Last night (22 May 2008) we discovered something rather creepy-looking in our aquarium:

It was definitely making my skin crawl!

However, a quick web search made the "Ewwww!" turn to "Awwwwwww" as we learned we're going to be "parents" to more Apple Snails! Yep, this fellow:

....is actually a gal! I think.

See, I have one Ivory "Mystery" snail (that's how they sell them at PetSmart) and one Blue "Mystery" snail. I recently (about a week ago) added a second Ivory snail. And suddenly, eggs. Now, if I'm doing all my reading correctly, the male is smaller, the female larger. The female's ovaries darken as she's ready to lay eggs---and this is more visible in the Ivory snail because of how translucent the shell is.

So, apparently in about 5 or 6 weeks, we'll have babies. I've got more reading to do. Thankfully, no knitting is required---that's a lot of babies to knit for!

I've spent the last few days trying to get more of my yarn stash photographed and entered into Ravelry. As I spend more time knitting, I've learned to recognize yarns I won't want to knit socks with (yes, there are a few) and I added them to my Stash-->trade page on Ravelry. Now I can start connecting the yarns to the projects I have in mind.

In the midst of all this photography, I've been taking pictures of the pets doing fun things and even some pictures of knitting. I use the term "photography" at it's most amateur level, despite some little trade tricks I picked up growing up with a photographer. I'd love to create one of these:

That would make taking pictures of my knitting so much easier. For now, you get pictures like this:

That's my work on GoddessKnits' Spring Mystery Shawl. You can click on the pictures to see them larger, if you'd like. I'm using Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/8 in "Bottle Green" (I bought a whole cone!) with a Czech glass 6/0 seed bead mix called "Oceanic Mix" from Beadaholique.

When I'm not actually knitting these days, I'm being entertained by my zoo:

Click on any of those images to see the flickr page for them. I'm trying to add descriptions as I go---but there's been a lot of uploading lately! I'm up to 90-some odd yarns in my stash now. Wow! I'm debating whether I should put my roving in there as well. I mean....it is stash, right?

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here or now, but Randy's boss from the Racket is coming to ASU to work with him at the Mars Space Flight Facility! I'm totally excited about that: we'll get to hang out with Chris and his wife! (Note: I know her name, you might know her name, but on her blog, she posts as "excruciatingly" and on her husband's blog, he always calls her some variant of "the wife". Despite her being a big blogger in Savannah, I sure don't want to be the one who puts her name out there for the world to write down! *grin*)

Privacy is an interesting concept in this day and age, isn't it? I always think about it when some news program is running "stock footage" of certain people-types for health or social topics. Like the videos of overweight/obese people when new findings regarding weight come in. They always show these really heavy people minus their heads. Do the video guys who go out and film this have to get permission to use the footage or does it fall under some "freedom of expression"?

If I know you in real life and I want to blog about something you and I did together, am I intruding on your right to privacy? Here on my blog, I use real names for everyone I do name, so I try to stand in the shoes of anyone I might be talking about and see if I'd mind that kind of information going on someone's blog. Perhaps my father wouldn't like what I said in bad news and good news, but I spoke to him and told him what I'd written--just told him, 'cause I'm not expecting miracles and progress here.

Anyway, chime in in the comments with your thoughts on privacy and blogging (I'm sure that topic's already been done to death by others.... now it's my turn!).

I got it! I got a 120 gallon aquarium with a stand, lights, glass top and canister filter---and thanks to Craigslist, I got all that for a steal! It fits perfectly in the office, right next to the television center. At 4' long, it's not too space-grabby and is an equal depth to the tv stand (though I need to bring it out from the wall a little before we add water!).

I haven't decided one hundred percent, but I think this is going to hold angelfish. *sigh* I love angelfish! They are so beautiful, especially in a really natural tank with live plants. But, they tend to do better in an aquarium with a lot of vertical space and this tank is only about 2' tall. So, I haven't decided one hundred percent. But, I think... (you see where this is going, right?)

During my browsing of Craigslist, I found a 45 gallon acryllic with a stand for only $50---and Nicky jumped on that like white on rice! In the end, that one is getting set up in the dining room (oh, darn...). He used the gravel which came with my aquarium and added a color mix from his first aquarium and some decorations from his first aquarium. He's got a filter and a heater from our stash of aquarium supplies and is currently borrowing one of the two lights which came with my set-up (I'm not sure if I'll need both or not yet). His tank is already full of water and I think the heater is running as well.

My tank is moving a little more slowly---I'm excited, but the body can only do so much while recovering from this blasted cold. Yes, believe it or not, the scorpion sting is already a thing of the past. The cold, not so much. I went to Urgent Care on Friday and the doctor there did an in-office breathing treatment, put me on some kind of a steroid and prescribed an inhaler for a touch of asthma. I'm just taking it slow with any physical activities---it's probably a good thing it's Sunday evening and I can't go store hopping for cool aquarium things.

Additionally, the beginning of the work-week gives me a chance to let the tank stand with water and begin developing all that yummy beneficial bateria it needs for a balanced ecosystem. Assuming I get water in the tank tonight. If water does go in tonight, I've got 2 large pieces of driftwood and three pieces of glass that I can't wait to put in. I've had these from our last aquarium and packed them across the country and back... and now they'll finally be back in water!

This is exactly what I've been hoping against all hope for, for my birthday. I am so thrilled to have been able to get such a large tank right off like this---gotta love Craigslist, especially in larger areas!

If things go well, I'm hoping to speak to the lady I bought my aquarium from in a couple of weeks and buy a smaller complete freshwater set-up from her, with two stunning discus in it, for Randy. He adores Discus. And if you've ever seen them in person swimming in a tank, you'd quickly see why. Such beauty, combined with such shyness... it brings out his protective nature and the aquarist in him, wanting to do right by them.

Meanwhile, I'm still updating my various destash pages from recent sales (thank you all!). There's still a lot left to select from, especially in the beads category, so drop me a line and let me know what you want from me! *smile* Since the pages are image-heavy, I have been updating and removing photos no longer needed in these long posts.

These are the posts to check out: the Bead Destash, the Czech Glass Bead Destash, the Jewelry Book Destash, and the Cross-Stitch Destash. ETA: Doh! I forgot the Yarn Destash, which started it all! I am most willing to combine shipping across the destashes, so please get a group of friends together if you want to buy my stuff! *grin*

I should begin taking pictures of the house here this week, if not tonight! Once I get photos I actually like, I'll upload to my flickr account and begin posting about what each room is and how it relates to the other rooms.

One last (not-really-tragic, but still sad) note: I can no longer find Kroko plushes! Kroko was once a patient at The Asylum: Psychiatric Clinic for Abused Cuddly Toys. Nor can I find Dolly plushes. This makes me sad. Especially since they were the first two patients I cured! And I had fully intended to adopt one (both) of them... *sigh*