Z Good Life

jay junior

In the spring, Jay came home from school with a minnow. They studied them in science class. We threw Jay Junior in a fishbowl with a handful of aquarium rocks, a plastic plant, and a live plant. Then we waited to see how long the little critter would live. I seriously expected it to die within a few days.

Lo and behold, Jay Junior is not only alive months later, he's THRIVING! He's pretty small. You can see his tiny orange tail just to the left of the tip of the arrow in the photo above.

Here's to a swimmingly long life, Jay Junior!

meet claude

Our neighbors have a great German shepherd. They went on vacation for nearly 2 weeks and asked Jay if he'd take care of Claude for some cash.

We took Claude to the park with us on a sunny day. He had so much fun!

As part of his job, Jay walked the dog every day. After Jay got used to walking him, he let Claude pull him on his skateboard. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more!

On a side note, our neighbors also have a gorgeous organic vegetable garden. They welcomed us to help ourselves while they were away, so we did. We had an unending supply of sugar snap peas, enough green beans for 2 dinners, potatoes, several yellow squash, broccoli, and a head of cabbage -- not to mention beet greens, leaf lettuce, and kale as often as we wanted them. Thanks for sharing, sweet neighbors! We missed you and we're glad you're home.

loony bin

That's Luna's nickname. She is a bit loony, so it suits her. Especially when she gets that Siamese "cross-eyed" look.

I've probably posted a picture like this before, but I can't help it. So cute! She's sleeping in my potted Asian pear tree on the deck. The tree is dropping its tiny undeveloped pieces of fruit, which makes me sad. I wonder what's going on.

unpopular poplar

**Completely  off-topic: Last night we discovered a whole new batch of convict fry in the big aquarium!**

Our neighbor has a giant poplar in his yard. By giant, I mean the base of the trunk is approximately 5 feet in diameter and the tree itself is about 80 feet tall.

Jay and Erich were doing some repairs on our fence (it's now 9 years old), and discovered that the roots of the poplar are causing our new exposed aggregate sidewalk to buckle. Bummer! Erich paid Jay to expose the roots so we can sever them, hopefully preventing any further damage to the sidewalk.

 

The roots are 18 inches thick in some places! If we sever those huge roots, what's going to anchor the tree on the south side? Not much, we fear.

This tree is gigantic. When it was planted, our entire neighborhood was probably one huge farm. It's too big, it's diseased, it's messy -- it drops branches like crazy in the wind! Don't even get me started on how many leaves it drops in the Fall. AUGH! If it's buckling our sidewalk, what other damage might it be doing underground?

Poplars are also notoriously brittle. What are the chances that part of the tree will break off and hit our house in a windstorm? (If it's windy outside, I RUN to the car. Seriously.) We'll document what we've found with the roots, but now we're left with a decision. Should we talk to the landlord of the rental next door about having it removed? Erich and I have discussed it for a long time. Ten years ago, we had a friend give us a guesstimate on how much it would cost. He said $1500-$2000. *wince* And that was ten years ago!

a little fishy...

...or two, or three, or A HUNDRED!!

 

Our convicts (striped cichlids) surprised us with about 80 wiggly babies (fry) on July first! In the photo you see Buttercup guarding them very closley. Wesley is in the foreground, charging at the camera and puffing up his gills in an attempt to look intimidating. If you look below and behind Buttercup, you can barely see the little fry. They look like blobs with tails!

 

On the day the fry were born, I was appalled that Wesley appeared to be eating them. As we observed more closely, we learned that a parent will vacuum up a fry that has wandered too far from the group, then spit it back out in a safe area! It was really quite amusing to watch. Convicts are really amazing parents! At night, they sucked them all up and spit them into a hollow "log" for safekeeping. They would let them wander back out after we turned the aquarium light on in the morning. It just so happens, we had a divider in place to keep the big fish away from the convicts because they were newer and smaller -- and getting picked on. We were glad it was there when they started breeding, but I don't think it was really necessary. The parents are SO aggressively protective of their young. Actually, maybe the divider is a good idea to protect the big fish from the protective parents!

 Here is a photo at 21 days:

 

Within a week of birth, the fry started eating crushed up food. Eventually they wandered farther and farther from their parents' protection. The divider had holes, and we were worried about them slipping through and becoming appetizers for Fezzik and K.O. (the large predators in the tank). So, Erich removed the fry from the big aquarium and put them in a small aquarium in Jay's room.They are about 1/4 inch long, and you can see the beginnings of their telltale stripes. They're continuing to grow, but after 3 weeks we're down to less than 20 of the little critters.

No, we don't know what we're going to do with them. They sure are fun, though, so I guess we'll just learn about them and enjoy them. 

**This afternoon Jay found Don Ho, our plecostomus, floating at the top of the tank. We've no idea why he died! He appeared to be healthy and growing. Goodbye, Don Ho. We will all miss your tiny bubbles....**

the cone of shame

Cosmo had an altercation with the neighbor cat on Sunday. (The neighbor cat was on our property, just to clarify.) I took Coz to the vet the next day for a gash on his chest. She put 3 staples in it, gave him an antibiotic shot (thank goodness for no pills!), and sent him home wearing the dreaded "Cone of Shame."

 

You can see a few scratches on his nose. He has several small scratches and bites elsewhere on his body, too. After 12 days, I'll take him back to the vet for removal of the staples.

Poor Cosmo.

seeking sunshine

Adorable American Eagle sun dress? Check.

New giraffe print carry-on bag? Check.

 
Hubby on vacation? Check.

Loving childcare for 3 adorable children for 6 days? Check.

Forecast for temperatures in the low 80's in Arizona? Check! (We had our fill of flooding and frigid temperatures in Disneyland, thanks.)

Sunshine, Spring Training, and shopping -- here we come!! Can't wait to see you, Mom! :o)

 

what do you do...

...when you have empty wall space in your living room?

Well, if you're Erich, you talk to your wifey about buying the 65-gallon aquarium you've always wanted!

Luna's nose has been glued to the glass since the five fish arrived. I think her nose might be bruised, too, from all the times she's tried to attack a fish as it swam past!

We're already working on names: Don Ho is the flatulant plecostomus (think "Tiny Bubbles"), Yetti is the albino cichlid (named after the giant yetti in Matterhorn), and K.O. is the Jack Dempsey cichlid. Two more to go!
 
  

poor luna

dog days of summer

My sister asked Summer if she'd be willing to dog-sit Max the Chihuahua for a week. We all fell head over paws for sweet Maxie.

 

Jay and Lily attended Vacation Bible School at a local Lutheran church during the week we had Max. Once a year, they have a "pet blessing" in the parking lot.

 

The pastor thanked God for creating animals, and thanked Him for the companionship of pets. Then he walked to each pet and said a little blessing. After the blessing, Max received a really sweet little charm to put on his collar. 

  

Here's a picture of Max "helping" me with the laundry. We love ya, Maxie, and we hope you'll come stay at our doggy hotel again! We're glad your family shared you with us. :o)