Tuesday miscellany

It's the last week of my summer break. This hasn't been a very good summer, I'm sorry to say, with the exception of having Poppy this year. She's such a sweet girl!

This was her in the car on the way home after her spay surgery on Wednesday. She was groggy and out of it for the rest of the night from the anesthesia.

After that first night she was mostly back to normal. I was supposed to keep her still and quiet for the several few days, but that's been a joke. She's a really active girl and it's hard to get her to settle down when she's feeling playful. George was so sweet when Poppy went to the vet that day; he whined and moped when I came back without her, and when she got home that evening he stayed by her side until bedtime. It makes me happy that they love each other.

Yesterday Gregg and I removed the last aquarium from the school. He'd been maintaining at least one of them for over 10 years! It's disappointing that it ended the way it did. Moving them out was a lot of work, and he didn't get so much as a "thank you" for doing it. If not for the fact that I have to work there and I don't want any trouble, he'd send them a big bill for all the hours of work it took.  Plus, we're stuck with all the fish from both aquariums at our house, in temporary tanks set up for them, until we can figure out a good place for them to go. There's also one of the tanks sitting empty in our hallway. It's all been a really big hassle and a lot of inconvenience. It stings that there hasn't been one word of thanks for any of it.

Tonight, I'll start making food for our book club meeting tomorrow. I'm the host this month, but Sara offered to have the meeting at her house so we could all use her pool. We decided that I'll make the food and take it over, and she'll supply the beverages and the pool.  I'm so behind on housework that it would take me the whole day tomorrow to clean enough for company. I don't mind cooking, but cleaning is another story! And I've been so, so tired lately.

 I don't know if it's the heat, the stress, or simply hormones (or some combination of all three) but despite sleeping a lot I'm having a hard time dragging myself out of bed in the morning. All I want to do is lie around and read a book. (I bought a lot of good reading material at the used bookstore in Raleigh). Also, did I mention that I've done something to my back? I've had lower back pain for almost two weeks now. It's been too painful (not to mention too hot) to walk very much, and that's probably part of the reason for my energy slump. 

That's all for today. I hope you all are well and keeping cool if you're in the grip of a heatwave. That includes most of my blogger friends, I think.

Work week recap

A winter storm is headed this way, bringing with it the chance of ice late tonight and early tomorrow morning. As much as I long for a good snow, ice is a different matter altogether. Ice is beautiful, but so dangerous. Thank goodness it's a holiday weekend (Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday) and I have no real need to leave the house before Tuesday. Following on the heels of this storm is another weather system that the long-range forecast says might bring us some snow next weekend. Fingers crossed for that! I'm anxious to see the "new" house and neighborhood with a blanket of white.

I've continued to feel a bit under the weather for the last couple of days. Although I got a negative result on my rapid Covid test, I remain unconvinced that I don't have a (very, very) mild case. Yesterday my throat felt kind of weird and sore, and I've been a bit short of breath for a few days now, off and on. That sounds bad, but it's not that unusual for me. I have mild asthma that can be triggered by allergies, a cold, or even just a drastic change in temperature.  A puff or two on an inhaler and I'm totally fine. So who knows?

I'd go to one of the DHEC testing sites for a more accurate PCR test, but they've all been so overwhelmed that it's taking up to a week to get results back (and that's when we're not having a state holiday and a winter storm) so I don't think I'll bother. I feel almost 100% back to normal today, anyway. If it is Covid, thank goodness for vaccines and boosters! I was careful at work yesterday to keep my N-95 mask on and to avoid other people as much as possible, just in case. 

Speaking of work, I meant to tell you about something nice that happened to me at the beginning of the week. My little buddy Clarence (the boy who kept coming to my desk for Christmas candy in exchange for not getting in trouble last month) stopped by my desk to see me on Monday. (Since I was already feeling a little weird, I gave him a fist bump instead of a hug). He said, "Mrs. Barlow, I'm going to bring you a present tomorrow!  I told my mama I wanted to get my favorite teacher a present!" I told him that that was a sweet thing to say, but that his good behavior and good attitude was all the present I needed. Of course, I forgot about it immediately. Well. The next day he showed up at my desk and presented me with this:

"Viva Las Vegas Night" perfume! :)  

Clarence was so proud of himself when he gave it to me. He said, "It smells REAL good!" (It smells about like you expect). What a sweet, kind thing for that little boy to do! I wrote  him a nice thank you note on some of my personalized office stationery. I showed the gift to the basketball coach, who happens to be one of the behavior interventionists, and he quipped, "I hope that's not missing off his mama's dresser!" Haha! We both got a good laugh at that. All joking aside, though, this little bottle of dollar store perfume made me cry a little bit. 

I'll sign off today with a few pictures of the aquariums at work, taken by some of our Art students who are studying photography at the moment. Aquariums are notoriously hard to photograph, but the teacher sent me four of what she judged to be the best ones. The first two are from the goldfish tank in the lobby, and the last are from the planted community tank in the library.

A return to (relative) happiness

It's almost been a week since I posted anything here on the ol' blog. Being back at work really cuts down on the time available for blogging activities. How is everyone? I've tried to snatch a few moments here and there to read your blog posts but I haven't been able to keep up very well. Nor have there been many opportunities to comment on said posts. Usually when I have a few spare minutes to read I do it on my phone, and typing comments on it is a real pain. I've missed you all!

Last weekend was a long one because of Labor Day. Gregg and I had Sunday and Monday off together and it was so nice. The weather cooled off nicely and we did a fair amount of work in the yard. Sunday was exciting because I planted a tree in the back! It's a fig tree that I grew from cuttings given to me by a friend from her massive, old Brown Turkey tree last July. I had potted it up a couple of times and finally deemed it big enough to put in the ground. Of course, if we have any truly cold weather this winter I'll take steps to protect it because it's still young and delicate.

We also finally thought to bring one of Marco's long, twisty rope perches out to the porch and hang it out there. He loves being out there on it. We should have thought of it sooner.

We did a bunch of other small things around the house, and in the yard. I baked another apple pie on Monday. We've enjoyed several short walks around the neighborhood, looking at the changes fall is bringing. We grilled out Sunday night, and I cooked the best potatoes we've ever had over the coals,  along with bourbon marinated pork chops. George got a slab of pork ribs all to himself. We've never cooked on the grill without making something just for the dogs, too.

At some point over the weekend, just spending time at home with Gregg and the boys, I realized that, for the first time since the end of July, I was feeling pretty happy. Of course I realize that coronavirus is still out there and very dangerous, 45 is still POTUS and every day is a fresh hell in that regard, California is on fire and there are riots all over the country. All of that is still terrible. The only real difference is that my grief over Ginger is beginning to lighten and now home feels like a happy place to be again. The new normal is beginning to feel....more normal. 

Work is weird. We have so few students who are physically in the building that the halls are eerily quiet. My job is really different this year, but honestly I'm one of the few people in the building actually having an easier time than usual due to all the Covid restrictions. Speaking of the school, here is a short video of the new aquarium Gregg set up in the lobby! The last 5 goldfish will be arriving this week, so for now there are only 7 fish in the tank. Doesn't it look good? 

So that's where I'm at today, friends. I'm looking forward to spending some time catching up with all of you soon!

Purpose

It's good to have a sense of purpose. After all these weeks of staying at home, feeling aimless and disconnected from the life we had pre-pandemic, it's nice to have a reason to get up in the morning and something to work towards. Even small things make a difference.

I've been up to the school several times in the last week. First of all, the principal called and asked me to come down to the school and if I'd do him a favor. Our phone system got updated and now there's a menu when you call, one of those "press 1 for so-and-so, press 2 for....." recordings. Since I do most of the morning and afternoon announcements, and everyone claims I have a great voice for it, the principal wanted me to be "the voice of the school" and record the menu options for the phones. I was happy to! I ended up having to drive down to the district office and meet with the head of technology to make the recordings, but it only took a few minutes. Later that afternoon, the principal called me up and gushed about what a great job he thought I'd done! This will actually benefit me more than anybody; I answer 90% of the calls to the school (maybe more) so this will divert a lot of those calls to the person they're meant for instead of going through the main office. Hooray! It's something we should've done years ago.

Then I spent all day at the school on Monday, helping Gregg set up the new aquarium in the lobby!  For those of you keeping up with this project, here are two photos I took after everything was up and running. Since the fish aren't in there yet, and two powerful filters are running, the water is so glossy clear that one of the passing custodians asked me if there was water in it yet!

I love the stark rocks and the spare aquascape that Gregg came up with! It mirrors the design of the tank, stand, and hood really well. It's going to look great once the Shubunkin goldfish arrive.

Even wholesale pet suppliers are experiencing disruptions in supply chains due to the pandemic, but Gregg was able to get a bundle of the goldfish into the pet store after calling a long time wholesaler contact in Atlanta and asking for a favor. He picked out the best dozen for our school. They're in a small tank at the store right now, but as soon as he's sure they're healthy they'll be coming to their new home! Eventually a 72 gallon tank (that's what this is) will be far too small for a dozen goldfish, but it'll be a while before they get that big. They're only 3-4 inches right now. The long term plan is to have either 3 or 5 large, wiggly, pet-like fish living in this tank, whichever ones grow out to be the prettiest. They should end up between 8-10 inches long in a few years if all goes well. Of course, Gregg will re-home any extras from the original dozen.


Shubunkin goldfish, stock photos:






The principal and the few staff members still working right now seem to love the new tank!
It's prominent in the lobby and should get a lot of attention when school reopens. Gregg was able to get us a good deal on everything, and he decided not to charge the school for the labor to set the aquarium up. That and the tank itself is his gift to the school. I'm so proud of him! Of course, he'll be making a little extra money each month for maintaining a second tank, but even that he's cutting them a break on. My husband is a really good guy. :)

Helping him set up the new tank, recording the messages for the phone system, running by the school today to drop off an invoice for the bookkeeper....all this has kept me just busy enough in the last several days to make me feel better. I've still been struggling to find purpose in my days. If ever I thought a lot of time off work and time to stay at home sounded appealing, I've been disabused of that notion in the last four months. I hate sitting at home day after day. Maybe if there wasn't a pandemic and I had all this time off it would be okay, who knows. For instance, I'd love to resume my Guardian ad Litem duties, but with South Carolina a hotspot of infection, now is definitely not the time for that. I've had to (regretfully) let that go by the wayside. Although I love and believe in the work, a 9-5 office job doesn't lend itself to regular family court appearances. Nor did it give me a good time to meet with childrens' school teachers and counselors, which is an essential part of serving as a GAL. I think I may have to put off that kind of volunteer work until I'm retired, not merely staying home because of a virus. It's too bad, though. I could do a lot of good with all the time I have to spare these days.

It definitely looks like I'll be going back to work soon, though. Governor McMaster gave a press conference today where he basically said he wants the schools to reopen for in-person instruction after Labor Day no matter what. Teachers and parents are frightened and angry, which I understand. As for me, I'll do whatever I'm asked to do. Maybe by then our city's new mask requirement will help to tamp down the infection rate. In any event, I'll be sitting behind a counter and behind a desk (several feet away from others) in the office, wearing a mask, and being vigilant about hand washing. I'd be lying if I said I was upset about the prospect of going back, though. I need that sense of  purpose in my days.

How do you retain a sense of purpose and balance in these strange times? Does your work/contribution to society have an effect on your feelings of self worth? I'm finding that a sense of purpose in life is important to me (I never knew this about myself). Is this true for you, too?

Aquariums

Things are moving along with the new aquarium we're setting up at my school. Thanks to the pandemic, some supplies that we were hoping to get (for the aquascaping) are hard to find right now. Before heading to the school yesterday, Gregg scooped up every last bit of "dragonstone" that he had at the pet store to see if it would be enough. Although we didn't have as many big pieces as we were hoping for, I think we'll be able to squeak by with it. A small pile of rocks (rocks!) was $150 worth and we could definitely use more.

I snapped a picture of the empty tank to show you all after we put it in position in the lobby.

Of course, more photos will be forthcoming as soon as it's up and running.

Gregg also had to clean the planted aquarium in the school library. He's been maintaining that one for at least 8 years now, and it's his favorite of all the tanks he services. The plants are healthy and thriving, and the fish are gorgeous. Here's a picture I took of one of them, a Diamond Tetra. It's hard to get a good picture of a fish, but it's not too bad.

The library is getting new carpet this week. The principal had to fight with the head of maintenance to convince them that having Gregg move this tank to put carpet underneath it was a bad idea. They finally saw reason and decided to put the carpet down around it, much to Gregg's relief. He says the tank might never be the same again if he had to break it all down and then set it back up anew. We were so grateful to Mr. Oates for going to bat for us on that issue! Not only would it ruin years worth of extraordinary aquatic plant growth, but everything (including the wet substrate) would have to come out to make the tank light enough to pick up and move. Talk about a work intensive process! So that was great news. It had been weighing on Gregg's mind.

Also, while Gregg and Mr. Oates were talking, I walked up in time to hear Mr. O saying really nice things about me. Something about I was a blessing to the school and "I don't know what we'd do without her." Now, wasn't that nice?! I was taken off guard and I could feel myself blushing. It made me feel so good, though! That's been the highlight of my summer so far.

More aquarium updates to come!

Choices

Today I went up to the school and had a talk with the principal and helped him make a choice as to what kind of new aquarium we're going to have. And the winner is...………..

A fishy post

As some of you may remember, my husband maintains an aquarium at the school where I work. He's taken care of it for years, much longer than I've worked there. It's a gorgeous planted aquarium (people always assume the plants in it are fake, they're so green and lush) about 75 gallons I think, with schools of Diamond and Neon tetras. Unfortunately, it's in the back of the library so visitors to the school (and some of the teachers) hardly ever get to see it.

Diamond Tetra

Neon Tetras

Last year Gregg's doctor friend wanted to take down and get rid of the beautiful custom built aquarium he'd had in his home (and Gregg had maintained) for over a decade. The family travels a lot and it had become something of a burden. When Gregg took it down, the friend told him to keep it and do whatever he wanted with it. Well, we have plenty of tanks in this house, and don't need any more empty ones to store in the garage, so he suggested that they might want to donate it to a school. They loved the idea! 

I took pictures of it and offered it to my school first, and the administration very enthusiastically said "Yes!" to having a second tank! It really is beautiful and obviously expensive. The band director helped us move it up to the school and for the last 6 months it's been sitting in a workroom, waiting. Decisions had to be made about where it was going to go, and of course what we were going to do with it. Then Covid-19 struck and school was no long open and I figured setting up the tank was put on hold indefinitely.

Then on Monday afternoon the bookkeeper texted me to tell me that the principal is ready to set up the aquarium (!!) and to ask if Gregg could prepare a quote for the cost of everything by the end of the week. Of course, we have to know what kind of tank to set up for them, and they were clueless about the options. To help them in the process, Gregg came up with ideas for three very different tanks that would be suitable. We're excited to see what they choose, and of course there will be lots of room to put our own touches (like with décor) into it. I'm excited! The new tank will go into the main lobby of the school so it should get lots of attention.

And maybe best of all, after the tank is up and running Gregg will make a little more money when he comes to our school, now that there will two tanks for him to care for instead of one. Yay!

Here are some of our ideas:

Tank #1: Tiger Barbs---easy to care for, active, pretty, inexpensive. Lots of varieties of them that you could mix, or you could stick to just one kind.

Tank idea #2: Fancy goldfish, like Shibunkins. They would be playful, goofy, and relatively easy to care for. The tank is a bowfront, 80ish gallons, with a stand and hood that look like brushed nickel. I think these goldfish along with a minimalist aquascape would look great. This is my favorite idea.

Tank #3: Rainbow Fish. They're gorgeous and make a beautiful display, and they're relatively easy to maintain. The downsides: they'd do best in a planted aquarium, which we already have, and the fish and their set up would be slightly more expensive than the first two options. Also, these fabulous colors take a while to develop in the fish, and until they do, they might be almost colorless and not very eye catching. But when they do finally color up....hoo boy!

What's your favorite idea of the three?