Oh good grief!

I give up. I was not meant to be a keeper of amphibians. Jean-Paul, yeah, the back up...well, found him floating dead in the tank today. Somehow, I've managed to keep Chuck alive for going on 5 months now, but I've also killed 3 frogs in that time frame. So I'll be sticking to fish from now on.

I kind of wondered about Jean-Paul yesterday, he spent the better portion of the day repeated slamming his head into the wall of the fish tank. So, at this point, I don't know if he was sick and that caused the head banging. Or if he died from obvious and extensive brain damage caused by the head banging. And I'll be damned if I'm performing any type of autopsy on him. So, guess I'll just "bury" him and let him rest in peace with Ed and Francois.

R.I.P. Francois

Yeah, I know...I somehow managed to kill another one. Poor little guy, apparently he didn't stand a chance living in a tank I own/maintain. So now, Francois will join Ed in that giant toilet bowl in the sky...or sewer, whichever it is.

Chuck and Jean-Paul seem to be taking it well. Doesn't look like either of them have started eating Francois as of when I fished him out of the tank. That's probably good, not sure I could deal with a half-eaten frog body.

And yeah, this is why I bought two frogs last months...so I'd have a back up just in case this happened.

Now Introducing....

So here they are...Chuck's new tank mates. On the left here, we have Francois and Jean-Paul on the right. Francois is the slightly larger and muscly of the two. I'm sure if you look close enough you will also see a tiny curled mustache on him. And Jean-Paul is just as French, but he kept taking his beret when I would try to take the picture. You may ask yourself why I bought two this time. It may be a bit crowded in the tank, true. But I figure that after my last frog experience, it might be a good idea to have a spare.

So here they are. Chuck seemed a bit indifferent when I introduced them yesterday afternoon at work. I expect they will be fast friends though. When I get back on Monday, I'm sure they will all be close as peas in a pod! Come to think of it...I hope they are all still alive on Monday. Good thing I left a note for friend at work to feed them on Friday.

Frog legs anyone?

So, now that I'm not travelling for a month or two, I thought I'd look into getting Chuck a new friend for his tank in at the office. He's seemed pretty down and somewhat depressed (if my fish psychology is correct) So Friday, I was out shopping with my mom, and decided to stop in at one of the national pet store chains near my house.

I asked one of the oh-so-knowledgeable sales associates where I would find the aquatic frogs. So he pointed me in the general direction of a tank about half-way down the row of tanks. So, as I'm looking in this tank, I see no less than eight, yes eight, frogs laying belly-up on the bottom of the tank.

When the other oh-so-knowledgeable sales associate comes over and asks me if I am interested in purchasing a frog, I point out that most of the visible frogs in the tank are DEAD, he proceeds to stick his hand, up to the elbow in the water and pokes several of the frog corpses. Guess what, they didn't move...surprise, surprise!

He then lifts a rock and a dozen or so live frogs scatter throughout the tank. At this point he asks, "How many frogs would you like?" Needless to say, I'd rather not buy a frog that comes from a tank full of DEAD frogs. I think I'll just wait until the non-national chain pet store I originally bought Chuck and the late Ed from gets more frogs in stock.

Yoga...part 3

Congratulate me! Pat me on the back! Give me a hand! etc....

I'm keeping up with my goal of yoga two times a week..so far. I started last Thursday, made it to class on Monday, and then to class again last night (Thursday).

Although, I'm not sure how great I was last night. Amy, the instructor, said she thought I did really well. I disagree though. The big problem was damn sinus congestion...it totally threw off my balance. And for some reason, being upside-down seemed to just aggrivate the pressure in my skull. And yoga seems to involve a lot of being upside-down. (See down-facing dog for example...) But it definately killed my already precarious balance. Falling over in class is embarassing...especially when it makes a HUGE loud crashing noise that echos off of the wooden floor and mirrored walls. Mirrored walls, by the way, make it so that no matter where you are in the room, absolutely everyone can see you when you flub-up and fall on your face or your ass.

But, I still made it, so yay for me and the little bit of motivation I've found in my life.

***Update***
For those of you who are concerned and wondering how Chuck and Ed are doing, they are settling into their new home on my desk rather well. Chuck still looks a bit harried. Kind of has a "ridden hard and put away wet" look to him at times. But the fact that he keeps trying to eat ED, I think that's a good sign that he's settling in and not letting Ed bully him around too much. I think Ed may have gone crazy yesterday though. He was literally bouncing off of the walls of their little aquarium. Maybe it's not crazy so much as brain damage at this point, but who knows...

Welcome Chuck and Ed!

I should have my debit card taken away and hidden for time and all eternity. Yes, that's right, time and all eternity. On a whim today, a co-worker, Nikole, and I took our lunch break to the Aquarium store. Beta fish we thought. Cute, relaxing, trendy...yeah, all of that.

And holy hell...if you haven't been to this particular fish store, you should go! Gallons and gallons of fish, frog, and all sorts of sea-life filled water. They even have a huge pile of rocks outside that has some how miraculously become an amazing two-sided waterfall and pond. You can tell they are in a conservative part of Utah though. The mermaid statue in the middle of the pond has her breasts modestly covered Ariel-style with two sea shells (yeah...gotta cover the girls up ...big eye roll)

So, anyhow, Nikole and I strolled through the fish store looking for our beta fish. Not only did we find our fish, but they even had frillier than normal fins! Oh, and they had these really cool, cute, adorable, whatever you want to call it little beta tank kits. Comes with food, little rocks for the middle of the tank, and the water-fixing stuff too. So, we've got our fish and our beta kits to keep 'em alive. Guess what else Nikole suggests...go ahead, guess...you never will...so I'll tell you. FROGS!!! Yup, not only did we adopt fish, but we each got a frog to keep our fish company.

So now I'm obsessed. It's Chuck and Ed this, Chuck and Ed that. I need a life really bad. Oh, if you're wondering, Chuck is the fish, Ed is the frog. Btw, Chuck is having a really stressful day. I can just tell. He jumps at every sound, and every movement around him. I think Ed may be a bit of a bully too. He's been chasing him around the tank all day...poor Chuck...maybe he needs to go to yoga too for stress relief???