I must have good taste...

...in fish. I saw a beautiful Blue Ahli at the pet store today while getting crickets. I went home to get the cricket set up, eat dinner, and look up some info on Haps. I am an experienced Cichlid keeper, but I don't know anything about Haps. So, after making the decision to get him while he was still looking good (this was PetSmart, so who knows how long he would have survived) I raced out the door. When I got there the ladder was set up at that tank (his was on the top) and he was gone! Foxit!! Click for full post and comments

Merry Christmas! oh wait...

I have been waiting to get a picture of snow on our holly tree, but it's always happened in the early evening when the light is fading. Today it was snowing most of the daylight hours, so I finally got a picture. Click for full post and comments

Seven years bad luck

My mosaic mirror has been hanging on the wall for the first time ever for about a month. It cracked. The mirror part, no the grout. My guess it that it wasn't designed to hold it's weight and there were stresses in it. I had epoxied the glass to that particle board stuff with the holes in it. I guess I didn't realize epoxy would not expand and contract enough to join these two different materials together. So, my plan is to either place a mirror over the cracked one inside the recessed area, or try to chisel out the cracked part. The first one sounds easiest, by far. Click for full post and comments

Excavation of the eggs

In what turned out to be an all day project, I cleaned out the chameleon's old cage and set her up in a new, taller cage. I took out the sand box and got the eggs out. Now, I'm glad I knew the eggs weren't fertile, because it gave me some liberty with how I handled the eggs. They have soft shells, so they can get squished if digging recklessly. Also, I have read that when you dig up fertile eggs for hatching that you want to separate them and arrange them so they are facing exactly "up" as you found them (mark "up" with a pen when each is uncovered.)

So, here is my practice for if I ever feel like breeding a lizard:

The original layout of the sandbox was a bilayer system. I carved out a little section on one side and filled in the other side with that sand, so there was a little lower section for the lizard to actually fit in for digging. Just so she wasn't sitting on top of the sandbox exposed. The original lower section and tunnel entrance is shaded grey in the picture below. It all got a little destroyed when she filled in everything. The original sand structure was very densely packed; it worked great for this. The tunnels, once dug, did not dry out and cave in as I feared. In fact, the sand at the very bottom of the box was very wet still, almost dripping.
As I was digging I could feel the looser dirt, where she had made tunnels. Her system was more extensive than I had thought. Her clutch ended up being back underneath the original lower area (so there were only scant inches of roof).

So this picture is in the same orientation as the one above, where the egg on the left is just above where her clutch is (though I didn't know it at the time). The egg on the right seems to be a truly lone outlier. Like she was still crapping them out as she was filling in the hole. The depression between the eggs is tunnel:

Now the orientation has rotated 180°. The original lower area of the sandbox is now at the top, in the shaded area. The egg on the left in the above photo is present in this one too, the topmost one of the groups of four. It looks like there were two sections of tunnel that went back underneath the lower area, and one short section that went off the the side:

Here the edge of the clutch has finally been uncovered.

And here is the clutch intact:

There were 23 eggs total, which is perfect. I thought I remember reading the average size for a veiled chameleon is 15-30 eggs, but I could be wrong. I just hope she wasn't too traumatized by her removal from the cage and my throwing her babies in the trash. I don't know, maybe she knew they weren't going to hatch. She'll forgive me when I throw in some crickeys. She always does. Click for full post and comments

She's thin again

Yesterday and today I noticed the chameleon looked skinnier. I guess she belly has shrunk back down, but now I think she looks weird.
I think now her head looks to big for her body. But I noticed her spots are bright again, so she must think she's guarding babies. Poor thing. One question I have about this whole thing, though: those eggs are buried like 6 inches under sand. How in the hell are those little things supposed to hatch and get out? Without suffocating? If she had laid actual fertile eggs, that is. Click for full post and comments

Lizzy did it!

I think the chameleon has laid her eggs. Yesterday she spent the entire day underground, after digging her tunnel all the way to the bottom of the container and then off to the side (she made a little view hole like in the zoo). But the view hole got covered up again, so I couldn't watch. Also, I could hear her scratching away underground. It was pretty weird. Anyway, as I wondered how many days of not seeing her until I dig out a dead chameleon, I saw her working on covering up her hole.
I think she still looks big, but more hollow. Like droopy or something.

So this weekend I will take the box of sand out and clean up her mess. There is sand everywhere. I'm not gonna waste it, though, I'm gonna sift that shit and find those eggs! I have a feeling she will be, uh, displeased, to say the least when I yank her out of there for the cleaning.

Also, notice her coloring seems to be calm again. I noticed her coloration mellowing out a couple days ago. The formerly white spots have been that tan color for a few days now. Click for full post and comments

Snow

Work was cancelled due to the storm that hit the central Eastern Seaboard. So, banks closed early yesterday, etc. And after it sleeted hard all last night we got the call that work was cancelled. I pretty much could have figured that, since everyone left as soon as it got cruddy yesterday. So, while not working at a fun job, I shovelled about half the driveway. My husband got to do the rest. But, the good news is that since we live in the city limits our streets get plowed. Bad news is that it makes shovelling the driveway harder.
It was about 3 inches of wet, icy, compacted snow. In some places I was walking on top on the snow. So, I got tired pretty fast. Click for full post and comments

Look what fits inside the Shuttle!

My husband ordered his computer setup including the new video card for me. It's pretty much the same as what I had already got except the 256MB version. So this one now is an ATI Radeon x1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3, and is Vista ready, for what idiots are actually going to switch already. It's still the x16 PCI-E like the 512MB version. I'm kinda pissed because the only spec I really cared about was the memory. I wanted the 512 meg one. Foxit. (my new swear word, remember)

In other tech news I'm trying to convince my husband to take my RAZR (which I love, it's an awesome phone) so that I can buy a RIZR. Not yet available in the US, I don't think, but only around $250 for an unlocked one. (I got my RAZR from a site that I can't remember the name and can't find anywhere. It came from Germany, and was in German until it found the Cingular signal.) The RIZR takes a microSD card for a couple gigs of songs. It capture video and the same 2MP camera that seems to have not evolved woth the rest of the technology. It's a purdy phone and I want one. Click for full post and comments

Driving trip 2005

Back in May 2005 my dad, brother and I went around the western half of the country on a whirlwind driving trip. We visited Devils Tower and Badlands on the way to Mt. Rushmore, hit Chimney Rock, drove through Rocky Mtn National Park, then went through Black Canyon in Colorado, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef (quickly, at dusk), and Bryce Canyon NP's. We drove through Vegas, then up through Death Valley (we missed the record breaking wildflower blooms by a couple months), then up through Reno, and finally back up to Washington. Did I say that this was whirlwind?

We drove through the night to get to Devils Tower as the visitor center was opening,


saw Badlands midday,


and got to Rushmore almost as it was closing (but no busloads of people!).

We stayed in Chadron, Nebraska, that night and saw Chimney Rock in Nebraska before the visitor center opened the next morning.


Then we went on through the Rockies in northern Colorado, where I managed to misload my roll of film, so I have no pictures of the deer or caribou or whatever frolicking in the creek (no pictures at all, because I happened to not take any digitals then. Halfway out of the Rockies we ate at a fine mexican restaurant in Leadville (really pretty area). Then drove through Black Canyon of Gunnison NP. We stayed that night in Fruita, I think.


Next day was Arches NP first, where I got my film fixed. I was, and am, pissed about that. Now I take digital backups of most everything I take film pictures of.


Anyway, after Arches was Canyonlands NP,


and then through Capitol Reef. We didn't actually see the Reef, I don't think, but we saw some Indian drawings on the rocks. It was getting dark quickly, so taking pictures was not possible. We stayed within an hour or two of Bryce that night. Got the last room in the area, actually, because some guy didn't reserve his room with a credit card. So we got it because we were there and had a way to pay. So Bryce was awesome, of course. We stayed there quite a while (well, compared to our pace over that previous couple days). Then on our way to Vegas we didn't drive through Zion NP. I was upset about that. I don't know why we did that except we had a schedule to keep, I guess.





So then we drove through Vegas and through Death Valley to Badwater.


It was late in the day and time to start looking for a place to stay. The power was out in the valley, so the people who were staying there and at the big resort were displaced. This made lodging so late in the day hard, but we got a place out in Lone Pine, CA. That morning was nice, with a nice view of the other side of the Sierras, Mt. Whitney in particular.

And a bigger version of the picture at the bottom of the screen:


Then up to Reno to visit relatives and on through the night again back home. Whew! The whole trip wasn't more than 5 days.

Can you spot the film pictures vs. digital? It's pretty obvious sometimes. The two Aches pix are film, through the telephoto. And the first three Bryce pix are film, and for some reason have a black streak running down the middle of them (I sort of was able to Photoshop them out).

Here's a GoogleMaps map of the route (click for a readable version): Click for full post and comments

wook at that puddum

I guess that officially starts my catblogging...

so here's another:she's positively Jabba-esque Click for full post and comments

But it looks good, at least

I just got the computer I ordered last week from MWave: Shuttle xPC with the 945 chipset motherboard. I ordered a screaming Radeon x1950 video card to go with it. I guess it's too good of a card because the blasted thing doesn't fit! The fan on the side of the card takes up a second slot, and it also hits the bar that runs along the top of the case. The board itself isn't too big, it's the fan! The card is a PCI-E, and I thought both slots on the board were the same, and you could just put the card into whichever fits better. Wrong! On this motherboard it's only the outermost slot that's PCI-E, which is right up against the side of the case. So I guess I just bought my husband a late birthday present, except we need to get 1) a new (bigger) computer to take the card, and 2) a video card still for me. Foxit! (my new swear word)

But the onboard videocard thingy works pretty good. It's allows the native resolution for my 22" monitor (Westinghouse), which it 1680 x 1050. I was surprised it could do that. Oh! and this thing is so quite without the videocard fan!

So this sweet little machine is black, of course, and my monitor is black and silver, so I had to get a matching keyboard and mouse. I found a wireless Logitech keyboard and mouse set for pretty cheap at Best Buy. It looks purdy.

In other news, the lizard was digging in her tunnel today, but I couldn't get a picture. Click for full post and comments

Obligatory Valentine's rant

I don't like Valentine's Day. I know there are plenty of people who don't like how the meaning of, say, Christmas has been diluted into a mass-commercialized flurry of worrying if a present you give is "good enough." You shouldn't have to worry about sleeping with the dog because you didn't buy your wife diamonds. Here's what I believe: I don't care what the original meaning of Christmas is. I like presents, and I like sparklies. However, there are only a select few holidays where receiving sparklies is acceptable. Valentine's Day is not one of them. Neither is Mother's Day, since that's only fabricated by the greeting card companies. Sparklies are reserved for only Christmas and birthdays. These are the only two times of the year (and hope they don't fall too near each other on the calendar!) giving a gift as big as sparklies is acceptable.

So, since it's the beginning of February, I'm hearing the ads on the radio directed to the men to go buy a sparkly for their wives/girlfriends (and if my boyfriend gave me a real diamond for V Day I would probably freak out and dump him!). This is one instance I really feel sorry for men. I feel bad that they have to dodge these overt attempt to not only drain their wallets, but put them in a position to fail. The women start to feel they deserve a sparkly for something as stupid as V Day or Mother's Day. Then they get mad at the men for not giving them said sparklies. Then the men wonder what the hell they did wrong, and she won't tell him because he should just know what he did wrong. And god help him if he got her something *gasp* ugly!

Anyway, I am officially anti-V day. This "holiday" only serves to put men in the dog house. Click for full post and comments

A message to the city of Boston

You are f'ing morons. Turn on a TV ferchrissakes. Click for full post and comments

Mosaic mirror

Here's a mirror (the only one I've completed) I did a while ago. It took me a long time to get it finished because I wasn't happy with how the grout turned out. I ripped up every single tile and chipped out all the grout! This was only possible because instead of applying the tessarae to a wood frame and then inserting a mirror, I just applied everything directly to a large mirror. It actually works pretty well because when you make a mistake you can easily pull the adhesive off the glass. I currently have another one going that is a wood frame. If you want to pull a tile off that's dried, you pull up a good amount of wood too. (This can be avoided by using high density fiber board, that smooth brown stuff). So I essentially did this mosaic twice! It was a good learning experience, and every time I look at the finished product I look at what I should do differently or the same for the next one.

All of my materials: tile, grout, nippers, sponges and applicators, adhesive, were purchased at MosaicMercantile.com.

So, the tessarae are applied directly to the glass mirror, I used one that was 8"x10". Before I got started I epoxied that brown board stuff with the holes in it (that you would stick the metal hooks in that would hold your tools in your shop). I used the board with the holes in it 1) that's the first the first thing I found, and 2) it gives more surface area for the epoxy to stick: it comes up through the holes a little.

Then I measured the desired width of the mosaiced part and drew with permanent marker. Windex removes the marker, and it won't rub off too much from just your hands (you still have to be a little careful). The daisies and snail by me, but the butterfly is way too good for me. I used a form from MosaicMercantile. I put those objects down first, then filled in the background. This is where I need the improvement. I needed to really pay attention to outlining the objects before doing the ordered background. Everything gets kinds of jumbled near each object, where I wanted it more defined. So that's what I'm working on in my current mirror.

When everything was dried and grouted, I screwed two short screws to the back and attached hanging wire. And now it's on my bathroom wall. Click for full post and comments

We have a tunnel!

So I checked on the chameleon when I got home from work today (yes, I actually went this time) like I always do. I was surprised to see this:
That looks like a tunnel! I arranged the sand in the bucket a certain way: there's a level portion that's almost even with the top edges, and then there is a carved out section so she can dig while still inside the bucket, which is maybe 5 inches deep. The tunnel appears empty. Since she still looks big, I assuming she hasn't laid the eggs yet. Also, I assume the tunnel will get filled in once they are laid. Third, she still has some white spots visible, seen in this picture that also gives a better view of her tunnel:

So now I wonder how long it'll be before she finally drops these sonsabitches Click for full post and comments

Slackin

I spent the last three days at Hazardous Waste training. I rewarded myself for surviving that hell by skipping work the last half of the day yesterday. Instead of working I went to the mall to get film developed, my hair cut, and bought some clothes. Then I took a nap. And it was worth it! Click for full post and comments