It's damn hot, so you're not getting much, but I took this time-lapse of my betta while I was working, because I was trying to figure out what he may be doing lurking in a particular corner and fussing at something, he's a very mischievous man, it seems. Still no clue what he's been poking at, but if you've ever had someone tell you "bigger tanks are wasted on bettas", well. Bloo lives in a 5 gal, and if I had the room, I'd love to upgrade him to a 10 or 20. When I win the lottery!
The New Ocean Pavillion is Gorgeous!!
I've now gotten a good nights sleep and recovered from dehydration and overstimulation, so I can tell you all, that Seattle's new addition to the Aquarium is beautiful, and amazing. I could've stayed in there all day just watching the giant reef tank!
Fear me, for I am now 43! The original plan was for John's sister & her kids to hop a bus up towards our place, and go to the zoo, but they were out and about this morning, and declared it Too Hot for an outside activity day (today had a high of 84F). So, we hit up the Seattle Aquarium, instead. The boys just did NOT have the energy to really do One More God Damn Tourist Thing, AND they had gone on meal strike for lunch, so yeah. Hangry pre-teens are a LOT.
One more day of being 42. I'm feeling all kinds of ways about it.
...somewhere...
I Slept Fourteen Hours, and Now I Have To Exist
A horse of a different color, today. I tanked out about midnight last night, which is extremely odd for me, and slept through to two in the afternoon, today. I woke up just long enough to send an email to work that I wouldn't be working today, and crashed out. I am now dealing with the Sleep Hangover, aka my brain-meds were late and my head is not happy. But, the world goes on, and so must I!
Sore Throat, so Here's Some Plants
I'm not feeling great, so I snagged some pics of things I'm excited about on my plant rack, and gonna leave it at that. Tomorrow will be better!
I have very little fear in life, of doing much of anything. I'm smart, I'm coordinated, I have youtube, what could possibly go wrong? I've fixed plumbing that way, and learned about various gardening things, and generally me and my hand tools get a lot done with very little. So, today, when I realized that my aquarium lid not sitting in the right spot due to the plant pots I'd hung in the corner was causing water to escape the tank and drip behind it, I figured "oh, I'll just cut out some holes, then!". These would be Famous Last Words.
Quick and dirty one, today, because it has Been A Monday, but I'm pleased to report that I finally read the eleventy docs for paginating an index, and understood them! As with a lot of their docs, it took me a couple tries. Tech writing is a hugely under-valued skill in the world. The right combination of enough words to be clear, and not too many to lose your reader, and solid examples, is priceless.
...aka, it's Plant Chore Sunday! ...Kind of. Really it's "go plant-shopping to fill in some holes in my aquarium, and while I'm out, stop by the hardware store for some weed-killer and a rescue orchid, and oh, those african violets need some attention" day. But that's a lot to say, so Plant Chore Sunday it is.
Today, for this second Blaugust post, we have The Ballad Of The Damn Tree and The Stubborn Woman.
So, There's a thing happening this month, ala inktober, or mermay, called Blaugust. I lost the link, because I'm me (it's probably downstairs on my work computer, but that machine is Not Touched After Hours, it's the one rule I have for working from home). I digress, the point is, it's a "do a thing consistently, for a month" challenge.
My actual yard is under the cover of a hemlock and a cedar, it is NEVER in anything i'd even call 'partial sun'. I struggle to figure out what the hell to put back there (although I discovered this year that impatiens seem to like it a lot in the container on the balcony, so that's fun!) But I've wanted to try my hand at roses for some time.
I Finally Gave In To Roundup...
...and I feel so guilty about it. I really loathe the idea of dumping a bunch of chemicals into my yard. I want plants to thrive there, and I don't want local creatures (or me!) to get sick. But... I have a mortal enemy. It's name is bindweed.
I grew up in the Central Valley in California. No, that's not "the Valley" that they talk about down in LA, it's the big dent running down the center of the stat that you can see from space. It's in the middle, thus "central". It's where a lot of the food you eat comes from. In the summers growing up it hit 104F a couple times a year. I played contact sports in weather in the mid-to-high 90's regularly. I had never seen snow till I moved up here.
When Did Flowers Get So Big???
I run errands over lunch, sometimes, it's a luxury of working from home and living in a wonderfully walkable neighborhood. Todays errand was getting kitty food, lest the gremlins rebel and take over the running of the house. They have Opinions about their food, so my head was very focused on whether it was time to try a different flavor, when I walked past the local p-patch.
I'm going to try (hahahahaha!) to keep posting regularly, but I don't have any other big exciting projects going, so instead, I'm going to tell you all about my delightfully quiet and peaceful weekend!
Ok, I know I said most of my writing wouldn't be tech stuff, but that's what I'm up to right now, so there we go. Maybe this weekend I'll show off all the work I've been doing outside, after I'm done beating back the weeds. In the meantime, though...
You Must First Invent The Universe
When in doubt, start with Carl Sagan, and you probably won't go wrong. The full quote is,
Ok, this might get rambly, it's almost 10:00 pm, and nothing good happens after 10, but I'm all set up so I'm gonna write, and share some photos, and you're just gonna have to deal.