Weekend Misadventures

First though, here's a video I came across on YouTube that had me busting a gut for the last two minutes. It's a junior hockey "fight." Too cute and funny.

Fish Misadventures

So on Saturday I received a shipment of 4 fish that I had ordered. These were 4 Bartlett's Anthias - pricey fish that form a shoaling harem (1 male and the rest females). Anyways, it was supposed to be held at the FedEx station for me to pick up, but the shipper screwed up, and it ended up being scheduled for delivery to our house. Well, at the time, I was still at the farm herding with Bandit, and Marc had gone off to run errands (I found out about the shipping error over the phone with the merchant). So Marc had to rush home, and I cut our lesson short to get home, because supposedly FedEx wouldn't deliver without a signature.

I get home, and the package hasn't been delivered yet. A few minutes later though, the doorbell rings. I open the door, expecting the FedEx guy to be there, but by that time he was already back in his truck! He'd simply dropped the package off on the porch - no signature needed, apparently. Oy.

Anyways, I got the fish in the tank, and all was well. Or so I thought.

Sunday morning I woke up, and found the powder blue tang dead. I don't know what happened to it, as it had been eating fine, although it was still on the skinny side. They're notoriously difficult fish to keep, so I'm not sure I want to try another. If I do, it will have to be a fat one, or I won't bother.

As I was moving around the tank to fish out the tang, I saw one of my new fish on the floor! It had apparently jumped OUT of the tank at some point in the evening and dried up. Dammit. Two fish in one night.

Marc and I went to Aquatic Gallery, since they happened to have the same fish in stock (they didn't at the time that I ordered them). We picked up a replacement. Well, when we got home, I realized that one of the other new fish was missing. I looked all over the floor and found nothing. I looked everywhere, couldn't find it.

It wasn't until Sunday evening when I did the water change that the missing fish appeared. It didn't look great, and it ended up dying shortly thereafter. The place I bought them from has a 10-day guarantee, so I'm hoping to at least get credit for that fish (the jumper wasn't their fault).

So now we're back to 3 of the anthias for the moment. Hopefully these guys will do okay.

Needless to say, it was an expensive weekend. (We also went to dinner Saturday night for Elaine's birthday - but at least that expense didn't feel so wasteful!)

After dinner Saturday night we went to my aunt and uncle's house, as they were celebrating my cousin Mark's birthday. We basically hung out and talked for a few hours before going home very late.

We did watch the Super Bowl on Sunday with my brothers, which was probably about the cheapest thing we did all weekend. I didn't have a particular team I was rooting for, although I guess I was kind of rooting for Indy for the sheer fact that I don't like Rex Grossman. Kenny, Leslie, and Mark were all rooting for the Bears for the sheer fact that they didn't like Peyton Manning, lol.

Kitten Misadventures

Last night, after work, I had to stop by Safeway to pick up a turkey baster for the fish tank (long story). When I pulled into my space in the parking lot, I spotted a kitten! It was obviously feral, and I couldn't get it to approach me. I went in the store, bought my baster, and also picked up a small can of cat food.

I went back outside and opened up the food, and tried to lure it to me, but it wouldn't come close (I didn't figure it would). I finally put the can down and stepped away, and it came and ate, but would dart off if I got close. I finally gave up and left the rest of the food there, not wanting people to think I was a crazy person (although it was probably too late).

When I got home, I e-mailed one of the ladies from our rescue organization that I knew trapped cats a lot. A few minutes later, I got a call from the lady in charge of the feral cat program, and she asked if I'd be willing to meet her to pick up a trap and try to trap the kitten. Of course, I can never bring myself to say no. The things I get myself into!

So back to Safeway I went, this time with a kitten trap and more food. The kitty was still where I left him, so I put the trap out and went back to my car. He came over, sniffed the trap and even poked his head in, but he was wise to my plans and wouldn't go in. It was still somewhat busy there, and a little kid ran by and said "KITTY!" and the kitten ran off to the front of the store.

I got up and moved and placed the trap near where it was. By this point I was starting to draw a little attention to myself, and people were looking at the trap and stuff. It was kind of embarrassing. At this point, the kitten walked right by it, and decided to move all over the parking lot. I tried to follow it a bit, hoping that it would settle down, but it just kept moving.

People started to point out the kitten to me, thinking that I was trying to catch my own cat. After about a half hour, I finally lost track of it, and couldn't find it. I gave up and went home.

So today the other two ladies are going to try to find it - they haven't had luck so far, but they did ask if I would be willing to try again tonight. I said I could go there and see if I spot it. We'll see what happens. Mostly, I don't want it to get hit by a car or something.

Pants Misadventures

So Marc called me at work this morning, and told me that he had a slight emergency. Apparently, he was at work and on the phone with someone, when he absentmindedly started pulling at a stray thread on his pants. I don't know what he was thinking, but the stray thread turned out to be the thread that was holding the inseam of his pants together, and he managed to pull it to the point where he ended up with over a foot of his pants inseam completely apart! Since we carpooled this morning, he had no car, and needed me to pick him up and take him to Macy's to buy new pants.

I got to his work, and when he walked out, it was quite a sight. Marc's temporary fix to his pants was 3 of those black alligator paper clips to hold the seam together. I wish I had taken a picture.

We managed to get him new pants, and he's back at work now, sans alligator clips.