Sunset Platty

My new office fish tank is coming slowly, but nicely. I add so decorations, fallen Greek temple theme. I chose them simply because I already had them from years ago. I enjoy them because they remind me of those fun years back in Peoria. The bulbs I put are also progressing nicely, I think I need some more though. The aquarium will look much better once it is fully planted.

I also added the first fish on Monday, a Sunset Platy. I have always had a fondness for platties. I will probably round on the tank with a sword tail and some guppies. Unfortunately the number of kinds of fish that can be put in such a small tank is limited.

The Long Road to Long Beach

The next marathon that I am going to run is Long Beach Marathon on October 15th. This seems like a very long way off, or it did until I realized that as of this weekend I only have 4 more weeks to train for it. The race is six weeks from this Sunday, however the last two weeks before a marathon are supposed to be spent resting, so this leaves me just four weeks for training.

Because I have not gotten a good training run since I twisted my ankle it time kick thing into high gear, come hell or high water. For all my previous 11 marathons I have only done one training run of 20+ miles prior to the race, for this one I want to see what happens if do more than one. Hopefully it will help me reach my goal finishing a Marathon in less than 3:45. So this weekend it is time to pound 20 miles.

K's Fish Tank

Even though I started setting it up over a month ago, I have never posted any pictures of the 50 gallon aquarium that I have set up in K's classroom. It is coming along very nicely. We are filling it with chiclids, a type of fish that I have never done before. But so far it has all gone very smoothly.

The fish tank is a big hit with her students. Between the fish tank and the tortoise she is well on the way to having the "cool science" classroom that she has always wanted. Personally I am kind of jealous of her classroom aquarium, it turning out better than the one at home.

Tortise

The Arizona Department of Fish & Game has a program that adopts out
desert tortoises . These tortoises are the offspring of previously captured tortoises that can not be returned to the wild. More than year ago K put her name on the list to adopt one these tortoises, with idea of getting on for her classroom. This week she got a call saying that they had a tortoise available for her.

So now we have a desert tortoise, well until we move out of state, he remains property of the state that must be returned if we move out of state. He does not have a name yet. K is conducting a competition in her classes to give him a name. Apparently he is a big hit among all her students. One of the elementary schools in town has constructed a desert tortoise habitat in their yard, K and her principal are talking about doing the same at K's school.

She brings the tortoise home over weekend, Cosmo my fat black cat it utterly mesmerized by the tortoise. He has spent hours this weekend with his nose pressed to the glass of the tortoise trying to figure what the hell the tortoise is.

Cut Short

The Roadside was Absolutely Littered With Cotton

Originally this weekend I had intended to to a 20 mile training run. I was going to run all the way to the Proving Grounds and back. But I got a late start this morning and it was already 95 when I left the house at 8:00, so I decided to cut the run short, and just go up to the abandoned suspension bridge and back, and run of 13 miles.

Giant Bales of Cotton at the Cotton Gin

The cotton harvest has begun at road side was littered with mounds of cotton that had blown out of passing trucks. It looked like a nearby cotton ball factory had exploded. About three miles into my run, as I was passing the cotton gin, realized that I was not even going to be able to complete my shortened three mile run. The heat was probably well into in the triple disgits, my ankle, thanks to the brace was killing me. Because my next marathon is not until the middle of October I decided to call it quits and head for home.

Heading for Home

I has been a number of years since I have to cut a run this short and that is little frustrating. But, it is important to know when to call it quits. Fall can not get here fast enough, I have almost forgotten what it is like to run in pleasant temperatures. I can't wait for January where every day is sunny with a high in the low 70's.

Limpy McHobbles

Last Monday Berkeley came in from the backyard with a very deep gash on one her back legs. It was deep enough that you could see the fascia that cover the muscle. This is third time she cut her self like this, we have no idea what she cutting her self on. She did the same thing in Louisiana, and our backyard now has items in common with that backyard.

Ever since she got this cut Berkeley has been walking around on three legs. Much to her disappointment this means she has been left out of all the runs this week. Fortunately it seems to be healing well and she is starting to put weight on it, but only when she thinks no one is watching. She loves to milk injuries for sympathy, attention and treats. With the lack of run, and the many sympathy treats she has gotten noticeably plumper. This weekend I will start running her again. She is dog with dozens of nicknames and she acquired a few more thanks to this incident. They include “Tripoda”, and “Limpy McHobbles.”

A Birthday Present

Aside from the the beverage fridge the other present that K got me for my birthday was a little 5 gallon fish tank for my desk at work. After getting all the necessary permission to set it up I set it up last night after work. I am very excited about it, I think it is going to look very good, and gives me something to put in the corner of my desk that formerly did nothing but collect papers that should have just been thrown in the trash.

The frustrating thing about new fish tanks is how slowly the set up process goes. I will not be able to fish in there until Monday. It is hard to see in the pictures but I added some aquatic plant bulbs, it will take a few weeks for them to sprout and start to look. The entire set up will probably take about two months before every thing that will go in there is in there. I have learned through hard won experience that the price for being impatient is a lot of dead fish.