Fish and Flowers

Lots going on here this weekend. First of all, poor Jeff got whatever Kaylee had last week. He's been running a fever and feels pretty crappy. He's got Sunday off, but then has to work 8 days straight! What a terrible time to get sick.

Yesterday Kaylee and I went and got some new fish for her tank. Kaylee's tank is all live-bearer fish. We got a couple male and a couple female guppies, and three female platys to go with our male. It would be neat if they bred, but I just like them because they're so colorful. When we were checking out, we found a little hitchiker in the bag. A baby guppy was in the platy bag! So far he's doing good and is able to eat the micropellets we feed them. It looks like he's going to turn out to be blue. I'm just assuming it's a "he", but I suppose it could always be a "she". Also when we were there, a man came in with a tiger barb in a baggie. He told the clerk that he could flush him or do whatever, but he didn't want him. I found out that he was perfectly healthy, just that he was too aggressive to be in his tank. I told him I would gladly take him, since we have a whole tank just for barbs! I felt great getting two free fish!

I also picked up a gorgeous "bog log" for our new bedroom tank. These are cut from dead swamp trees somewhere in South America. The density of the wood is greater than 1, so it doesn't float. It's also full of twists, knots, and round little holes. It's just lovely. It looks like a masterful sculpture.

We went and loaded up on flowers to plant. This year I'm planting all perennials... and things that don't need a lot of maintenance. I got some white phlox and a striking blue-flowered type of ground cover for the tree planter out front. I also got some bunches of snap dragons for the sunny side of the front flower bed. They came in bunches of different colors. I can't wait to cut some for the house! We also got some purple double impatiens in hanging baskets for the porch and another basket for the back full of red, white, and blue flowers. I only know that the red is a begonia. I'm not sure what the others are called. But I got the same one last year and it did really well.

There's still so much I want to do. Hostas for the sides of our house... herb garden... some bright bushy dasies in colorful pots. Then there's the pond. It's about time to load up on water hyacinths again! I think our lillies got eaten over the winter. I can never seem to keep water lillies.

One more thing - Kaylee got her first (and hopefully last) taste of dirt today. She was helping me plant the phlox. I turned my head to ask Jeff to get the camera and when I looked back she had a mouthful of dirt and an unhappy expression on her face. Well, after that, she just stuck to playing with her gardening toys and left the dirt alone. We'll see if she's learned her lesson next time we go out there, I guess.