Whew!

I came home and immediately started working on the aquarium. The water was flowing at a trickle because some algae had plugged the intake tube. Since I was doing that, I went ahead and vacuumed the tank as best I could (I suck at using those non-suck vacuums; I can never get more than a trickle without putting my mouth on the tube, and this time that's all I could get even so.) I used a Mason jar to empty out the rest of about 25% of the water or a little more, getting rid of duckweed along the way, took out the too-abundant Java moss (there are still a few strands, so it'll come back), added some coloured glass marbles, and added some treated water to bring it back up to full. The fish are ecstatic. They are sure some of the stuff that got stirred up must be food, whereas generally it's a mulm, a polite term for the stuff that breaks down in an aquarium, including fish shit. Needless to say I went and brushed my teeth and my mouth in general after finishing. The water is running at a much better pace. I just hope the fish do okay. I'm going to try to start weekly water changes (yes, I know, I should have been doing them all along, but I tended to lose fish at that crucial juncture, given a day or two afterwards, even treating the water (and even my tap is low on chlorine or ammonia, without treating). So we'll see.

Sorry I haven't written. Saturday I went to Danville to visit my family, where there was much drama I won't go into, but fortunately it didn't involve me. My grandmother is doing better, although she lost something like 30 lbs in the hospital and looks frail, like a little bird. My grandmother used to be taller than me, but now she's quite a bit shorter. Of course, she is 86. I'm not sure how old my stepfather's mother is, but she's tiny, too. I visited with them and then they brought me back to Lexington.

Yesterday I went over for the game, but we decided not to play because Brenda was at a doll meet and we were at a point where Margaret and I didn't have much to do by ourselves. So Margaret went on home to get some rest (she'd had very little sleep) and I stayed for dinner and then came home on the last bus that would get me home. Then I played Civilization IV for awhile (and actually won the space race, although I was playing on the easiest level, but it was quite fun. And I got to beat up the Huns. The last game before that I won the game without ever firing a shot, losing only two warriors early on to lions or bears). :) The idea was to stay up so I wouldn't fall asleep so early and get on a better schedule. That's one of the reasons I went right to work when I got home rather than going straight for the computer, too.

Now I'm cooking some macaroni and cheese and plotting the next thing to do. I might go ahead and clean the shower; I missed that the other day when I was preparing for the walk-through. I don't have game notes to do this week, so I'm looking forward to doing some other things. I am going to the grocery on Wednesday with some friends, but otherwise I'm relatively unscheduled so far. I like that.

Okay, I know my Google Reader feeds are over 1000 unread items. I'll plough through some of that while I eat. :)