So the plumbers got to our place yesterday at around 3:20PM. They didn't finish everything until 8:30PM. Yes, it took them 5 hours to finish the job. I'm pretty certain most of that time was spent at Home Depot trying to get our new hot water heater. They called us once, and then we didn't hear anything again for another couple hours, then another phone call. Mike then went down to Home Depot to try and figure out what the problem was, and within 10 minutes was done and the process continued. I'm still not sure what those guys were doing over there for such a long time and not calling us to let us know that there were some snags. It doesn't really matter to me though. I'm just glad that we have hot water again. We had so many dishes that needed to be washed it was ridiculous. And being that I cooked a lot last night didn't help with the overflow of things to be washed.
So, after the initial $95 for the guy to tell us what was wrong and the $350 for the new installation, we paid $445 for this new water heater. And back in November when we had a hot water heater problem, we paid about $250. So, I'm glad to be done with that thing. At least we can say that we have a brand new hot water heater when we put the house on the market.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Waiting on the plumber
We have had more trouble with this stupid water heater. The most recent trouble happened on Friday when I went into the utility room (which houses our washer and dryer, furnace and hot water heater) and there was water all over the ground. This has happened numerous times before and the cause has always been the drain tube for the washing machine has somehow managed to fall from the utility sink to the floor, in turn causing a flood. So I immediately looked to the washer. But the drainage tube was still in the sink. No way the water could have come from there this time. When I looked a little closer, I noticed that something wet (that had a yellow color to it) was dripping out of the exhaust tube from the gas water heater. This was quite strange as this should not have any water involved at all. We called a repair guy and he found that the water heater was leaking and we would need a new water heater. In addition, there was that drip from the exhaust. He didn't know what that was from, but put that problem aside to fix the big problem first. He told us that our water heater was probably still under warranty and that he couldn't do anything else for us that night. $95 out the door.
The next day Mike called the GE manufacturer and had them give us the OK to get a new replacement for free under warranty. We still have to pay for installation. And the new tank needs to be picked up from our local Home Depot. So then Mike started getting quotes for the uninstall of the current tank, bringing that tank to Home Depot, getting the replacement tank, bringing it back here and then the install of the new tank. Quotes ranged from $350-$1000+. The guy that said he would do it for $350 could come out here on Sunday morning and fix everything if we paid him in cash. So, he scheduled the guy for 8AM this morning. Poor Mike got up, waited, waited more. Painted while waiting, called them, called them again, waited more, called again, and still hasn't heard anything from this person. So he started calling other people today. He found another place willing to do it all for $350 and they are supposed to be here between 1-3PM. We are going on two days now without hot water. I showered Friday night, but that was the last time. I'm starting to feel kind of gross especially after taking care of the cats at Petsmart yesterday, sweating around the house, and sleeping two nights now. I refuse to workout during this non-shower period. That would be utterly too disgusting. And yes, I could take a bath and heat up the water on the stove top. But I honestly don't feel like our tub is in good enough shape to take a bath. We would end up with pieces of paint chips all over our "clean" bodies. Mike took a cold shower last night and I'm pretty certain that wasn't too much fun. I don't think I'm brave enough for that one.
Well, after starting this blog about 2 1/2 hours ago, having 3 different cats take turns using my lap as a bed, sanding some spackle, and painting the downstairs bathroom again, the plumbers have arrived. They were a little late, but they at least called 45 minutes out from when they would be here. Hopefully we will have a hot water heater by the end of tonight and will be able to take a hot shower later on.
Skye just jumped up here again, so I must do what my master tells me.
The next day Mike called the GE manufacturer and had them give us the OK to get a new replacement for free under warranty. We still have to pay for installation. And the new tank needs to be picked up from our local Home Depot. So then Mike started getting quotes for the uninstall of the current tank, bringing that tank to Home Depot, getting the replacement tank, bringing it back here and then the install of the new tank. Quotes ranged from $350-$1000+. The guy that said he would do it for $350 could come out here on Sunday morning and fix everything if we paid him in cash. So, he scheduled the guy for 8AM this morning. Poor Mike got up, waited, waited more. Painted while waiting, called them, called them again, waited more, called again, and still hasn't heard anything from this person. So he started calling other people today. He found another place willing to do it all for $350 and they are supposed to be here between 1-3PM. We are going on two days now without hot water. I showered Friday night, but that was the last time. I'm starting to feel kind of gross especially after taking care of the cats at Petsmart yesterday, sweating around the house, and sleeping two nights now. I refuse to workout during this non-shower period. That would be utterly too disgusting. And yes, I could take a bath and heat up the water on the stove top. But I honestly don't feel like our tub is in good enough shape to take a bath. We would end up with pieces of paint chips all over our "clean" bodies. Mike took a cold shower last night and I'm pretty certain that wasn't too much fun. I don't think I'm brave enough for that one.
Well, after starting this blog about 2 1/2 hours ago, having 3 different cats take turns using my lap as a bed, sanding some spackle, and painting the downstairs bathroom again, the plumbers have arrived. They were a little late, but they at least called 45 minutes out from when they would be here. Hopefully we will have a hot water heater by the end of tonight and will be able to take a hot shower later on.
Skye just jumped up here again, so I must do what my master tells me.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
It's raining and cool
Skye is sitting on top of the cat tower cleaning himself by the open window. Surprisingly, that is the only cat I can see at this time. Usually there are at least 3 in my view. I guess all of the kitties are utilizing the open windows to sit and watch the outdoor life.
It's raining steadily outside but it's a nice streaming rain. It's not very windy and there is no thunder or lightning so I can definitely put up with this kind of rain. With the windows open, and no wind, water is not getting everywhere inside. And it would have been a shame to have to use A/C in high 60 degree weather. I am dreading going outside to feed the ferals today though. It's always so muddy and wet when it's been raining in their feeding spots. The one positive though, will be that the mosquitoes will not be out right now. Tomorrow though, they'll be out in full force. I've been having to use mosquito repellent everyday before going out there lately. And I still come back with at least 2 bites. They usually end up on my upper thighs, face or neck where I don't cover well enough. The cats are worth it though.
I'm on my last week of the 30 day challenge on the Wii EA Sports Active. I am definitely feeling stronger since beginning but the only complaint I really have is that they don't focus on the abdominal muscles at all. They do some standing crunches, but not enough to really have any effect. (Which brings me to something I was just trying to grasp a little better. When do I use Effect vs. Affect? I'm usually pretty good with my grammar usage, but these two really give me grief. Apparently, Affect is usually used as a verb and Effect is usually used as a noun. Does that mean that I used Effect correctly in the last sentence? I'm still confused.) I'm going to start using my ab ball I bought a couple months ago tomorrow in addition to my Wii workout. I decided on tomorrow to be the start date so that I will have exactly one month before my trip to Costa Rica to get my abs back in better shape. Oh, and after the 30 day challenge is completed, there are hundreds of other exercises you can continue to follow each day. I haven't tried any of them yet, but from online reviews I've read, they seem to be just as good. Now if I can just get my ankles feeling better.
Stumpey just tried to get on the top of the cat tower. She jumped up the side and saw Skye, then settled on the second tier. She is now cleaning herself by the open window while Skye sleeps. I love my cats.
It's raining steadily outside but it's a nice streaming rain. It's not very windy and there is no thunder or lightning so I can definitely put up with this kind of rain. With the windows open, and no wind, water is not getting everywhere inside. And it would have been a shame to have to use A/C in high 60 degree weather. I am dreading going outside to feed the ferals today though. It's always so muddy and wet when it's been raining in their feeding spots. The one positive though, will be that the mosquitoes will not be out right now. Tomorrow though, they'll be out in full force. I've been having to use mosquito repellent everyday before going out there lately. And I still come back with at least 2 bites. They usually end up on my upper thighs, face or neck where I don't cover well enough. The cats are worth it though.
I'm on my last week of the 30 day challenge on the Wii EA Sports Active. I am definitely feeling stronger since beginning but the only complaint I really have is that they don't focus on the abdominal muscles at all. They do some standing crunches, but not enough to really have any effect. (Which brings me to something I was just trying to grasp a little better. When do I use Effect vs. Affect? I'm usually pretty good with my grammar usage, but these two really give me grief. Apparently, Affect is usually used as a verb and Effect is usually used as a noun. Does that mean that I used Effect correctly in the last sentence? I'm still confused.) I'm going to start using my ab ball I bought a couple months ago tomorrow in addition to my Wii workout. I decided on tomorrow to be the start date so that I will have exactly one month before my trip to Costa Rica to get my abs back in better shape. Oh, and after the 30 day challenge is completed, there are hundreds of other exercises you can continue to follow each day. I haven't tried any of them yet, but from online reviews I've read, they seem to be just as good. Now if I can just get my ankles feeling better.
Stumpey just tried to get on the top of the cat tower. She jumped up the side and saw Skye, then settled on the second tier. She is now cleaning herself by the open window while Skye sleeps. I love my cats.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Back from Manhattan
So I got back from my trip to NY on Sunday night. The trip was a lot of fun, but I think I've learned that I like DC better. The subways are cleaner, the city is cleaner and there are more trees around. It's just overall a prettier place. But NY does have it's perks. There are lots of things to do and lots of vegetarian restaurants around. But all of the vege restaurants besides one were in other parts of the city outside of Times Square. You can reach every place in Manhattan by subway and walking a couple blocks, but it would have been nice to be able to try more than just a couple places without making a whole trip out of it.
On Thursday night when I got in and got settled, I went to a nearby Asian vegetarian restaurant. I don't really know what I ordered, but it was very good. It was some sort of rolled up soy thing that was tempura battered over seaweed and then smothered with a yummy sauce. It came with broccoli, rice and two spring rolls. And the plating was lovely as well.
On Friday morning, I woke up at 2:45am and got ready to go stand in line for the Fan Pass holders for the DMB concert. When I got to the line, there were probably 30 people in front of me. I got there at 4:10am. They didn't start letting people into the area for the concert until 6am, but the crew started checking names around 5:30am and then we knew things were moving along. When they finally let us in, I ended up behind some tall dude (which always happens) but I was close enough to the stage to see everything that was going on. It started raining early this day, but I brought my trusty rain jacket so the rain didn't bother me. When I watched some of the show on YouTube I actually saw the back of my head a few times. The concert was a great experience. The only down side was that they played one song a total of 4 times, another song 2 times and 3 other songs once each. I guess they were getting the sound corrected before going on live. It was still a good time and I was surrounded by like minded people which is always nice. Lots of hippieish young people. I was in MY crowd.
The rest of Fr
iday I just walked around the city trying to see whatever I could in the rain. I went to another vegetarian restaurant where I got a "bacon cheese burger" and curly fries. It was really good as well. I think if I ate meat I probably would be fat because I wouldn't be able to control myself with all these bad for you dishes. Luckily, I don't consume flesh which saves my soul and my stomach. Later on this night, I went out and got dessert at a nearby restaurant. The Sticky Toffee Bread Pudding with toasted cashews was delicious.
On Saturday morning, I woke up and ate some brunch where I ordered the eggs florentine and potatoes. Then I went over to the Top of the Rock. I took lots of pictures from at the top of the building. It's pretty amazing that so many buildings are built up in such a relatively small space. Central park looked amazingly big from here, but unfortunately, I never was able to visit it.
After leaving the Top of the Rock, I walked over to St. Patrick's Cathedral. This was a beautiful church with lots of architecture. Then I went over to see Marilyn Monroe's subway grate. I went to a grate where the location was supposed to be, so I can only assume it was "the grate". It wasn't labeled though so I can't be sure. After picking up a cannoli, I then went to stand in line for an hour to get 50% off tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera. It was hard making up my mind which show I wanted to see, but since I have never seen this one, and it is a classic on Broadway, I chose it. And the ticket cost me, including taxes and fees, $66. Not too shabby.
After getting my ticket, I went down to the World Trade Center site. I really expected more, but they were just starting on the memorial. It was blocked off so really all you could see was rubble under ground and a blank sky above. It was a pretty sad sight. I then walked over and got a slice of NY style pizza. It was pretty good. I went back to the hotel to relax and change and then headed to the musical for the 8pm performance. The show was great! The costumes and actors were amazing. The voices these people had were beautiful. I would love to see another one. I wish I had more time while there to see more shows.
On Sunday morning, I packed up all my stuff and stored it at the hotel. I walked next door and got a chocolate and banana crepe for breakfast, and then went to the American Museum of Natural History. I got there as soon as they opened at 10am and I figured that I would have time to go across the street to Central Park for a little while after viewing the museum. Well, after an hour went by and I had only moved two rooms, I knew I needed to speed things up. This museum was 4 stories tall! And they had extra exhibits going on in addition that I didn't pay for. I could literally spend all of two days in that place and still not get all the details that I wanted. By 1:45pm, I was rushing around trying to glance at anything I could before rushing to the subway to get back to the hotel. I needed to get back to the airport by around 3:30pm and the subway out to the hotel took 1.5 hours. Luckily, the trip back to the airport took less than an hour so I was able to make up the time I lost at the museum. It's a good thing I got to the airport an hour and a half before my flight though because that place was big and confusing. With international travel, and 8-10 terminals, it was easy to get confused as to where your flight was supposed to take off from. And after getting on the plane, we waited on the flight path for another 1.5 before getting cleared for the runway because so many planes were taking off at that time. JFK airport is insane. But I made it back only a few minutes late.
Overall, my trip was a success. It just would have been better had my husband not missed his flight out there and I would have gotten to spend the weekend with someone I love other than just myself.
In other news, my sister had her second baby on Friday, June 5. Allison was born around 5 pounds and will be a duel citizen of both Costa Rica and the USA.
On Thursday night when I got in and got settled, I went to a nearby Asian vegetarian restaurant. I don't really know what I ordered, but it was very good. It was some sort of rolled up soy thing that was tempura battered over seaweed and then smothered with a yummy sauce. It came with broccoli, rice and two spring rolls. And the plating was lovely as well.
On Friday morning, I woke up at 2:45am and got ready to go stand in line for the Fan Pass holders for the DMB concert. When I got to the line, there were probably 30 people in front of me. I got there at 4:10am. They didn't start letting people into the area for the concert until 6am, but the crew started checking names around 5:30am and then we knew things were moving along. When they finally let us in, I ended up behind some tall dude (which always happens) but I was close enough to the stage to see everything that was going on. It started raining early this day, but I brought my trusty rain jacket so the rain didn't bother me. When I watched some of the show on YouTube I actually saw the back of my head a few times. The concert was a great experience. The only down side was that they played one song a total of 4 times, another song 2 times and 3 other songs once each. I guess they were getting the sound corrected before going on live. It was still a good time and I was surrounded by like minded people which is always nice. Lots of hippieish young people. I was in MY crowd.
The rest of Fr
iday I just walked around the city trying to see whatever I could in the rain. I went to another vegetarian restaurant where I got a "bacon cheese burger" and curly fries. It was really good as well. I think if I ate meat I probably would be fat because I wouldn't be able to control myself with all these bad for you dishes. Luckily, I don't consume flesh which saves my soul and my stomach. Later on this night, I went out and got dessert at a nearby restaurant. The Sticky Toffee Bread Pudding with toasted cashews was delicious.On Saturday morning, I woke up and ate some brunch where I ordered the eggs florentine and potatoes. Then I went over to the Top of the Rock. I took lots of pictures from at the top of the building. It's pretty amazing that so many buildings are built up in such a relatively small space. Central park looked amazingly big from here, but unfortunately, I never was able to visit it.
After leaving the Top of the Rock, I walked over to St. Patrick's Cathedral. This was a beautiful church with lots of architecture. Then I went over to see Marilyn Monroe's subway grate. I went to a grate where the location was supposed to be, so I can only assume it was "the grate". It wasn't labeled though so I can't be sure. After picking up a cannoli, I then went to stand in line for an hour to get 50% off tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera. It was hard making up my mind which show I wanted to see, but since I have never seen this one, and it is a classic on Broadway, I chose it. And the ticket cost me, including taxes and fees, $66. Not too shabby.
After getting my ticket, I went down to the World Trade Center site. I really expected more, but they were just starting on the memorial. It was blocked off so really all you could see was rubble under ground and a blank sky above. It was a pretty sad sight. I then walked over and got a slice of NY style pizza. It was pretty good. I went back to the hotel to relax and change and then headed to the musical for the 8pm performance. The show was great! The costumes and actors were amazing. The voices these people had were beautiful. I would love to see another one. I wish I had more time while there to see more shows.
On Sunday morning, I packed up all my stuff and stored it at the hotel. I walked next door and got a chocolate and banana crepe for breakfast, and then went to the American Museum of Natural History. I got there as soon as they opened at 10am and I figured that I would have time to go across the street to Central Park for a little while after viewing the museum. Well, after an hour went by and I had only moved two rooms, I knew I needed to speed things up. This museum was 4 stories tall! And they had extra exhibits going on in addition that I didn't pay for. I could literally spend all of two days in that place and still not get all the details that I wanted. By 1:45pm, I was rushing around trying to glance at anything I could before rushing to the subway to get back to the hotel. I needed to get back to the airport by around 3:30pm and the subway out to the hotel took 1.5 hours. Luckily, the trip back to the airport took less than an hour so I was able to make up the time I lost at the museum. It's a good thing I got to the airport an hour and a half before my flight though because that place was big and confusing. With international travel, and 8-10 terminals, it was easy to get confused as to where your flight was supposed to take off from. And after getting on the plane, we waited on the flight path for another 1.5 before getting cleared for the runway because so many planes were taking off at that time. JFK airport is insane. But I made it back only a few minutes late.
Overall, my trip was a success. It just would have been better had my husband not missed his flight out there and I would have gotten to spend the weekend with someone I love other than just myself.
In other news, my sister had her second baby on Friday, June 5. Allison was born around 5 pounds and will be a duel citizen of both Costa Rica and the USA.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
I'm getting worse and worse about updating this thing
So here it is. The beginning of June and I haven't posted since May 22. I'm becoming such a slacker. But I guess this just isn't the highest thing on my priority list of things to do. Number one, calculated by the amount of time I spend doing things throughout the day, must be sitting on the couch searching the internet while the TV is on in the background. Next in priority would be feeding the feral kitties. And last (and sometimes is VERY far down at the bottom) would be taking a shower. Yes. I am a busy woman these days!
Newest thing to report: I'm leaving for New York City tomorrow afternoon. I got tickets to see Dave Matthews Band on the Today Show this Friday, June 5, so I'll be making the trip out there for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope they put me in close proximity to the guys, but with my luck, I'll probably be in the back behind all the tall people. But at least I will be able to say that I was there. Michael will be joining me on Friday night and then we are going to stay the weekend. I'm not sure exactly what we are going to do just yet, but I think heading to Central Park and going to the "Top of the Rock" (top of the Rockefeller building) will be on the list. I'd also like to indulge in some yummy food since we will be in one of the best cities for wonderful cuisine. There are numerous vegetarian restaurants around, so hopefully I'll get to dine in at least one of those as well. We'd like to go to a Broadway show, but tickets are about $125 each. Michael said he heard that if you go to the ticket booth the day of the show, tickets are half off so we may try that. If not, an Off-Broadway show would be fine with me. I just have to pack something nice to wear.
The EA Sports Active that I mentioned in my last post I'm still using...and it's still changing things up daily and kicking my butt. On Monday it made me do swats and hold them. OUCH! My legs were shaking! I could use some more upper body tension though, as the workout band they sent with the program just isn't tight enough for most of the upper body exercises for me, but I've been trying to double it up so it gives a little bit of a tougher workout. When they make me punch the punching bag though, I'm definitely out of breath. It's a great program and I really recommend it to anyone who has a Wii and is looking to workout at home. And if you have a Balance Board from the Wii Fit, they will incorporate some routines using that. I don't have one so I don't know how they would change things up, but they somehow utilize the board.
I just bought a new set of luggage at K-Mart on-sale for 50% off of $100. It's a three piece set, and I'm sure it's fairly cheaply made, but it will do the job. On my last trip up to Michigan, my smaller luggage got ripped on the side so you can stick your hand through it. So yes, I needed a new one. I could have just bought a small luggage, but those were $25 a piece. I figured, for another $25, I can get two more bags with it. And we'll be needing more bags for our trip to Costa Rica as well.
So, I'm off for now. I'm sure I will write after getting back from Manhattan. Oh, and we are staying at the Westin in Times Square so we will be right in the middle of the action! I'm looking forward to the trip!
Newest thing to report: I'm leaving for New York City tomorrow afternoon. I got tickets to see Dave Matthews Band on the Today Show this Friday, June 5, so I'll be making the trip out there for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope they put me in close proximity to the guys, but with my luck, I'll probably be in the back behind all the tall people. But at least I will be able to say that I was there. Michael will be joining me on Friday night and then we are going to stay the weekend. I'm not sure exactly what we are going to do just yet, but I think heading to Central Park and going to the "Top of the Rock" (top of the Rockefeller building) will be on the list. I'd also like to indulge in some yummy food since we will be in one of the best cities for wonderful cuisine. There are numerous vegetarian restaurants around, so hopefully I'll get to dine in at least one of those as well. We'd like to go to a Broadway show, but tickets are about $125 each. Michael said he heard that if you go to the ticket booth the day of the show, tickets are half off so we may try that. If not, an Off-Broadway show would be fine with me. I just have to pack something nice to wear.
The EA Sports Active that I mentioned in my last post I'm still using...and it's still changing things up daily and kicking my butt. On Monday it made me do swats and hold them. OUCH! My legs were shaking! I could use some more upper body tension though, as the workout band they sent with the program just isn't tight enough for most of the upper body exercises for me, but I've been trying to double it up so it gives a little bit of a tougher workout. When they make me punch the punching bag though, I'm definitely out of breath. It's a great program and I really recommend it to anyone who has a Wii and is looking to workout at home. And if you have a Balance Board from the Wii Fit, they will incorporate some routines using that. I don't have one so I don't know how they would change things up, but they somehow utilize the board.
I just bought a new set of luggage at K-Mart on-sale for 50% off of $100. It's a three piece set, and I'm sure it's fairly cheaply made, but it will do the job. On my last trip up to Michigan, my smaller luggage got ripped on the side so you can stick your hand through it. So yes, I needed a new one. I could have just bought a small luggage, but those were $25 a piece. I figured, for another $25, I can get two more bags with it. And we'll be needing more bags for our trip to Costa Rica as well.
So, I'm off for now. I'm sure I will write after getting back from Manhattan. Oh, and we are staying at the Westin in Times Square so we will be right in the middle of the action! I'm looking forward to the trip!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Exhausting few weeks behind me
The last few weeks have definitely kept me busy. This has been the first week to relax a bit in quite some time. After my MI and Wilmington trips, Dad came into town to help us redue our downstairs bathroom. All last week we worked on that thing (I should say he worked on it while I stared at him for the most part). We had a ton of little set backs everyday, but with all those setbacks came my renewed my Home Depot knowledge. I was beginning to forget which aisle had plumbing stuff in it versus which one had caulk. Ah, Home Depot. The bathroom is still not 100% completed, but all of our problems have now been resolved and it's just a matter of completely finishing it. I still need to put a second coat of paint on the walls, seal the new grout on the shower tiles, paint the ceiling white, install a new medicine cabinet/mirror and put in towel rods. All in all, not too bad. I'll have to take pictures when it's all completed. I have to say I'm pretty proud of how nice that bathroom looks now. It was so disgusting before that I never even wanted to step foot in there.My 29th birthday was last Saturday. It has now come and gone. It was a fairly uneventful day. I went and took care of the kitties at Petsmart and then Mike took me to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch. We came home, Mike napped and then we went to eat at a vegetarian Indian restaurant for dinner. Then we came home and went to bed. Yep...pretty uneventful.
Yesterday I received the just released EA Sports Active game for the Wii in the mail. This game is all about working out and getting in shape. You pick a personal trainer and they work with you 5 days a week doing an assortment of circuit training routines. So far, my trainer's been kicking my butt. Both yesterday and today I've sweated a good amount, been out of breath, and felt my muscles really work. Today I'm a little sore in places. I think tomorrow is a "rest" day, but I'm looking forward to Sunday's workout. I'm taking the "30 Day Challenge" and during that time you are supposed to burn some allotted number of calories, workout for so much time and I would guess most people would lose weight. I'm not interested in the last part; I just want to get back in shape. I'm tired of my muscles being weak and my fat taking over.
We just bought our plane tickets to Costa Rica in July. We are going to be there from July 18-July 25 to visit my sister, her husband, my nephew and my soon-to-be-here nephew or niece. Jamie's been living there since last September and I'm pretty certain she'll be excited to see some family. Dad is also coming along so it should be a good time. We've rented an apartment on the beach south of where Jamie is living so the drive to her place won't be too much fun, but it will be doable. And my EA Sports Active will get my body a little more prepared for the beach.
(PS...I guess those picture at the top should have been on my previous post since they are from Wilmington and Michigan, but I didn't have them uploaded to my computer yet so they are a post late...sorry)
Monday, May 11, 2009
Back from Wilmington and Michigan
So I've been to Wilmington and back and then to Detroit and back since the last time I wrote. I have an excuse for last week...being at Grandma's and Grandpa's house means not using the computer based on the connection speed being so slow. Yes, they have a computer (HI Grandparents!) but they have dial up. It takes way too long to wait for any one page to pull up that I pretty much avoid the internet while in town. I don't have any good excuse to not have written since April 29 (I think that was the last date). Oh well. Here I am now updating for you few determined followers.
Our trip to Wilmington was fast but fun. We hung out at the beach on Saturday all day long through wind, rain, clouds and sun. And somehow I managed to get burned. I'm still confused as to when I got that burn during the day since the burn lines were along my shorts lines and not my bathing suit lines, but I did burn. And now I'm peeling. It could have been worse but I still hate peeling. Later on Saturday night we went to Circa to eat dinner. We were pretty exhausted so by around 11pm, we left the restaurant and went back to the hotel. Sunday morning we went to brunch at Boca Bay and then went downtown and met Kilby. We walked around the waterfront and then ate lunch at Nikki's. It wasn't as good as it usually is but it was still decent enough. We left Wilmington around 3pm and got home around 8:45pm.
I had Monday to do my normal feral feeding duties and then Tuesday night I left for the metro to take me to the airport for Michigan. My mom flew into town from Kansas as well. (HI Mom!) We all stayed at my Grandparents house and had a lot of "family time". It was actually a fairly good experience. I'd like to think that since my Grandparents had everyday planned out and we didn't have any extra family members (aka the husbands) to try to decide the every day plans, things went smoothly. Mom left on Friday and I stayed until Sunday.
When I returned home yesterday early evening, before I could even put my bags down I saw that my fish tank was extremely cloudy. It was clouded to the point that I could barely see the fish swimming around inside of it. I had absolutely no idea why my husband hadn't told me about this problem earlier since every day that I was gone, I asked about how the fish were doing. He told me that he thought that it must have been from me being gone 5 days and not changing the water!!! OH MY GOD!!! My tank has NEVER been cloudy before and I usually only siphon out 15% of the water once a week. It was bad. I honestly was surprised that the fish could still breathe through all of the junk that was floating throughout the water. I tested the water and the levels were pretty much normal. Then I discovered that my air stone had fallen off of the air tube and looked as though it had disintegrated some. I'm pretty certain that was the cause of the cloudy water. Before I did anything else, I changed 50% of the water. It didn't look that much better, but I didn't want to disrupt the nitrification cycle that was already stable (For those that don't know about aquariums, water from the sink is not compatible with fish. It needs to go through a cycle that produces different types of bacteria to make the tank water stable. If you remove too much water, the nitrification bacteria will also be removed to an extent that will disrupt the cycle and start killing fish. It's not just temperature and chlorine that you have to worry about when starting up an aquarium like I once thought.) So, today I changed about 20% of the water. It's starting to look a little better. I'll keep changing about 20% of the water each day until the cloudiness subsides. In addition to my cloudy fish tank, for a couple weeks now I've been losing guppies. None of my other fish seem affected by this "guppy killer". I don't know what is wrong. I've been looking up fish diseases and trying relentlessly to find a definitive cause of my guppy deaths, but I haven't found one disease that seems to fit. In the mean time, I'm down from 10 guppies to 5. And I'm pretty certain all of those will eventually die. They all look somewhat sick in all different ways. My "sick fish tank" isn't cycled yet, so if I was to remove them and put them in there, they would definitely die. The water isn't currently life sustaining. And through all this, all my other fish don't seem affected at all. They aren't showing any signs of problems. The only thing that I can think that may be the cause is that they all came from the same family. Maybe they have some kind of genetic disorder that didn't show up until they were a few months old. I really have no idea. Some of them are becoming see through, some are losing their bright colors, some look like their spines are starting to bend, some have bright red spots on their backs as if they are hemorrhaging inside, some have split tails and some don't look sick before they die. All that have died though get very lethargic the day before they die. They just sit on a fake plant all day long except to eat. So they are still feeding until the end. If anyone has any knowledge at all as to what be happening in my tank, I would greatly appreciate any advice.
As for the rest of my welcoming home, I was surprised to see that Amigo seemed the happiest that I was back. He greeted me with a happy upright tail and a pounce. I didn't know if he would be scared of me again or if he would remember. Well, apparently he remembered and missed me. He even let Mike pet him while I was petting him yesterday. He usually doesn't let him do that unless he's eating. The rest of the cats seemed like they were happy that I was home, but none were as happy as Amigo I believe. When I finally got some down time last night, I sat on the couch and Skye and Stumpey immediately jumped up and laid with me, one on each side. Skore also gave me some love last night before bed and Sabrina acted like she always does...strangely. Then Stumpey slept with me last night but the other girls didn't. Once Mike left for work, all the girls joined me in bed like normal. I'm sure I will get all of them again for the next couple nights since Mike is going out of town so there will be plenty of space for everyone in bed.
So today I've been washing my clothes and sheets from the spare bedroom as Dad is coming into town today. He should be here around 7pm. There was so much cat hair on the spare bedroom's top blanket. It was definitely a mixture of Skye, Skore and Amigo hair. Amigo is actually sleeping next to me on the couch right now. This is definitely a first. He is progressing each and every day. He's becoming a family member.
Now I must get off here and try not to disrupt Amigo's sleep and get some clothes out of the dryer and put more in the washer. I need to take a shower, feed the feral kitties, go to Petsmart, and go to the grocery store before dad gets here. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to clean up the bathroom a little bit too. But we'll see how far I get today.
Our trip to Wilmington was fast but fun. We hung out at the beach on Saturday all day long through wind, rain, clouds and sun. And somehow I managed to get burned. I'm still confused as to when I got that burn during the day since the burn lines were along my shorts lines and not my bathing suit lines, but I did burn. And now I'm peeling. It could have been worse but I still hate peeling. Later on Saturday night we went to Circa to eat dinner. We were pretty exhausted so by around 11pm, we left the restaurant and went back to the hotel. Sunday morning we went to brunch at Boca Bay and then went downtown and met Kilby. We walked around the waterfront and then ate lunch at Nikki's. It wasn't as good as it usually is but it was still decent enough. We left Wilmington around 3pm and got home around 8:45pm.
I had Monday to do my normal feral feeding duties and then Tuesday night I left for the metro to take me to the airport for Michigan. My mom flew into town from Kansas as well. (HI Mom!) We all stayed at my Grandparents house and had a lot of "family time". It was actually a fairly good experience. I'd like to think that since my Grandparents had everyday planned out and we didn't have any extra family members (aka the husbands) to try to decide the every day plans, things went smoothly. Mom left on Friday and I stayed until Sunday.
When I returned home yesterday early evening, before I could even put my bags down I saw that my fish tank was extremely cloudy. It was clouded to the point that I could barely see the fish swimming around inside of it. I had absolutely no idea why my husband hadn't told me about this problem earlier since every day that I was gone, I asked about how the fish were doing. He told me that he thought that it must have been from me being gone 5 days and not changing the water!!! OH MY GOD!!! My tank has NEVER been cloudy before and I usually only siphon out 15% of the water once a week. It was bad. I honestly was surprised that the fish could still breathe through all of the junk that was floating throughout the water. I tested the water and the levels were pretty much normal. Then I discovered that my air stone had fallen off of the air tube and looked as though it had disintegrated some. I'm pretty certain that was the cause of the cloudy water. Before I did anything else, I changed 50% of the water. It didn't look that much better, but I didn't want to disrupt the nitrification cycle that was already stable (For those that don't know about aquariums, water from the sink is not compatible with fish. It needs to go through a cycle that produces different types of bacteria to make the tank water stable. If you remove too much water, the nitrification bacteria will also be removed to an extent that will disrupt the cycle and start killing fish. It's not just temperature and chlorine that you have to worry about when starting up an aquarium like I once thought.) So, today I changed about 20% of the water. It's starting to look a little better. I'll keep changing about 20% of the water each day until the cloudiness subsides. In addition to my cloudy fish tank, for a couple weeks now I've been losing guppies. None of my other fish seem affected by this "guppy killer". I don't know what is wrong. I've been looking up fish diseases and trying relentlessly to find a definitive cause of my guppy deaths, but I haven't found one disease that seems to fit. In the mean time, I'm down from 10 guppies to 5. And I'm pretty certain all of those will eventually die. They all look somewhat sick in all different ways. My "sick fish tank" isn't cycled yet, so if I was to remove them and put them in there, they would definitely die. The water isn't currently life sustaining. And through all this, all my other fish don't seem affected at all. They aren't showing any signs of problems. The only thing that I can think that may be the cause is that they all came from the same family. Maybe they have some kind of genetic disorder that didn't show up until they were a few months old. I really have no idea. Some of them are becoming see through, some are losing their bright colors, some look like their spines are starting to bend, some have bright red spots on their backs as if they are hemorrhaging inside, some have split tails and some don't look sick before they die. All that have died though get very lethargic the day before they die. They just sit on a fake plant all day long except to eat. So they are still feeding until the end. If anyone has any knowledge at all as to what be happening in my tank, I would greatly appreciate any advice.
As for the rest of my welcoming home, I was surprised to see that Amigo seemed the happiest that I was back. He greeted me with a happy upright tail and a pounce. I didn't know if he would be scared of me again or if he would remember. Well, apparently he remembered and missed me. He even let Mike pet him while I was petting him yesterday. He usually doesn't let him do that unless he's eating. The rest of the cats seemed like they were happy that I was home, but none were as happy as Amigo I believe. When I finally got some down time last night, I sat on the couch and Skye and Stumpey immediately jumped up and laid with me, one on each side. Skore also gave me some love last night before bed and Sabrina acted like she always does...strangely. Then Stumpey slept with me last night but the other girls didn't. Once Mike left for work, all the girls joined me in bed like normal. I'm sure I will get all of them again for the next couple nights since Mike is going out of town so there will be plenty of space for everyone in bed.
So today I've been washing my clothes and sheets from the spare bedroom as Dad is coming into town today. He should be here around 7pm. There was so much cat hair on the spare bedroom's top blanket. It was definitely a mixture of Skye, Skore and Amigo hair. Amigo is actually sleeping next to me on the couch right now. This is definitely a first. He is progressing each and every day. He's becoming a family member.
Now I must get off here and try not to disrupt Amigo's sleep and get some clothes out of the dryer and put more in the washer. I need to take a shower, feed the feral kitties, go to Petsmart, and go to the grocery store before dad gets here. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to clean up the bathroom a little bit too. But we'll see how far I get today.
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