Paul
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Extra Long Weekend
Debbie's not been feeling well over the last few days but she's struggled on through the long weekend and Lollypop had 'the' operation on Friday morning, we were amazed that after dropping him off at 8.30am, we were able to pick him up again at 2pm. He was very pleased to see us but still heavily sedated and he hardly moved at all until late evening when he managed to wander around a little.
While Lolly was at the vets, we went out and bought some fish for the new aquarium, first half a dozen as planned, tiny little high fin platys, then we went on to another place for a look round and ended up with a couple more to keep them company.
On Saturday, Lolly was back to normal, bounding about like an idiot at 7am wanting to go outside lol. We stayed in all morning to make sure he was OK and Yorkshire Water were supposed to be coming out to sort out our pressure problem. They never turned up and a quick phone call revealed that they had mistakenly put us down for tomorrow. Not very chuffed and in need of a lift so we headed over to a bigger aquatic centre about 15 miles away. They had a huge selection of all the favourites and a few more we'd never heard off, including bumble bee gobies which we think look fantastic. We came back from there with a few more fish to add to our growing aquarium population.
On Sunday, the guy turned up to sort out the water as promised and just turning the mains stop tap on and off flushed out the problem, what ever it was. We now have running rather than trickling water once again.
We took Dad out for dinner on later on at a new place that's just been built along side the 'yet to be built' by-pass near Dodworth, Barnsley. It was lovely and the carvary was great, as was the minty ice-cream for afters! We just chilled for the rest of the afternoon and evening with Debbie really not feeling too good.
Yesterday we went garden tool shopping and purchased, more tree trimming tools, a stretchy hosepipe, a rake and a spade with a view to getting to work on the garden again during the afternoon. But before that, we called in at a local aquarium centre that Dad has mentioned, it was only advertised on yell.com as a koi carp dealer so we hadn't considered this place but it turns out they've got a decent selection of tropical fish and the couple running the place appeared to be committed to the welfare of the fish. Obviously we couldn't leave without buying anything and supporting our local dealer so more fish headed some with us.
The number off fish in the aquarium now is shall we say, more than there should be at this stage according to the textbooks but we are monitoring everything closely and changing a little water frequently to make sure they all get through the next few weeks.
Still not feeling very well, Debbie slept for most of the afternoon while I got to working on cutting down the branches in to smaller pieces for taking to the tip. After tea, Debbie, determined not to be left out, joined me outside to rip out more of the ivy from the flower beds, just spending half an hour on it before calling it a day. Unfortunately, Debbie felt even worse later and was up all night being sick, it must be some king of stomach bug. Anyway I've insisted she stays at home today, curled up on the sofa trying to count how many fish there are now in the aquarium!
Paul
While Lolly was at the vets, we went out and bought some fish for the new aquarium, first half a dozen as planned, tiny little high fin platys, then we went on to another place for a look round and ended up with a couple more to keep them company.
On Saturday, Lolly was back to normal, bounding about like an idiot at 7am wanting to go outside lol. We stayed in all morning to make sure he was OK and Yorkshire Water were supposed to be coming out to sort out our pressure problem. They never turned up and a quick phone call revealed that they had mistakenly put us down for tomorrow. Not very chuffed and in need of a lift so we headed over to a bigger aquatic centre about 15 miles away. They had a huge selection of all the favourites and a few more we'd never heard off, including bumble bee gobies which we think look fantastic. We came back from there with a few more fish to add to our growing aquarium population.
On Sunday, the guy turned up to sort out the water as promised and just turning the mains stop tap on and off flushed out the problem, what ever it was. We now have running rather than trickling water once again.
We took Dad out for dinner on later on at a new place that's just been built along side the 'yet to be built' by-pass near Dodworth, Barnsley. It was lovely and the carvary was great, as was the minty ice-cream for afters! We just chilled for the rest of the afternoon and evening with Debbie really not feeling too good.
Yesterday we went garden tool shopping and purchased, more tree trimming tools, a stretchy hosepipe, a rake and a spade with a view to getting to work on the garden again during the afternoon. But before that, we called in at a local aquarium centre that Dad has mentioned, it was only advertised on yell.com as a koi carp dealer so we hadn't considered this place but it turns out they've got a decent selection of tropical fish and the couple running the place appeared to be committed to the welfare of the fish. Obviously we couldn't leave without buying anything and supporting our local dealer so more fish headed some with us.
The number off fish in the aquarium now is shall we say, more than there should be at this stage according to the textbooks but we are monitoring everything closely and changing a little water frequently to make sure they all get through the next few weeks.
Still not feeling very well, Debbie slept for most of the afternoon while I got to working on cutting down the branches in to smaller pieces for taking to the tip. After tea, Debbie, determined not to be left out, joined me outside to rip out more of the ivy from the flower beds, just spending half an hour on it before calling it a day. Unfortunately, Debbie felt even worse later and was up all night being sick, it must be some king of stomach bug. Anyway I've insisted she stays at home today, curled up on the sofa trying to count how many fish there are now in the aquarium!
Paul
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Brit Pulse
There's a brand new forum on the block called Brit Pulse. A warm welcome is guaranteed by the friendly bunch that have already joined this week old forum, so why not put the kettle on, sign up and settle down for a good old fashioned chin wag.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Under Pressure
Or not as seems to be the case. Our cold water pressure went right down on Sunday night. The only reason we can think of is that air might have got into the system when filling up the aquarium on Sunday with the tap being turned on and off over a couple of hours.
I rang the water board and they confirmed that there is no work going on nearby and suggested turning the stop-cock off and on a few times with the kitchen tap turned on. It took a phone call to the former owners to find it, in the dining room, silly me was looking in the kitchen lol. We found it boxed in the corner and I had to remove a section of plywood to get to it.
We tried turning it off an on a few times but it didn't work, we tried the sink tap in bathroom upstairs and that was as bad. The bath tap was fine and ran for ages with the water off, so that must be coming from a tank. The loo cistern isn't filling up very quickly so that is affected, however, with the sink tap just trickling out water, it sprang to life when I flushed the loo, opposite to what I was expecting.
We'll try some more experiments tonight, the former owner said running the cold water in the bath should sort it out, can't see why but we'll give that a try.
We'll probably get home to find Yorkshire Water vans on our street trying to find out why half the local reservoir disappeared overnight lol.
Paul
I rang the water board and they confirmed that there is no work going on nearby and suggested turning the stop-cock off and on a few times with the kitchen tap turned on. It took a phone call to the former owners to find it, in the dining room, silly me was looking in the kitchen lol. We found it boxed in the corner and I had to remove a section of plywood to get to it.
We tried turning it off an on a few times but it didn't work, we tried the sink tap in bathroom upstairs and that was as bad. The bath tap was fine and ran for ages with the water off, so that must be coming from a tank. The loo cistern isn't filling up very quickly so that is affected, however, with the sink tap just trickling out water, it sprang to life when I flushed the loo, opposite to what I was expecting.
We'll try some more experiments tonight, the former owner said running the cold water in the bath should sort it out, can't see why but we'll give that a try.
We'll probably get home to find Yorkshire Water vans on our street trying to find out why half the local reservoir disappeared overnight lol.
Paul
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
The Mist Is Clearing
The new aquarium has been up and running for just over a day now and the mist is almost gone, by Friday it should be crystal clear ready for the new inhabitants.
There are so many different tropical fish we want to get and with the size of the tank, we should be able to accommodate between sixty and seventy in total. We've been reading up on starting out with a new aquarium and we can't put in too many in to start with, it has to complete cycles, which in terms that I understand is that the aquarium has to be able to deal with the ammonia produced by the fish and seventy fish using a brand new aquarium as a lavatory won't do them any good lol.
We've got a good idea of what we want but we're going to have choose which fish to get in the first week. With us adding the chemicals to get the bacteria going we should be able to start with a decent number of fish, maybe twenty or so and then add more each week. Of the ones we're wanting, Zebra Danios, Platy, White Clouds and Cherry Barbs appear to be the best tropical fish to start out with.
Paul
There are so many different tropical fish we want to get and with the size of the tank, we should be able to accommodate between sixty and seventy in total. We've been reading up on starting out with a new aquarium and we can't put in too many in to start with, it has to complete cycles, which in terms that I understand is that the aquarium has to be able to deal with the ammonia produced by the fish and seventy fish using a brand new aquarium as a lavatory won't do them any good lol.
We've got a good idea of what we want but we're going to have choose which fish to get in the first week. With us adding the chemicals to get the bacteria going we should be able to start with a decent number of fish, maybe twenty or so and then add more each week. Of the ones we're wanting, Zebra Danios, Platy, White Clouds and Cherry Barbs appear to be the best tropical fish to start out with.
Paul
Monday, August 22, 2005
Lovely Warm Weekend
As promised here are a few snaps taken over the weekend……
Paul
Grandma and Lucy enjoying the lovely weekend weather.
My Aunties Scottie, called Benny getting on famously with Lucy and Lollypop.
Grandma and Lucy watching us crack on with the tree.
Cowgirl Lucy baking in the midday sun…. yea hah!
Down comes the tree, branch by branch.
What on earth are we going to do with all this then?
Paul
Aquariums and Trees
As with most busy weekends, not everything goes to plan and it turned out to be a lot more busy that we thought! Up bright an early on Saturday we got the shopping in for the barbecue before Debbie's appointment at the hairdressers. Debbie trudged home while I put the shopping away and she wasn't impressed at all with her new hair style, exactly the same as it was before! Needless to say, neither of will be going back there, I sorted out Debbie's fringe and she looks gorgeous :-)
Then, for the high point of the weekend, we set of to Sheffield to look round this huge aquarium centre. We were very disappointed when we did eventually find it, it wasn't that big, looked a bit of a dive and didn't have all that much to offer. Plan B came in to action as we set of to a place called Viscum in Barnburgh near Doncaster, we've been before and it's not the cheapest place but it's clean, tidy with a huge selection of equipment and fish and the friendly staff really know their stuff. We got a beautiful aquarium and everything to go with it from fish and plant friendly chemicals to plants and rocks.
Back at the ranch, we had just enough time to put the cabinet together, get the tank on top and put in all the sand. Debbie went to pick up friends for the barbecue while I finished off and got the barbecue started. We had a great evening, so much more chilled than the week before, I even had time to fill up the aquarium and it was looking great until someone pointed out that it was leaking! So there I was, bailing out as fast as I could in the wee small hours lol.
I took the aquarium back on Sunday morning, which they said they would exchange without question but wanted to see the leak in action as they don't get many of them. In the daylight we could see a gap in the seal near the top which was causing the problem. Anyway, they got me sorted out with a new one and I got that home safely, we just managed to get that on top of the cabinet and filled with sand again before Dad arrived for an afternoons tree felling.
Dad took charge and was up the ladder in no time, branches were being flung to the ground faster than I could trim them lol. My Auntie and Uncle brought Grandma over for a couple of hours, they all loved the our house and garden and Grandma had Lucy on her knee all afternoon lol. We called it a day at tea time, there are just a couple of branches at the top left to come down before we can start with the trunk. Debbie took loads of pictures through the afternoon but we've not had chance to load them yet, we'll get some posted tonight or tomorrow.
While we were hard at work in the garden Debbie was hard at work in the kitchen preparing tea and also managed to fill the aquarium and get the filter going. After a gorgeous cottage pie dinner, we got chance to look at the aquarium and it was looking pretty darn good already.
Later in the evening we got all the plants in and switched on the lights, the water is still a little milky at the moment from all the sand but that is starting to clear now. We just sat there for an hour, watching the plants swaying in the current :-)
Only four days at work now, we're off on Friday, Lolly is going to have his bits seen to and we're off to pick out our new tropical fish, poor Lolly!
Paul
Then, for the high point of the weekend, we set of to Sheffield to look round this huge aquarium centre. We were very disappointed when we did eventually find it, it wasn't that big, looked a bit of a dive and didn't have all that much to offer. Plan B came in to action as we set of to a place called Viscum in Barnburgh near Doncaster, we've been before and it's not the cheapest place but it's clean, tidy with a huge selection of equipment and fish and the friendly staff really know their stuff. We got a beautiful aquarium and everything to go with it from fish and plant friendly chemicals to plants and rocks.
Back at the ranch, we had just enough time to put the cabinet together, get the tank on top and put in all the sand. Debbie went to pick up friends for the barbecue while I finished off and got the barbecue started. We had a great evening, so much more chilled than the week before, I even had time to fill up the aquarium and it was looking great until someone pointed out that it was leaking! So there I was, bailing out as fast as I could in the wee small hours lol.
I took the aquarium back on Sunday morning, which they said they would exchange without question but wanted to see the leak in action as they don't get many of them. In the daylight we could see a gap in the seal near the top which was causing the problem. Anyway, they got me sorted out with a new one and I got that home safely, we just managed to get that on top of the cabinet and filled with sand again before Dad arrived for an afternoons tree felling.
Dad took charge and was up the ladder in no time, branches were being flung to the ground faster than I could trim them lol. My Auntie and Uncle brought Grandma over for a couple of hours, they all loved the our house and garden and Grandma had Lucy on her knee all afternoon lol. We called it a day at tea time, there are just a couple of branches at the top left to come down before we can start with the trunk. Debbie took loads of pictures through the afternoon but we've not had chance to load them yet, we'll get some posted tonight or tomorrow.
While we were hard at work in the garden Debbie was hard at work in the kitchen preparing tea and also managed to fill the aquarium and get the filter going. After a gorgeous cottage pie dinner, we got chance to look at the aquarium and it was looking pretty darn good already.
Later in the evening we got all the plants in and switched on the lights, the water is still a little milky at the moment from all the sand but that is starting to clear now. We just sat there for an hour, watching the plants swaying in the current :-)
Only four days at work now, we're off on Friday, Lolly is going to have his bits seen to and we're off to pick out our new tropical fish, poor Lolly!
Paul
Friday, August 19, 2005
Fun Packed Weekend On The Way
We've got loads to do this weekend, I'm not sure how we're going to fit it all in and we'll probably be ready for another weekend by Sunday evening lol.
We've got another BBQ to organise tomorrow, at least this time the weather looks favourable and we won't have as many people to run about after. Debbie's getting her hair cut tomorrow, all this hot weather is taking it's toll, even mine needs cutting, half an inch is just too long lol. Dad's coming round for Sunday dinner and to help us chop down the tree. We'll have a new bird table to put up which will hopefully get some custom over the autumn and winter months.
The best thing of all will be going to get our new aquarium, Debbie love's tropical fish and can spend hours looking round any aquarium centre. We've had to wait until now to get a fish tank of our own because we didn't have enough space before. We need one with a sturdy base and surround to keep the three amigos at bay and we don't won't an over exited Lolly knocking anything over.
It's years since either of us has kept tropical fish, I wonder if things have changed, any technological advances in filterization and the like? I used to use and old credit card to scrape the inside of the glass lol. We've already got an idea of the fish we would like, a large shoal of neons, a few guppies, glowlites, a couple of small angel fish and some sucky things that clean the glass instead of me! Just a short list to start with, although I'm sure the list will grow longer by the minute when we get there lol.
Paul
We've got another BBQ to organise tomorrow, at least this time the weather looks favourable and we won't have as many people to run about after. Debbie's getting her hair cut tomorrow, all this hot weather is taking it's toll, even mine needs cutting, half an inch is just too long lol. Dad's coming round for Sunday dinner and to help us chop down the tree. We'll have a new bird table to put up which will hopefully get some custom over the autumn and winter months.
The best thing of all will be going to get our new aquarium, Debbie love's tropical fish and can spend hours looking round any aquarium centre. We've had to wait until now to get a fish tank of our own because we didn't have enough space before. We need one with a sturdy base and surround to keep the three amigos at bay and we don't won't an over exited Lolly knocking anything over.
It's years since either of us has kept tropical fish, I wonder if things have changed, any technological advances in filterization and the like? I used to use and old credit card to scrape the inside of the glass lol. We've already got an idea of the fish we would like, a large shoal of neons, a few guppies, glowlites, a couple of small angel fish and some sucky things that clean the glass instead of me! Just a short list to start with, although I'm sure the list will grow longer by the minute when we get there lol.
Paul
Thursday, August 18, 2005
New Dining Room Ornament
I think we may have been foolish to think that we'd be having fancy plates, ornements and stuff on the dining room unit lol.
Paul
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Recording The Heat
During the house move something happened to our thermometer sensor, it stopped talking to the thermometer and any attempt to make them speak to each other over the weekend just resulted in a lot of beeping, both from the thermometer and from me.
I can't live without knowing how hot it is outside, or more to the point, how cold it is in winter, so yesterday I went out and bought a new one which looks a little bit more reliable than the old one. I had it on in the office yesterday and we reached 30.9c by home time, too warm by far.
It was horrible overnight, 22c in the house when we went to bed but was dropping outside, this morning, it was down to 14c outside and managed to fall a whole half a degree inside to 21.5c, no wonder we got little sleep! Today looks like it's going to be hotter, I can't wait to start recording temperatures of -2c again :-)
Paul
I can't live without knowing how hot it is outside, or more to the point, how cold it is in winter, so yesterday I went out and bought a new one which looks a little bit more reliable than the old one. I had it on in the office yesterday and we reached 30.9c by home time, too warm by far.
It was horrible overnight, 22c in the house when we went to bed but was dropping outside, this morning, it was down to 14c outside and managed to fall a whole half a degree inside to 21.5c, no wonder we got little sleep! Today looks like it's going to be hotter, I can't wait to start recording temperatures of -2c again :-)
Paul
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