We have a frost advisory tonight

So the window box plants are covered with Hefty bags. The game was great, but I'm very tired. I think I'll chill for a few minutes and listen to some music while waiting to go get A around midnight.

YES!

Always Dreaming ran a great Derby!

Well

The prettiest horse, in my opinion, as I'm partial to greys and blacks, is Fast and Accurate, at 50-1. But I'm going to go with Always Dreaming for the package of horse, breeding, trainer, and jockey. :)

I took some time

before working on the notes to go to Costco and get, among other things, cheese for the game tomorrow. For $4.49 on sale at Kroger, I can get 12 pieces. For $9.99 regularly at Costco, I can get 60. So they last longer. I got crackers this morning at Kroger. I got some tomatoes that are a variety of small types, and I may take those as well.

In the 13 years I've lived in this apartment, I've changed one, maybe two chandelier bulbs in the dining area. Three were out, so when I saw a pack of 6 at Costco for $12 that were LED, I went ahead and got them, and changed them out (leaving one spare, as mine has five lights). It's so bright! Which got me thinking about LED lights. I have a couple left over from a package I got at Kroger one time, that equate to 60 watt bulbs. I went into the closet, got the package out, and changed the CFL in the living room out for the LED, and it is brighter as well. I'd like to eventually switch all the bulbs out as they go out. Costco had a pack of six or eight 60 watt equivalents for much less than the grocery does, and I noticed they had packs of four indoor flood lights. YKWIA goes through a lot of them, as he has them in his library, bathroom, hallway, and living room. They're more expensive up front but last a long time. I might see if he's interested, at least in the library.

Okay, I think I should balance my bank book (I've kept it up to date since I got it, which is remarkable for me, almost daily), and then turn off the radio so I can work on the notes. And I think post-time is coming up for the Derby. I haven't kept up with who's running this year, but I might turn it over for the run. It's sunny here--I hope it dried out a bit in Louisville, as it was raining quite a bit earlier.

I still had a little soil

and a couple of old large violet pots, so I decided to try to grow freesias, as I love the scent. They're bulbs you put in 3 inches under the top of the soil, and you can fit 12 bulbs per square foot, so I think the spacing of these should be okay. I watered them with the fish waste water and put them in the actual windowsill. I may need to stake them, as they grow a foot or more tall. I got them at Kroger for $2.99 for a box of 10, much cheaper than getting a plant, and it's a variety of colours and scents. Here's hoping they do well. I bought some freesias (my first) earlier in the year that didn't have much scent and were kind of orange, and I have those bulbs resting to reset. I'll see how I do with these, though.

Placing the bulbs (the shavings in the bowl were what they were in)

Covered up

Placed on the sill in the res of the pot

Ditto

So, after getting back to sleep about 2 am

I woke up on my own at 6:30 am and showered, went to the grocery, picked up a friend and taken him to work, had breakfast, scored a series of books in two disciplines for a collection development tool, and then got sleepy about 10 am. I got out of my belted pants and into my pygama bottoms, kept everything else on save my necklace, and I'm took a take a nap--until 1 pm. It's just starting to warm up (the sun is coming out, because of course it's Derby Day, so there's been rain), but it was 68 degrees in the apartment, which wasn't too bad, just a touch cool for me if I wasn't doing much. But it occurred to me the tank was pretty cool, and the fish a little sluggish, and I got to looking, and the heater, which I'd left plugged up all that time, had actually been turned down all the way so it wouldn't come on (what genius did that?) :). So I turned it to 72, a little on the warm side for the goldfish, but within range, and a little cool for the algae eater, but high enough so it won't stop eating or anything. The water should gradually rise in temperature. Good to go. Now to tackle my list (but first, a diversion).

I'd gone to bed around 10 pm

because I was just really pooped after running around for several hours this evening, and then when I woke up, I thought that it was maybe 5 am (because it was still dark), and I should probably just go ahead and get up, because I have to call A to wake him up at 6:30 am.

It was 12:45 am.

So now I'm awake, it's in the middle of the night, and I have to wake up early so I can get A up and then take him to work. Sigh. Maybe I shouldn't have had coffee after all, although that was hours ago. I haven't had any caffeine of any sort (my last was a soda at 3 pm) too late.

I'd taken my meds and done all my normal bedtime things except turning the aquarium over to the blue light, so I did that. Now I'm listening the the Bastille station and contemplating whether I should do any of the three or four things I meant to accomplish tomorrow, namely:

1. Finish scoring for Doody's Core Titles (it's due Sunday, and I'll be busy then).
2. Get that job application in (I need to get one in by end of week, which is Saturday).
3. Do the game notes (due by midnight Saturday night).
4. Do a 10-15% water change for the fish tank.

I suppose I should tackle them in that order. So the plan is this: try to go back to sleep, wake up early, call A, get ready (I normally just go over in whatever I sleep in, which scares them sometimes), take him to work, come back, make coffee/eat breakfast, and start working on my list. It's supposed to be sunny and a little warmer, so I may open the windows, since most of that is on the computer, which is next to the living room windows.

I am so not sleepy now, though. :( Maybe if I just lie in the quiet, dark room it will help, but I think it'll be awhile before I get back asleep.

I am really moving slowly this morning

I don't know if it's the cloudiness outside, or the fact I was so productive yesterday, or what, but I got up at 7:50 am, had breakfast, loaded the dishwasher, ran it, took my medicine, then went back to sleep for a little while, got up, did a few things around here, went back to bed, got a call from YKWIA to make plans for today, went to sleep, got a call from A, went back to sleep, got up, washed all the plastic and other dishes, including two big vases, and out of desperation made coffee, which I do not normally drink but thought that with enough half-and-half I'd try to cultivate since it's better than soda, since I do have other things to do today and just am not with it, apparently. Now I'm hot and sweaty from doing the dishes and I think I got more water on me than them, but they're all done. I still have to take out the trash and recyclables, as they're full, which I'll do before I go over to YKWIA's at 2 pm, and then I'll apply for that job this evening. Although I did go to bed at a decent hour, I didn't sleep well, accidentally set our four o'clock appointment today for AM, so woke up at 4 am, and then couldn't get back to sleep for a good long while. I don't know. But I'm going to try to keep on track. Next on my agenda, after I cool down under the little fan on my desk, will be to get a shower and get ready to go, then take out the trash, etc. I've got about an hour, so that should take up most of it. :)

Ready for bed, almost

I gave the fish just a little food, since I don't know when they were fed at the store. In a little while I'll turn it over to the moonlight (blue) setting, get ready, take my meds, and go to bed. It was a full day. Still to do tomorrow, though:

1. Pull out the things from the walk-in closet. [I'm going to wait till Monday, since I'm starting out slowly this morning, and that'll give them a whole day to do it.]
2. Call in the air conditioning and toilet issues. [Ditto]
3. Unload the dishwasher.
4. Load the dishwasher and run it.
5. Do the mountain of non-dishwasher-safe dishes.
6. Take out the trash and recyclables.
7. Contact my stepfather. He and I texted just a bit today but I didn't get a chance to talk with him and wanted to see how he was doing.
8. Check on YKWIA and take him to an appointment.
9. Pick up A and see if the guys want to go to Masala. [YKWIA wasn't up to it.]
10. Run some errands for the guys.

PS Golden Algae Eaters are apparently good when juvenile at cleaning tanks of algae and other detritus, but as they mature get less useful, may become territorial, and even suck on to slow fish like goldfish. Here's to it staying small for a bit, at least, although with that tank, it might grow exponentially.

Despite the cool weather

I am very hot. I went to Meijer and got some jute twine and opened the windows and screens and anchored the window boxes so they won't blow over. It occurred to me that every year the bedroom one does at least once or twice, the living room near it does occasionally, and while the one nearest the building door (and therefore the most protected) usually doesn't, we'd anchor it, too. That was with upright plants, but this year the sweet potato vine, petunias, and calibrachoas will all trail, meaning they'll be front-heavy. So that made it more important. All that moving plants, opening thing and closing them, going outside to run the twine around the boxes and the like, made me very hot. Fortunately I was at Staples the other day and found a Honeywell 'air circulator', aka, a fan, just like the one Jackie let me borrow at work. I have that blowing on me, and I'm enjoying a task well done. The proof, of course, is if I can get through the season without one spilling.

While I was out I took Brenda's suggestion and went to PetsMart (Meijer had the 19 cent fish, but they looked puny). PetsMart had 29 cent goldfish that were about two inches long. I got five. I also got a golden algae eater, which I know nothing about, but it was very inexpensive and should love my tank. All in all (and this was with an $7 bottle of water conditioner) it was less than $12. So now they've been prepared, gotten used to the water, and swum out of their bags and are exploring. They seem happy, as does the other fish that had been in there. I'll have to read up on golden algae eaters.

Okay, it's almost time to take A to a meeting. I think I'll go watch the fish swim.