Author: keres

Due to my mistakenly purchasing a female Butterfy Ciclid (aka a Ram) a week-and-a-half ago, we now have about 100 to 150 eggs hatching in our aquarium.

Here’s the proud Papa, guarding the clutch.

And here’s a picture of the eggs at 48 hours old, when some of the fry are already starting to extend their tails and wiggle.  (The white ones have gone ‘bad’, the developing ones are a yellow-grey color, with a dark speck in them.)  

So, step on up and show us your “spawn.”

Fry photos, at 84 hours old. Look for the two eye spots. I see about 10 baby Rams in this picture.

This is the face of a dog-tired dog.

A friend of ours has been doing jury duty, and was sequestered yesterday and today.  So, Luna and I went into town today to keep Bach, a massive Leonberger she’s house-sitting, company.  

We all ended up walking up Mt. Nelson.  All-the-way-to-the-top.  I’m still feeling it in the “gluts” (and I may be walking “funny” for a day or so).

Fact is, if it weren’t for the dog(s), I’d hardly go for walks.  

Even though I know I need the exercise, I just can’t self-motivate sufficently to get out and do it.  

Enter the dog, with her patented remonstrative look.  

So, what does your dog get you to do, that you really should do, but otherwise wouldn’t manage without that extra nudge.

I’ve decided that today’s non-cat blog should feature our less companionable companions, i.e. the wildlife that shares our property oh, so graciously with us.

When I saw this little fellow, my first thought was that someone had lost their budgie.  But upon closer inspection (through the long lense of my camera) he showed himself to be a Blue-winged Grass Parakeet (AKA Blue-winged Parrot).  While they are not uncommon on the mainland of Australia, only a small number make the journey to Tasmania every year during breeding season.  And our area seems to be one of the few that they favor, as we’ve never seen them more than a few kilometres from here.

Indeed, one of the reasons that we bought this property was the plethura of wildlife (including Blue-winged Parrots) that we saw just over the hill in Chancey Vale Wildlife Sancturary.

So, who lets you live in their backyard?

It being winter in the Southern Hemisphere, we just got our first-of-the-season, and Luna’s FIRST EVER, snow.

She thought it was delicious!

To find out about the mystery of the fishes, read on.

The two lovely boys above are Raj (top) and Ramses (bottom).  We recently purchased them to replace our Gouramis, three of which went sequentially missing.

The first to disappapear was Gus.

He was just plain gone one morning.  I checked in all the shells, took out all the rocks, ran my fingers through the gravel, etc.  No Gus.  The glass lid for the tank has a few cut-outs for the tubes and electrical cords to run through, but none of them seemed anywhere near large enough for a two inch fish to jump through.  Additionally, there wasn’t a body on the table or the floor.  Lacking any other explanation, we decided he had jumped at just the right angle to get through one of the holes in the lid, and the dog had found the body – and had herself a little crunchy snack before breakfast.

We replaced Gus with George, a similarly marked Gourami.

A few days after we bought George, Gilbert (below)went missing.

I did find part of a body this time. And concluded that the only fish big enough to have done the damage was Cederic, a bristle nose catfish.

We replaced Gilbert with Jim, the light blue fellow on the right.

Bristle nose catfish are not usually carnivorous, but I couldn’t think of any other explanation. So I sequestered Cederic and one morning soon thereafter, on my way into town for the day, I put Cederic in a bag and took him to a fish store to trade him in for some plants.  I left early in the day, and didn’t get home till after dark that evening – when I discovered George  (who didn’t even stick around long enough to be photographed)was missing.

The only fish left in the tank were three neon tetras and Jim, all of them smaller than George.

The only thing we could come up with after that – was a fishing rat.  We have (native) bush rats in our area, and see them occassionally out on the porch.  We even caught one in the house once, sleeping on top of the water heater.  But we trapped that one, and haven’t had one inside since.  

I’ve since cut a new lid for the tank, and this piece of glass has only one tiny hole in one corner.  No fish have disappeared since, so we bought Raj and Ramses, two Butterfly Ciclids (also known as Rams) last Friday, and so far so good.

This falls under the “Bobo’s World” heading, wherein another “family values” Republican is a dirty as they come.

The breaking story is here:
 

A FORMER Miami city commissioner shot and killed himself in the lobby of The Miami Herald newspaper building, five days after pleading not guilty to corruption charges.

-snip-

Arthur Teele, 59, shot himself in the head at the newspaper building yesterday and died at a hospital about two hours later.

Seems he was getting kick backs from a construction company. This latest charge follows a conviction for running an unmarked police car off the road, which got him removed from office a year ago.

A profile of Teele and his previous shenanigans can be found here.

And for those looking for the salacious, here is the Transsexual Prostitute angle to the story.

It’s Thursday already “downunder” – where, appropriately, the dogs sleep upside-down.

 
I think I mentioned that Pyrs are also known as “mat dogs” for their tendancy to sleep in front of doors – even ones that don’t seem to allow for their great size.

Life a big yawn? Take a tip from my dog and let it all out.

So, come on in and show us your pets.  Or, just use your best bud as a pillow and relax for awhile.

‘Cuz someone has to show us the true meaning of happiness.

Beer and pizza to the first person who can tell me the two unique physical traits found in the Great Pyrenees breed.

Hint, one is visable in the photograph.

Time again for a look at our furry, finned and feathered friends.

Has anyone seen my purple t-shirt?