2008-07-01T21:23:00.000-05:00

I have made progress on two projects today.Creepy, an Argentinian Ornate Horned Toad or a Pac man frog as pet stores often call them, so called because he tracks you as you go around the room like an old style portrait painting, got his habitat upgraded today.

This is the two and a half gallon aquarium that he was in, mostly because i was to lazy to set up the 10 gal this week. I had picked up a elephant ear variety and an aluminum plant to put in his aquarium at Wal-mart. I am using straight Eco-Earth in his aquarium with some sphagnum moss around the plants for stability, moisture and because it looks nice. On further speculation, I should have put down a layer of gravel to keep some water out of the substrate. Here is a closeup of Creepy half burried in his dirt and an overveiw of his habitat :

In the front is the elephant ear, the middle, is a plant that I dont remember (sorry) and in the back is peacock moss.

I'm hopeing to discover what ratio of plants to water to animals to poop creats the most stable environment. The peacock fern has a very fine root system that should spread as the plant does, once it is established I hope to be able to stop changing the substrate. As it is, I am only changing the substrates about once every 4 or 6 weeks. I pick out poop about twice a week. I feed Creepy 2 or 3 times a week with both small and large crickets, Dusting with ReptoCal each time since he doesnt eat them all at once and the longer they are in the enclosure, the more they will have groomed the dust off of themselves. He is sharing the UVB and A lighting with the bearded dragons that I am baby sitting for a friend.

No independant heat source untill winter, ambient temp is 75-81 degrees at night, I set the A?C to 80 during the day while I'm gone. Since the habitate is in a window with the blinds half closed it gets some direct and indirect sunlight, which also causes the humididty to increase, no exact measure is available, just evidence by the condensation on the inside of he glass. I estimate the interior temp at about 90 in direct sunlight. I will try to actually measure it on my next day off.

Pictures

2008-07-01T11:24:00.000-05:00

This guy has some spectacular photos. I was really enjoying looking through them.

DailySnap

Indiana Rose

2008-06-29T10:47:00.001-05:00

This is Indy, She is the sweetest most co-dependent dog I've ever met. And also my very first dog ever. She is half blue heeler and half Australian Shepard. Cattle dogs and most working dogs need jobs to feel emotionally secure and I finally figured out what. Im gonna teach her to pull a cart around the RV park to haul dirt and boards for me. One day maybe I'll even be able to compete her. In compitition, weight pullers only have to pull double their weight, but I know at 40 pounds she can pull 150 easy. So this week we start with a tire attached to her leash and go from there.

Etsy

2008-06-28T09:55:00.000-05:00

My Etsy Account:
Strange Screams Arts

Hope

2008-06-28T00:27:00.001-05:00

The idea is to log my projects....all of them, and they are many....animal, vegetable, and mineral.
Some are already in motion and other have not yet begun.

The strange part, the obstacle of it all is where it is all located.

This is my house......before:

And I live with fish, frogs, crabs, a turtle, a dog, birds, and...flies...and poop. Its what I do for a living, clean poop. I work at a pet store, simplifying it down to the extreme...I manage waste, how long it sits, what it consists of, is it proper poop? is it to soft? to hard?... is there to much or to little? Is the person asking me questions worthy or responsible enough to clean this animals poop?

It all revolves around poop in the end. And in a small space....30' by 12' to be exact, poop really matters.