Boots and Marshall were absent for this formation. Three is the max napping group on Daddy’s bed so far.
The Squad
Sunlight and Reflections
Piscene Winter Transition
I was trying to get the right sun angle on the 190 pics when I noticed Tigger following the reflection off my phone on the ceiling. Back on topic, The goldfish came in from the pond a month ago. Three goldfish tanks in the basement are stocked full, based on the 1″ of fish per gallon of water rule of thumb. I added the little 10-gallon to keep some java moss, water lettuce and minnows for the big guys upstairs. The moss is a great addition for helping to keep the water clean, but the goldfish eat it.
The fish in that 60-gallon tank above the TV are the lucky ones. It is an all-in-one design acrylic tank using the entire back wall section as a multi-stage filter setup that works very well and is super easy to maintain. 2022 might be the 1st year we don’t buy water plants if the water lettuce pulls through over the winter. It’s looking good so far. With the exception of a water supply, electricity and my labor, the pond becomes almost self-sustaining at this point.
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Fall in Frederick
We had some nice, colorful fall foliage this year, so I stopped to take a few pics from a little different perspective on our walk yesterday. We often take a route following the creek south from the house, around a big neighborhood loop, returning along the creek from the north. It gives the dogs three different off-leash stretches including the highline ditch running through Hobby Horse farm west of here. The maple trees in back are getting big, leaving a copious amount of leaves in the yard to be dealt with.
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We had three different colors on the backyard maples. The creek’s getting low this time of year, but the mutts always manage to get plenty muddy anyway. Soon it’ll be frozen and I won’t need to hose them off every time we get home!
Pets Again!
Gotta keep breaking up the never-ending string of political crime topics! Francie got this shot of Jax last time she was home. Those are the medium-sized goldfish in their 60-gallon winter home above the the basement TV. The big ones are in the 120-gallon, and the little ones are in the 20-gallon, now totaling 37. We have a few too many goldfish.
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More Pet Stuff ‘n a Truck Pic
Continued the ongoing project clearing photos out of the Google cloud with that last pond post. This about wraps it up for summer photo fun. Jax nearly bit that black tomcat‘s head off at the age of ten weeks, but he remains defiant.
Jax is in stealth mode on that last shot.
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Almost done clearing deadwood out of the front yard. Keeping fingers crossed we don’t have another hard freeze before the leaves are down again this year.
Pond Shutdown 2021
We had the first trouble-free pond season this past summer. There were no leaks, algae blooms, predator attacks or other problematic issues like we normally experienced in previous years. The liner will be properly finished and leak-free for the long haul next year. Algae control was simply a matter of installing a UV light in the sump. Waiting for the Herons to finish migration and keeping the surface covered with water plants effectively thwarted them and the raccoons.
A fourth problematic pond issue was also solved just a couple days ago. Last year I tried putting in a few 1000-watt heaters to hold the water temperature up into October. That was pure folly. It worked, but nearly doubled the electric bill in just two weeks. So I found that running hot tap water into there for an hour raises the water temperature about 6°F. I think the basement water heater is probably more efficient for this purpose than the aquarium heaters. Wish I knew the safe cutoff temp-difference point for moving the goldfish.
We still have at least another couple weeks of warm weather coming, but with temps dropping into the 40’s overnight, the water gets too cold this time of year. The issue is too much of a temp swing transferring them from outside to inside. I can get them within around 6-7° now, then I siphon some tank water into the bucket and let them wait a few minutes to adjust before chucking them into the basement aquariums.
There may come a time we let them hibernate and run it year ’round. Just need to determine how it might be possible to reliably prevent a hard freeze in sub-zero temps.
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Some of those hazy-looking shots are wildfire smoke. The last pic shows the filter material pulled out of the sump. It takes awhile to get it all hosed down and put away, but not real difficult, overall.
Felines
Kittens are in their 2nd year now. They can all be found sleeping in unusual positions around here sometimes – especially Marshall.
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Gangin’ Up on Boots
At least Jax was in play mode this time:
Learning to Climb
This particular breed of barn cat appears to be in the tree climber branch of the species. The first thing they did when let out this spring was start climbing trees in the backyard. Boots needed rescued from halfway up one of the big Aspens about a month ago. He probably learned his lesson, but the squirrels don’t seem to have much to worry about. That’s why you hear Jax in the background – they had a squirrel tree’d.
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Featuring Boots
The runt got some real prowling time last night after I forgot to get everybody inside before dark. We started a new policy of keeping the pets inside at night this year after Kiki disappeared. Last year’s fires pushed alot of predators to lower elevations including some of the biggest eagles I’ve ever seen. Haven’t heard the coyotes yowling much the past couple years, but there seems to be plenty of owls, hawks and eagles munching down on the neighborhood cats. It’s a growing problem lately, according to the missing cat reports Michelle sees on a local message-board.
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So I went out looking for him again after midnight, and the little sucker strolled right up like he was waiting for me to come out and play. I must not play with him enough, because he will just lay there sleeping on the desk waiting.
Pond v8 Spring
It’s still not quite finished, but this year we finally arrived at a point where I can finish it. There were a few years recently where the liner solution was looking real sketchy. That’s a done deal now, with a proper finish epoxy coat coming in probably spring ’23. It just took a few years to get the base built up enough to give it some physical integrity.
Recent year’s medical bullshittery is now water under the bridge as well. My body has recovered from the hip surgery malpractice as far as it’s ever gonna get. Struggling through the liner process spring ’20 almost finished me off. Suddenly losing the ability to do heavy labor was a difficult transition. It won’t take much to grind off the mess and re-seal after the liner is completely finished in another couple years. All that’s left to do before then is just moving small stones as I complete the masonry around the flowerbeds. I can manage that no problem with frequent breaks.
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There’s around 40 goldfish in there now. Half are the old veterans in the 6-10″ range and the other half are new 1-2″ babies, born in the basement planters last winter.
5 Guys Squirrel
Anna almost got her first squirrel the other day, but they’re getting harder to hit with a clean head shot now that the leaves are out. These mutts were wiggin’ when I parked at the UPS store with the biggest squirrel I’ve seen in awhile sitting in the tree right outside the truck. That thing was about the size of a small cat.
Marshall ‘n Boots
Two tomcats. Whodathunkit?
Jax ‘n Boots
Kitty in training.
190 Close-Up
The Firemouths have been spawning almost continuously for over a year. The one in the lower-left corner is guarding a freshly fertilized clutch of eggs. The biggest one has been taking turns with her doing the same in that spot behind the wood in the middle of the tank. It’s around a two-week cycle where a batch gets laid and subsequently eaten by the catfish over the next couple weeks. Every so often they get two batches going at the same time and things get real chippy.
I decided to spend a couple minutes capturing some video after cleaning the glass last week. Still haven’t found any Garra Rufas to handle that little task for me since the last one died a couple years ago.