wookiemonster | Sunday (Reply)

HAPPY BIRFDAY mercurykitty AND tacit!!

It...has been a busy weekend. Yesterday felt like a bit of a lazy day, but, it was okay for it to be. First off, my eight-year-old angel fish, Spectrum (all my angel fish are named Spectrum) died. This is the second long-lived angel fish I've had. The last one lived about eight years, too. Anyway, he was the last fish in the tank. I have since shut down the tank. When the weather gets nicer, I'll drain the rest of the water down, toss the gravel, clean everything up, and store it until we move. The plus side of Spectrum's passing is that now I don't have to worry about moving him, switching tanks for transport, and so on, and doing everything quickly so that he doesn't die of hypothermia and expertly so he doesn't die of water shock. Now, I can simply move the tank and equipment, and after we get set up in the new place, put everything together, get new gravel, fill it with water, take a few days to balance out the water, then get new fish.

I briefly thought about just simply...not having a fish tank anymore. But, it's been a bit of a hobby for me for almost 20 years, and when the tank is clean and there are fish in there, people like to come in and see the fish and watch them for a bit. In the new house, I'll have the tank set up in my "office" in the basement so people can more easily enjoy the fish.

The other downer for yesterday was that Mom's aunt, Aunt Carolyn, lost her battle with cancer. Even though she was Mom's aunt, she was only about 10 years older, if that. My prayers are with her second husband, Fred, down in Florida, where they moved to after they got married. They were very active with Habitat for Humanity, until her cancer came back. She had originally had kidney cancer, which she beat, but then came down with lung cancer. She's been in hospice for about two months.

I...wasn't especially close to her. But I am very grateful for something she did. About a year after Dad died, Aunt Carolyn was talking to Mom and said she sounded like Mom needed a break. She paid Mom's air fare for her to go down and spend about a week down there with her and Fred. The trip was a rather healing one for Mom. And for that kindness towards Mom, I am very thankful to her.

There will be a funeral and burial down there in Florida. Given everything happening right now with new jobs, new babies, and new houses, we just...can't get away. Which sucks. But I'll admit I'd rather be playing with my niece than traveling.

Mom and Rich are down in Odessa today, signing the almost-final papers for the new house. They want a letter from Mom's new employer stating that she is employed and such before they make the final papers for the mortgage and such and start construction. But after today, it's pretty much a done deal and we don't have to worry about someone else snatching up the lot or anything.

So many ways in which life is changing. Starting anew...

I've gotten most of the housework for the weekend done. Just need to take care of some computer things and finish up my laundry. I might also go visit my sister and niece and do my grocery shopping. Alas, I still haven't gotten to work on my taxes. And next weekend? I'm scheduled for the ALYX blood donation (hopefully, my hemoglobin will be high enough for it, or else I'll try again next month). And next week is a vacuuming weekend, though, I'm going to try to get that done before I go donate some RBCs. But I was hoping to go dancing next Saturday night, but, we'll see how my energy level is after donating.

Anyway, more later...

Calvin and Hobbes