The weekend
Mar. 16th, 2009 02:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
murakoziThe weekend was a little productive.
Saturday, I went out once again to look at aquairum gear. I'd been disappointed so far. Basically, I need everything, from tank to filters to something to put the tank on. I don't have any furniture that's large enough, sturdy enough, and in a good location to handle an aquarium. While I was tempted to try using one of the 'Expedit' bookcases from Ikea (they're pretty beefy) I just didn't want to take the chance that the weight of a full aquarium would be too much. So I didn't have much choice but to get an actual aquarium stand of some sort, too.
It seems all of the actual aquarium/fish places around here are either saltwater only or have gone out of business. That pretty much just leaves the big pet stores. While doing assorted Saturday errands over the past few weeks, I've stopped in at a couple PetSmart stores. For the most part, they've been understocked. I guess inventory time is coming soon or something. The one in Chantilly had a decent amount of gear, but the folks working there were pretty unhelpful. Add to that the fact that the stuff they had on display wasn't the stuff they had in stock and I was getting discouraged.
So on Saturday, I figured I'd try the Petco that opened up near Wegmans last year. There's another Petco not far away where I used to get the filters for Katie's water fountain. It wasn't terribly well kept so I didn't have high hopes for the new one. Turns out my expectations were completely wrong.
I went back to the fish section and was looking around when one of the employees asked if I needed any help. I explained that I wanted to set up a freshwater tank and what I had in mind. It turns out that the guy was a big fish enthusiast. We spent a long time discussing the pros and cons of assorted fishy type items. He wasn't trying to add on to a sale or pressure me either. He just seemed to genuinely love his work. In the end, I left the store with all the basics, including a 38 gallon tank a stand (their display, since they didn't have one in a box).
I spent the afternoon setting it up, which of course consisted mainly of lugging water a couple gallons at a time from the tap to the tank. Originally, I'd intended to go with just a natural colored gravel but upon discussing it with Andrew (the sales guy) and looking at some of the setups they had in the little tanks at the store, I agreed that black would help set off the colors of the fish I'm planning upon getting, namely neon tetras and some platys.
So now the tank is set up, whirring away as the filter does its thing. It's up to an ideal temperature. At this point, it's just waiting a week or so for it to kinda settle in before introducing the first batch of fish. Those'll probably be the tetras. Once they're in for a bit and get some biological cycle going, I'll go for some platys and a pleco. I'm half tempted to get a few glo fish. They're really striking against a dark gravel and background. They might be a bit too gaudy looking though.
I still need to get a rock or some driftwood for a pleco to hide out in as well as figure out what to do about a background for the tank.
In barn news, there has been both bad and good news lately. The bad news is that Friday before last, Hawkeye died. He was a quiet and very handsome bay gelding. Folks who rode him had nothing bad to say about him other than that he tended to be a worrier. He wanted to keep a close eye on anything out of the ordinary around him when being ridden. The Wednesday before, he'd been agitated and doing a lot of tooth grinding and generally appeared uncomfortable. The vet was out and had a look at him. He thought the symptoms he found pointed to stomach ulcers.
On Friday, the barn hands saw that Hawkeye was leaning heavily against the side of his stall and seemed kind of out of it. Fearing he'd go down in the stall - never a good thing. It's tough as heck to get a down or cast horse out of even a big box stall without disassembling the whole thing - they took him into the indoor ring. Once there, Hawkeye would only stand and lean against the wall unless someone came and stood with him. Then he'd walk along, keeping his left shoulder to the wall, just going around and around the ring.
Fortunately, one of the boarders had made an appointment with her own vet for her horse, so an emergency call to the regular barn vet wasn't needed. She had a look at Hawkeye and came to the conclusion that I think Sandy and the others already had; that Hawkeye had probably had a stroke or some other neurological problem. They took him out to the side of the barn and put him down.
To make things sadder for me, the disposal service was so busy Friday that they couldn't come pick Hawkeye up. When I was out getting hay from the trailer on Sunday, I looked over and saw the tarp covering him, weighted down with rocks and cinderblocks. Poor fella.
As with Bonnie, there were pictures of him tacked to his stall door upon which some of the students had written goodbyes and memories. I'm really glad that Sandy officially acknowledges the deaths of the horses in that way.
On a more positive note, the spring horse show was held on Saturday. I wasn't there, but was told yesterday that all the horses behaved well and most actually seemed to enjoy it. The big standout was the old pony Mickey Mouse. Apparently he behaved more like a 7 year old than a 47 year old. It's great to see that old fella still going strong.
Mickey has become rather attached to Stella. She's the pony who, for whatever reason, has decided to be the protector of the old timers, namely Mickey and Wheatchex. It seems he can recognize the sound of her hooves because when she was being led up the aisle yesterday, he immediately stuck his head out of his stall and called to her.
On a totally unrelated note, I looked out the window a moment ago. Across the street, they've been tearing down some of the buildings at the airport that I assume supported the old fuel tanks that were replaced a while back. Over the past week, they've been clearing out the remnants and spreading dirt over there. When I looked out just now, a truck was there, presumably hydroseeding the dirt. Dunnoy why, but my first thought was that scene from the movie UHF: "You get to drink from the FIRE HOSE!!!"
Saturday, I went out once again to look at aquairum gear. I'd been disappointed so far. Basically, I need everything, from tank to filters to something to put the tank on. I don't have any furniture that's large enough, sturdy enough, and in a good location to handle an aquarium. While I was tempted to try using one of the 'Expedit' bookcases from Ikea (they're pretty beefy) I just didn't want to take the chance that the weight of a full aquarium would be too much. So I didn't have much choice but to get an actual aquarium stand of some sort, too.
It seems all of the actual aquarium/fish places around here are either saltwater only or have gone out of business. That pretty much just leaves the big pet stores. While doing assorted Saturday errands over the past few weeks, I've stopped in at a couple PetSmart stores. For the most part, they've been understocked. I guess inventory time is coming soon or something. The one in Chantilly had a decent amount of gear, but the folks working there were pretty unhelpful. Add to that the fact that the stuff they had on display wasn't the stuff they had in stock and I was getting discouraged.
So on Saturday, I figured I'd try the Petco that opened up near Wegmans last year. There's another Petco not far away where I used to get the filters for Katie's water fountain. It wasn't terribly well kept so I didn't have high hopes for the new one. Turns out my expectations were completely wrong.
I went back to the fish section and was looking around when one of the employees asked if I needed any help. I explained that I wanted to set up a freshwater tank and what I had in mind. It turns out that the guy was a big fish enthusiast. We spent a long time discussing the pros and cons of assorted fishy type items. He wasn't trying to add on to a sale or pressure me either. He just seemed to genuinely love his work. In the end, I left the store with all the basics, including a 38 gallon tank a stand (their display, since they didn't have one in a box).
I spent the afternoon setting it up, which of course consisted mainly of lugging water a couple gallons at a time from the tap to the tank. Originally, I'd intended to go with just a natural colored gravel but upon discussing it with Andrew (the sales guy) and looking at some of the setups they had in the little tanks at the store, I agreed that black would help set off the colors of the fish I'm planning upon getting, namely neon tetras and some platys.
So now the tank is set up, whirring away as the filter does its thing. It's up to an ideal temperature. At this point, it's just waiting a week or so for it to kinda settle in before introducing the first batch of fish. Those'll probably be the tetras. Once they're in for a bit and get some biological cycle going, I'll go for some platys and a pleco. I'm half tempted to get a few glo fish. They're really striking against a dark gravel and background. They might be a bit too gaudy looking though.
I still need to get a rock or some driftwood for a pleco to hide out in as well as figure out what to do about a background for the tank.
In barn news, there has been both bad and good news lately. The bad news is that Friday before last, Hawkeye died. He was a quiet and very handsome bay gelding. Folks who rode him had nothing bad to say about him other than that he tended to be a worrier. He wanted to keep a close eye on anything out of the ordinary around him when being ridden. The Wednesday before, he'd been agitated and doing a lot of tooth grinding and generally appeared uncomfortable. The vet was out and had a look at him. He thought the symptoms he found pointed to stomach ulcers.
On Friday, the barn hands saw that Hawkeye was leaning heavily against the side of his stall and seemed kind of out of it. Fearing he'd go down in the stall - never a good thing. It's tough as heck to get a down or cast horse out of even a big box stall without disassembling the whole thing - they took him into the indoor ring. Once there, Hawkeye would only stand and lean against the wall unless someone came and stood with him. Then he'd walk along, keeping his left shoulder to the wall, just going around and around the ring.
Fortunately, one of the boarders had made an appointment with her own vet for her horse, so an emergency call to the regular barn vet wasn't needed. She had a look at Hawkeye and came to the conclusion that I think Sandy and the others already had; that Hawkeye had probably had a stroke or some other neurological problem. They took him out to the side of the barn and put him down.
To make things sadder for me, the disposal service was so busy Friday that they couldn't come pick Hawkeye up. When I was out getting hay from the trailer on Sunday, I looked over and saw the tarp covering him, weighted down with rocks and cinderblocks. Poor fella.
As with Bonnie, there were pictures of him tacked to his stall door upon which some of the students had written goodbyes and memories. I'm really glad that Sandy officially acknowledges the deaths of the horses in that way.
On a more positive note, the spring horse show was held on Saturday. I wasn't there, but was told yesterday that all the horses behaved well and most actually seemed to enjoy it. The big standout was the old pony Mickey Mouse. Apparently he behaved more like a 7 year old than a 47 year old. It's great to see that old fella still going strong.
Mickey has become rather attached to Stella. She's the pony who, for whatever reason, has decided to be the protector of the old timers, namely Mickey and Wheatchex. It seems he can recognize the sound of her hooves because when she was being led up the aisle yesterday, he immediately stuck his head out of his stall and called to her.
On a totally unrelated note, I looked out the window a moment ago. Across the street, they've been tearing down some of the buildings at the airport that I assume supported the old fuel tanks that were replaced a while back. Over the past week, they've been clearing out the remnants and spreading dirt over there. When I looked out just now, a truck was there, presumably hydroseeding the dirt. Dunnoy why, but my first thought was that scene from the movie UHF: "You get to drink from the FIRE HOSE!!!"