Fun on the 'Slip 'n Slide

Hi, it's Carrie posting again... after a few month hiatus that started in tax season. I have a lot of catching up to do but I'll start with some fun late afternoon pictures on the new Slip 'n Slide. I picked the girls up early from daycare today as they both had dentist appt's. It was 94 degrees so we put the slide on the side of the house shaded by the sun. Hose water feels remarkably good with the heat and humidity of a MN summer.

For Sale: Toddler Bed

We have a strange toddler! Keira has been sleeping in the La-Z-Boy chair in her room for a couple months instead of sleeping in her bed. We don't know why she is doing this other than the fact that toddlers like to feel that they control something in their lives.

On some nights, we plead with her to sleep in her bed, but she usually negotiates saying that she will sleep in her bed tomorrow night. We generally let her have her way since it isn't a health or safety issue. Some nights we will move her into her bed when we go upstairs and some nights she moves into bed on her own.

It seems that she still gets good sleep. A testament to this might be that I was able to turn on the overhead lights and take two pictures (with no flash) and she didn't wake up!

Farm Babies 2009

The girls' school and day care were closed on Friday for in-service so I took the day off and we (Shannon, Sydney, and Keira) went to the Minnesota Zoo to see the farm babies. The air was crisp but the sun was out and it was a beautiful morning.

It was very unlike me, but I got up early and we arrived at the zoo at 9:30. It was already busy in the morning, but there were three times the number of cars in the parking lot by the time we left at 12:30 and the line to get into the zoo was backed up to the street.

We needed to renew our zoo membership for another year so I wanted to make yesterday's trip as cheap as possible. We packed snacks for the girls and planned to be home for lunch. Our total cost at the zoo was $2.68 for a bottle of Sprite and some loose change to put into the "funnel."

The girls said their favorite part of the trip to the zoo yesterday was seeing the baby pigs. We rode in the wagon on the way back from the farm and we also walked through the Grizzly Coast to see the bears and the sea otters. I am looking forward to seeing the new Woodland Adventure area that is opening this summer.

A Pergola Addition to the Deck

I would like to introduce a new addition to our deck that was just completed. For many years, we have wanted to add a pergola/roof over part of our deck. The structure is now complete and it just needs a coat of stain in a few weeks when the weather permits. The purpose of the pergola/roof is varied.

The biggest reason for adding the roof is to provide some shelter from rain and snow near the deck door. Our deck door is already rotting and I figure one reason for this is that it had no protection from the elements and there is no drop from the level of the door to the level of the deck. Also, having the roof will allow us to keep the door open when it is raining outside without getting the kitchen floor soaked (and I love the smell of a rain shower!).

Another reason is to help provide shade from the sun in the summer time. Although the pergola itself will not provide much relief, we will probably put up some hanging baskets and other plants that will help diffuse the strong evening sun.

One other reason we thought a pergola would be a nice addition to the deck is that we just didn't like the plain vanilla feel of the back of the house. Having this structure adds some character to the backyard.

We used a local company, Outdoor Spaces Design and Build, to design and build the structure. Although they had never done a pergola/roof design such as this, they did a great job envisioning it and carrying it through to completion.

Break A Leg?

The marathon play practices have almost come to fruition. Tryouts were held on Wednesday, January 7. Lines have been memorized. The set is nearly done. The cast has been rehearsing for two hours a night, four nights a week and they are polishing their roles. Finally, the opening night of "Wiley and the Hairy Man" is only a few days away.

With both Sydney and Keira acting in the play this year, I have been much more involved than I was with "Peter Pan" last year. It has been pleasurable to watch the cast grow together as they started by memorizing their lines and then by gelling into a cohesive group.

We are very excited and the play will be great fun to watch. Sydney plays a role in the chorus and Keira plays a baby pig. The play will run six nights (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for the next two weekends) and we hope to see many of you there!

"Wiley and the Hairy Man"
"Trick the Hairy Man three times and he won’t scare you ever again,” promises Wiley’s mother, the best conjure woman in the back country. This African American tale follows the young girl and her faithful hound dogs on their adventure into the swamp where Wiley learns to rely upon her own wit and conquers two villains – the Hairy Man and her own fear. The magic of this play is not fairy dust – it is the earth and mud of the mysterious Tombigbee Swamp.

Your Basic, Fresh Water Aquarium

It has been almost a month since we have posted and many of you may wonder what we have been doing. I will try to publish a few posts in the next week or so to update you on what is new.

I decided that it would be fun to set up an aquarium again. (My family had an aquarium when I was growing up, I had a small aquarium in college, and most recently we had a bowl with a beta fish.) Since all my experience has been with fresh water aquariums so far, I decided to take the easy route and do another fresh water aquarium.

We decided on a 46 gallon, bow front aquarium from PetSmart and we brought it home on February 6. A couple of the brochures I had read and people I had talked to at the store said it would be ok to use softened water. I added three comets the first night and they had all perished by the time Sydney and I returned from her skating lesson on Saturday.

I went back to PetSmart a little later and the guy at the store thought the water was too warm for comets (the woman the day before said the comets wouldn't mind 80 degree water.) He sent me home with four mollies, a type of tropical community fish. Unfortunately, they were all belly up on the bottom of the tank by the time Carrie and I returned from seeing "Slumdog Millionaire" at the Eagan Regal later that night.

I went back to PetSmart on Sunday and talked to Emily who seems to know fish pretty well. She thinks that the softened water was causing vital compounds to be leeched from their little fish bodies. Dejected but hopeful, I went home, drained the tank, and refilled it with 80% hard water and 20% soft. I also adjusted the heater to a more temperate 77 degrees. I let the tank settle for a couple days and then took a water sample to the store.

Emily was working again. She tested the water and sent me home with five red wag tail platies. After acclimating to their new home for about an hour, the little guys seemed hungry so I dropped some flakes in. I was relieved to watch them swarm to the surface and eat like it was going out of style! (The comets and mollies were not interested at all in eating during their short stay at the Waldrop house.)

The good news is that it has been almost three weeks and the original crew is still alive and flourishing (best as I can tell). I added three additional platies - a sunburst variety - about 10 days ago and the tank appears to be cycling and healthy. Time will tell...

There are two males and six females. One male is larger and is clearly dominant. The males displayed some interesting behavior when they were fighting for dominance. At feeding time, the "alpha" male tends to swim near the top of the tank with the females. The other male appears to be an outcast, tending to stay near the bottom of the tank on the opposite end.

In case you are considering setting up your own tank, I thought I would list some of the associated costs below.

3 Comets: $0.36
4 Mollies: $11.96 (returned for money back)
8 Platies: $15.92
Total cost for set up and maintenance of the tank so far: $825.00
including 46 gallon tank with stand, hood and light, heater, thermometer, automatic feeder, gravel, under-gravel filter, twin biowheel power filter, powerhead filter, fish, plants, decorations, chemicals and test kits, and food.

Girls on guitars

Ever since I pulled out my acoustic guitar to practice for the performance at my parents 40th anniversary party, the girls have become more interested in the guitar that I got Sydney for the Christmas before last. It's a pint-sized guitar from Target so it fits them really well. It doesn't sound the best and doesn't seem to hold a tune very well but it's a great first guitar. I've tried to show them both some three-string chords such as C, G and G7 with just one finger pressed down. As you can see in the pictures however, they like playing higher up on the neck like rockstars! Seriously though, my hope is that one or both will pick an instrument (or two) and will turn it into a lifelong hobby to enjoy.