Painted critters (and sculpted)

 

by Naomi Haverland, Coachman Park Clearwater FL

Sharing with Saturday's Critters

By Susan Seddon Boulet

Eagle Catcher at James Western Art Museum in St. Petersburg, FL

Eagle Catcher view 2

Amazon rainforest in modern-day Colombia, archaeologists recently discovered an 8-mile-long canvas filled with ice age drawings of giant sloths, mastodons and other extinct beasts, dating back to between 11,800 years and 12,600 ago.

by Michael Boeckmann

by William Nicholson,Velveteen Rabbit

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The Wednesday rant about DST

With daylight savings time CHANGE this last weekend, as usual my sleep patterns lag behind the hours.

"At night our fear is strong... but in the morning, in the light, we find our courage again."

MALALA YOUSAFZAI

I'm grateful that I have not had the dealings that Malala Yousafzai has had to face in her young life living with the Taliban. My nighttime battles have been mainly with the changes of aging, allergies, sleep apnea and a C-PAP machine, bladder retention, neighborhood noises of apartment living (and a train nearby that I'm almost used to) and bronchial problems which lead to coughing, oh, and not to forget anxieties which come out of nowhere and give me thought racing.

So I'm feeling under-rested and somewhat looking forward to today's activities. In a few more minutes, after a relaxing hot shower and soothing breathing exercises, I'll be ready to face the laundromat, the vacuum, the preps for clay work and friends visiting to watch a movie together, and I will know that this is a good day.  Even if the clock is skewed silly, it's spring in the mountains.  The sun came up again (at it's appointed time!) and there are no clouds (sort of hazy though) in the sky.

I will try to remember my mantra which I used to say upon waking "It's another day given to me in this lifetime."

Clean aquariums

Started yesterday with the battle of the green algae, which had overtaken both my tanks.  The 30 gallon came first, with my trusty siphon hose and bucket (which is a bit over 3 gallons I think) and walking back and forth to kitchen sink to first remove all the fluorescent green water.

Gourami at top, Neon Tetras to bottom

Oh, I put the 5 big fish into one side of the 10 gallon tank and put a divider so the big guys couldn't eat all the little guppies on the other side.  They stayed in green water overnight, while the new set-up became aclimated for them.

It's so pristine now I'm so proud of my muscles and my arms working so well.  Thanks to Cliff Schulman and the Black Mountain Physical Therapists...I've got arms that work without pain again.

Adult guppies (maybe 14, if they'd only stand still!)

Gourami at top, Tiger Barb at bottom, Neon Tetras mid range

Angel fish is shy, and maybe blind in the eye on this side

The guppy tank got cleaned today, and they didn't get 24 hours either after I'd bleached all their plastic plants and rocks, then rinsed them and declorinated the fresh water for them.  They sat in a big stainless bowl in clean water for a few hours, then I noticed it was getting colder than the new water in their tank.  So I transferred them by net and had a major accident.

One of the guppies landed on the floor, about 2 feet down onto carpet.  The main problem was that I was sitting enjoying all the beautiful views for about 10 minutes before I noticed her limp form.  I picked her up, put her in the stainless bowl and she started breathing, and swimming kind of erratically.  I thought she wouldn't make it, but threw some flakes of food in with her, just in case she needed incentive.  But 5 minutes later she looked healthy.  So I netted her and added her to the tank.  Now I can't tell which one she is.

Again I've set up the tank so I can have baby guppies on one side safe from the appetites of their parents.  There were 2 that I found in the green water and managed to rescue.  We shall see if this setup works like it has in the past, where newborn babies just escape right under the screen onto the "nursery" side. Yes they give live birth, which is why I enjoy them.  I'll let you know.  I probably won't be able to take photos, as you see, these are pretty lame already.  But I'm thrilled to be able to see the sparkle on everything today!

Now if we just have sun continuing to move further north (as equinox is in a couple of weeks) and less comes into the living room windows to strike the aquariums and create that algae again.  Now I'm going to run around setting all my clocks to daylight savings time, ugh.  What would I have done with that extra hour that I'll lose tonight?  Probably invented the greatest thing imaginable, or made the most beautiful pot.  I will be dreaming about it, but have just an hour less than can bring it to fruition.  I don't know a soul who likes DST.