Sunday, April 7, 2019

Another Sunday afternoon

Lately I find myself spending every Sunday scrambling to both finish household chores I want accomplished before the work week recommences and enjoying my last few hours of time off. Today has been typical.

I slept as late as I could. That's not saying much considering that we have a loud parrot in the house who is nothing if not a creature of habit. Marco expects to have fresh water, food, and a few minutes out of his cage within an hour or two of when we normally get up on work days. Then the dogs want to go out to pee, and then they want their breakfast, and after all that you may as well get up for good yourself and start the coffee! I was lucky enough to sleep until 9am today.

We stayed up late last night. Gregg sold one of our 120 gallon tanks and all the fish in it to some fish customer/friend of his. I was grateful that I just had to stay out of the way; Gregg drained the tank, put the fish (large African cichlids) in heavy duty, large plastic bags and Styrofoam boxes, scooped out all the wet substrate, disconnected the filters/heater/lights, and got everything ready. The guy came over with a friend and a big truck to load it all. I stayed in the spare bedroom with the dogs while all the heavy lifting was taking place, reading a book. We were a little sad to see the fish go, but we've been overextended in the aquarium department for a while now and the guy who bought them will enjoy them a lot more than we were. And now that one of the big tanks is gone, we've gained some much needed space in the bedroom we use as an office. We were able to move Marco's big cage to the opposite wall where there's much more room for it, plus he gets a view out of the window now. With the money Gregg made from the sale of the tank we'll be able to buy something for the house: either a new desk for the office (which we desperately need) or a set of barstools for the den (which we really want to "finish" that room). Decisions, decisions!

Today I've already run out to the grocery store for a few items I missed yesterday, washed a load of whites and a load of sheets, and made a brine which a large roasting chicken is now covered with and sitting in the refrigerator. I plan to roast the chicken for our Sunday night supper along with some tiny new potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms. I have a busy week coming up and the leftovers will come in handy. I've done a little bit of tidying up like loading/unloading the dishwasher and sweeping the kitchen, but that's been about it. I feel guilty that I haven't accomplished more today, but it's getting on for 4pm and want I really want to do now is go sit on the porch with a glass (or two) of wine until it's time to come in and start dinner. And I think that's exactly what I'm headed outside to do!

Have a good one, everyone!

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My Happy Place



22 comments:

  1. take marco out to the porch with you! the only thing I did today was 1 load of laundry. I feel I am entitled to sit on my fat ass cause I work hard all week and want 1 day to myself.

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    1. Marco is enjoying his new spot in the office, by a window that looks out onto our street. I have the window open and he's getting a nice fresh breeze.

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  2. I spent most of the day visiting with family and although I feel bad that I didn't get a few things done that I really wanted to do, I know that what I did was far more valuable. And now everyone is gone and I am enjoying my solitude.

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    1. Mr. Moon must still be out of town! Enjoy your evening my friend!

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  3. I had fish tanks for many years, nothing as big as 120 gallons. For a long time a killer Oscar lived in one of them. He would try and bite you when you fed him. That was when he wasn't making your feel uncomfortable, hovering in the center of the tank, his pectoral fins keeping him stationary in order to stare at you.

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    1. Oscars are badasses! :) We have another 120 gallon in the house so we're not lacking in aquariums. We also have a Blood Parrot cichlid, whose life Gregg saved, and the ungrateful wench tries her best to kill him every time he changes her water! She's in a 55 gallon tank.

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    2. I thought it was only Piranhas and Great Whites that took your hands off; I have a lot to learn!

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    3. We've had plenty of cichlid who would happily bite off a human hand had they had the tools to do it with!

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  4. We are down to one 55 gallon planted tank. It has Amazon Puffers and cardinals in it. Very peaceful to sit in front of.

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    1. Both very pretty fish! I love planted tanks.

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  5. It seems spring came for all of us today. I enjoyed outdoors and indoors!

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    1. I love this time of year! I'm glad you're enjoying the season.

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  6. My Brother has an Angel fish that grew so big and would take food from his hand.
    Father for some stupid reason put an Oscar in the tank with him and they killed the Angel fish. It broke our hearts and we never had an fish tanks after that.
    I like you taking some time off on Sunday.

    cheers, parsnip

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  7. Sure hope you got to enjoy that sit down yesterday afternoon!

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  8. I don't wish to make you envious but my weekends are pretty much six days long with a little blip on Wednesdays when I walk down to the charity shop for my afternoon shift. But I can still remember what weekends used to be like. At five o'clock on Fridays it was as if you had a whole green valley of time ahead but Sunday night always came round far more quickly than anticipated and the treadmill continued.

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    1. Quit bragging! Haha. Just kidding...you've earned your leisure time.

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  9. You are reminding me of the pressure of Sundays when working. You know I retired years ago, in 2009. I recall on Sundays even thinking about situations and tasks at work, it intruded on my weekend, of all the nerve! Your large remaining fish tank must be a peaceful thing to watch. Are you a member of nextdoor.com, sometimes neighbors sell furniture on it, I bought an antique oak cabinet that way.

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    1. I've never heard of nextdoor but I will check into it! Thank you! We need (well, want) so many more things for the house, but cash is limited!

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