January 23, 2013

  • 4:30am Is No Time To Wake Me.....

    TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

    ...but that is exactly what Chewlee did.  She came with her soft blanket tucked under her arm and told me she was lonely.  I scooted over to make room for her and she crawled under the covers with me.  About a half hour later, my TV came on and woke me up again but it was because Chewlee had told me she wanted to watch this one particular program.  I figured it was just a half hour or so before I would usually wake her to feed her and dress her for school, so I put the timer on.  I figured if she was too tired, she could just continue to sleep until I got her up later.  BUT...when she heard it was on, she got up immediately.  I was glad I often watch the program because she had a ton of questions about the various orangutans and I was able to give her answers.  I have no idea why the sudden interest except she is now telling me that she needs to watch more programs like that so she can get to know all the information about animals.  She says when she gets older, she is going to travel and see all these different animals where they really live.  Don't I think that's a cool idea?    I told her that I hope she DOES get to see all those animals in the wild.  I told her the program we were watching was about a woman who had saved over 200 baby orangutans because the places they lived were being stripped of all the trees where they normally lived.  She was teaching them many of the things they would need to know in order to be released into a protected wild area when they had finally learned enough.

    I was shocked to find out that most babies stayed with their mothers for 8 years before they left their mothers and went off on their own.  No wonder the population doesn't replace itself fast enough regardless of the destruction of their habitat.  The mothers don't mate until shortly before their child leaves the nest, so-to-speak.  However, THESE orangutans were learning how to live in a different type of society.  They were learning to live together, not as nomads.  She's succeeded beyond her own expectations.  It's also been interesting to see how the alpha male comes to rule the new society.  Not by brute strength but by how he protects them from bullying by others in the community.   I've found the program very interesting but, hey, that's me. 

    Today the Beast got disgusted by how fast the algae has grown in his tanks even with good filters in them.  Of course, I've been telling him for weeks that he needs cleaner fish and he only just got two that he put in the round tank I talked about a couple days ago.  Today, he had to empty the big tank again BUT...he bought a new 10 gallon tank for just $12.00.  This one won't look so empty now.    We had to empty the old tank ... well, ALMOST empty it...so that we could take it down from on top of the bookcase.  We kept some of the water to refill it for the poor fish until the new tank was ready.  We used the water the Beast bought the other day since it was already the same temperature that the fish were in.  The Beast put the bag of cleaner fish he'd bought into a bucket of water to help get the fish used to the temperature slowly.  It really only takes an hour or so....he'd bought two for the big tank and one for the little fish bowl.

    After he got the tank up on the bookcase and filled with the artificial fauna and flora he'd bought, we got the cleaner fish ready to put into it.  The bag was really full of water and the Beast scooped out two of the fish with the net and got them into the big tank.  He came up with the big idea of emptying some of the water out in the sink but started emptying it without doing it through the net.  Result?  The last cleaner fish is now enjoying life in our septic tank.  Yeah, he dumped the poor thing down the drain with his first pour.  Guess it came up top to see what was going on and oops!  Fell into this deep, dark tunnel.  I ran water down after we found out that was what happened to make sure the fish got washed out of the pipes.  Adios, amigo!  Now the Beast has to go buy another one for Chewlee's fish bowl.

    Somehow, I think the fish like this new setup.  I know Goldie sure does.  S/he loves to follow us around the tank.  If you stop in front of it, Goldie just stares at you.  Funny.

    When the Princess stopped by the house to pick up Chewlee's stuff, she had picked Chewlee up from gymnastics after school.  When they pulled in the driveway, Chewlee said to her, *Mommy, can you go get my stuff by yourself?  I'm just gonna take a little nap.*  I guess her getting up just that little bit earlier had caught up with her.  The Princess told me I won't have Chewlee as late as normal on Friday because she doesn't work due to a seminar she has to attend for school.  She didn't want me to let Chewlee think she would be staying late because it always makes Chewlee mad at her mother for some reason.  I told her I would be sure to tell Chewlee she was going home early. 

    Buttmunch and her new hubby didn't start off on their journey today.  It was waaaaay too cold.  KY was hit with a cold snap (part of that Arctic air) and it was only 20 degrees out with a wind chill factor below zero.  They will stay until Friday and start off early Saturday when the weather is expected to warm up.  Guess my wish for warmer weather for them has been delayed.  Oh well!

    Love you all.  Be good.  Be careful and stay warm.