Aquarium

 For many years we have had an aquarium or two or three. Ranging in size from a 75 gallon to a 20 gallon. Since moving from our home to the apartment we only had a small one from time to time. Living in the RV I had a fish bowl with a Betta until he froze to death when we got caught in a blizzard. For a couple years now I've had a 1.5 gallon aquarium with a Betta. We love fish and the soothing qualities of an aquarium. True the bigger tanks are work in order to keep the fish alive but the smaller ones take more care to keep the toxic levels low.

Our son and daughter(In law) liked our Betta tank and set up a 5 gallon aquarium because they liked our set up. Well dang gum it, that gave us the itch to get an aquarium as large as we had room for. Well we could only find room for a 10 gallon one. 

When we headed to Petsmart I had decided on a 5 gallon one like the kids have. But the more we looked we found a larger tank that would fit the only place we could put it. Ok now that led to more and bigger decorations. There was a pretty nice selection so we found some that we really liked. My Betta, Walter is getting a new decoration too because we had no room in the 10 gallon for one item we bought. Go figure! LOL

This morning I see that the temp as gone down to 80º. The water coming from our taps is a lot warmer than that right now. So we need to wait another day or two before putting fish in the new tank. We need to make sure that the thermometer is working correctly. We don't want boiled or chilled fish. Once that is achieved and the ph is good we can purchase a few fish. And I mean only a few, it's a small tank so we can't go nuts. Right now we are thinking of two small angles, two neon tetra's and 2 orange platy. Later on we will need a plecostomus, but not right now.

The power filter makes a splashing sound as the cleaned water hits the water in the tank and the noise drives me nuts. So I'm doing to have to devise a type of baffle. It's done this in other tanks as well.

August and heat.

 Actually this has been a hot summer, hottest here for us so far. And the dew point has been high making the humidity terribly uncomfortable. I'm anxious for the summer to end but then comes snowbird season and that is almost as bad. We have enjoyed the pool almost every day of the summer. A few times I couldn't go because my arms still aren't working right and too much of a fun time makes them hurt like hell. But I do have a great tan this year. 😀

On the fifth of August we celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary. We went to Red Lobster and enjoyed our favorite meals. I had two pounds of crab legs, one is just not enough, and Mark had the Ultimate Feast. We splurged and each had a strawberry daiquiri, But Mark drank most of mine. I guess I wasn't drinking it fast enough. LOL Our server was very good and  was so much fun. She even brought us a bowl of ice cream to share, at no charge to us. After all the rich butter, in our meals, the ice cream really hit the spot.

On the way home from our nice meal, a truck went by and threw up a stone and chipped our windshield. Oh great just what we didn't need. Earlier my phone died of a ruptured battery.  Since we have $500 deductible we had to pay all out of pocket for the new windshield. Too much money going out in a weeks time. I'd say what next, but that would be like hanging myself. So I will just go about my day and not worry. God will see us through, He always does. 

We are enjoying the new power lift recliner and liking the extra room from not having the love seat. The seat on the one side had no comfort left in it anymore. It looked like new too. We do take care of our things, but the loveseat obviously was of poor quality. If we need more seating, which is extremely rare, we can set up folding chairs or in the winter sit on the porch. Our comfort comes first since we live here year round.

Sold, and humidity discomfort

 This past week Mark and I sold some of our unused items. Mark sold his boat one day and a boat motor the next. I sold a food processor and some craft items that have not been used in a very long time. There is still more that needs to be sold, but I'm working on it.

Since we have lived here we have not experienced the humidity that we have had this month. We are from MN so seeing dew points in the 80's and 90 is nothing new. But living in Yuma the dew points are not that high, more like in the 20's and 30s. But lately they have been in the mid 60's to mid 70's. Not being used to that kind of weather is making the days miserable. Today we got some much needed rain and it sent the dew point to 72%. It feels like walking into peanut butter when going outside. I'd rather have peanut butter on my toast than on my skin.

Mark went to the pool to try and cool off after doing some wiring work on the golf cart. He will be as wet going into the pool as coming out. I hope it cools him off. Me? Nope not stepping out the door again today. I went to the porch to get a crock pot and that is the last step into the great outdoors I'll make today. I've even turned the a/c down to keep some of the humidity out of the house.  Thank God the a/c is working. MN can keep the cold and humidity.

Spouting off at anti-vaxxer morons.

This may be  a very unchristian thing to say but I'm so tired of the stupid people that don't, but can, get the trump virus vaccine..... I don't care if they all get horribly horribly sick or die from it because of their stupidity. Because of them the trump virus and the variants are increasing at an alarming rate. And that is putting everyone, yes everyone at risk. The less of those idiots the better. There are some people that can not, for medical reasons get the vaccine, but I'm sure soon there will be one for them. The rest of you can rot.

  Even having the vaccine a person can still get the trump virus but at a lesser degree. Every person is different so who really knows how much lesser or if their body can tolerate or combat the virus at any level of severity. Underlying health issues can make the body weaker to fight the virus well. Making the underlying health issue what takes a person down. If our son or any member of our family or friends would not have gotten the vaccine and wished to visit, the door to our home would be locked. Letting them inside our home could be suicide for us. I'm not taking that chance. If you do, you are writing your own possible death warrant. I have no sympathy whatsoever for anyone who doesn't get vaccinated or anyone who lets them into their home or business. You are fools, selfish and enabling. 

 For over a year we have worn our masks to keep us and others safe. And we continue to do so. People have been told that those who have had the vaccine don't need to wear a mask, just those that have not gotten the vaccine need to wear a mask. Can the anti-vaxxers be trusted? NO!! They have fought wearing the masks the whole time so why the hell would I trust them now? Parents are not getting their children vaccinated and then some wondering why their child caught the trump virus. They should have endangerment charges brought against them. And those not vaccinated should be refused insurance coverage.  There is preventative medicine. Lawyers and insurance companies need to build on that.

Do you ever have one of those mornings?

 

Oh my goodness what a horrible morning I had. I got to the laundry room and I needed to put money in my laundry card to operate the machines. The unit doesn't work. So I drive down to the library in the park that has another machine but you need to use cash. Okay that took my cash and it worked. But it would not release my laundry card. I frantically looked for something to pull the card out of the machine. Finding a push pin I finally got the card out of the machine.

Oh but wait I couldn't get into the library because their combination lock wouldn't work. So I had to go to the office and have Lisa come and open the door. She even had trouble. Okay so now my laundry card has money in it and I head down to the laundry room once again. Hitting a bump the top of the golf cart breaks loose, well only on one corner. So I drive home drop off the golf cart tell Mark what happened and I get the car and drive that back down to the laundry room.

By now I am sweating bullets and madder than a wet hen. I finally transfer the clothes from the washer into the dryer except for the clothes that I hang on the line. I jump in the car head home hang up my clothes. And I stand in the kitchen deciding whether I want to get drunk or go back to bed.

Well it's too early to get drunk and I really don't like to get drunk. So I decided to cut up a watermelon. That may not have been the best idea with the luck I  had this morning. But I managed to get the watermelon cut up and into chunks without slitting my wrist or cutting off a finger. 

Tonight I'll be hitting the bottle and have a big bowl of popcorn to relax and hope tomorrow starts out much better.

New popper

 Yesterday the new popcorn popper that Mark got me came. It took awhile to get it assembles and of course there is always a problem with crap made in china. But once together, I was thrilled. The popper worked great and I didn't lose my touch making it. Thankfully I had some of the special salt left from my last big popper and had ordered the oil I wanted from Amazon earlier in the week. Our first batch of popcorn in the new popper tasted wonderful, just like movie theater popcorn.

As anyone who know me, knows how much I like popcorn. I made popcorn at least once a week and sometimes more often. The first big popper I got I wore out! The second one I had to sell because there was no room for it in the RV. There really wasn't room for it here either, but for popcorn I figured out how to make it fit.  This one should last as long as I do. I hope so anyway.

Memorable

 This year Fathers day will go down as the most memorable. Lincoln and his wife came down and spent Fathers Day weekend with us. We laughed until our sides hurt, ate until we burst, talked until our mouths and ears ached, and cried rivers when they headed for home. We showed them some of the area in which we live and spent hours in the pool as well as in our home talking to no end.

Thanks to sunscreen no one got any bad sunburn while in the pool, just a pretty color of pink. Maria is like a fish in the water and seemed to totally enjoy the pool. Lincoln found it to be relaxing and enjoyed floating and an occasional dip to cool off. That surprised me because as a young boy he was a fish as well. But he said he now prefers to just relax and enjoy.

Ahead of time I made three batches of cereal crunch and a full Thanksgiving dinner with the trimmings. All was well received and full tummies all around. Lincoln was really looking forward to mammas cooking and mamma was all too happy to make it all too. Mark and I will have more meals later this summer too. Home made ice cream was a big hit on Sunday after a dip in the pool. Thinking back, as a kid my dad made homemade ice cream every Fathers day. What a nice tradition even though I just remembered it now.

A stop at what is called Lutz Casino would have been more fun had it not been so very very busy. But we got a couple pictures outside.......