Random Fodder

Jerry, the fish out of water

My wife noticed yesterday that Sebastian's one-and-only pet, a fish named Jerry, was not in his tank. She explained to him that Jerry was probably on the floor somewhere, but Sebastian posited that he might also be in the sink or toilet (on the other side of the house).

Thus, yesterday morning I awoke to Sebastian yelling at me that Jerry had gone missing. This is rarely a relaxing way to start your day, unless perhaps you sleep on a bed made from shards of glass. Luckily, my wife was on the case already, so I earned the job of fighting through that "why-am-I-awake-already?" haze while trying to console my quivering-lipped son.

Luckily, my wife found Jerry on the floor. She took him for dead when she picked up the dry fish, but then Jerry blinked a bit and moved slightly. She put him back in the tank, and hours later, he seems to be doing fine, though I'm sure there must be some damage.

Apparently, Jerry had decided to end it all. Somehow, he made his way out of the fish tank, which requires a jump of at least two inches out of the water. Moreover, the only openings in the tank were a six-inch opening in the front for feeding purposes and a couple two-inch gaps in the back on either side of the filter.

Not coincidentally, Jerry's owners (Sebastian and my wife) neglected him for several weeks as a horrible amount of algae and other various gook covered his tank. He couldn't see out, and we couldn't see in. It is my belief that this neglect and psychological trauma caused Jerry to carry out this suicidal cry for help.

In order to keep Jerry from jumping out again, she replaced the lid on the feeding section on the front of the tank. The back, however, is permanently open on either side of the filter. I'm guessing that my wife chose the most convenient item on hand to cover these openings, but her choice was hilarious: The back of the tank is now covered by an army man's parachute. I'm clearly more pessimistic than my wife. If the fish gets suicidal and jumps again, I don't think he's going to grab the parachute and ride it down to the floor.

RandomFodder.com

I decided to change the point and purpose of my second website and now it is up and running. This fulfilled one of my 43 Things for 2006!

Random Fodder shares personal stories and anecdotes about myself, much like 43 Things.

See more progress on: Finish my website

The windmill farm

Yesterday, I decided to drive a little out of my way to visit the windmill farm and finally fulfill this goal. Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy, but there was also plenty of wind.
To the best of my recollection, this farm had 10 windmills — three on one side of the road and seven on the other.
The trip was nice, though I imagine that a picnic-type adventure in a couple months would have been more enjoyable.

See more progress on: visit a windmill farm

This post was originally posted at The Smarmy Carny, Novac's general blog.

This post was originally posted at The Smarmy Carny, Novac's general blog.

This post was originally posted at The Smarmy Carny, Novac's general blog.

Snowmen: 0, Heat: 2

Of course, the one winter I resolve to build an igloo, we have the warmest January since 1932!
Temperatures finally fell below 32 degrees for a couple days and we got some snow . . . enough to build a couple snowmen. Two days later, this is all that's left of them. If snowfall doesn't pick up in February and March, I might just have to hope for an extremely snowy November and December.

See more progress on: build an igloo