The goldfish tank mystery

But first, here we are, February! We had rain last year in February. We'll see how this goes.

We are expecting a polar vortex, with really cold temperatures. These are, of course, in Celsius.

To give some more information: 

Divers & Sundry asked, and no, there is no way to find the antlers now. I think they must be under a foot of snow, at least. Walking in the snow, even with snowshoes, is really difficult. I think they aren't on our property, either!

DrumMajor said, One deer looks like it has some tumors on it's back "knees." 

The deer have glands at the joints, and during mating season, especially, the fur puffs up. Here is an example of the puffed out tarsal gland. The females have their own glands, letting the bucks know when they are in the mood for love! This from the Whitetail Savvy book!  The puffy fur allows more scent to get into the air.

The cats have always loved fishtanks. There is warmth coming out of the light hood. When a feline is stuck indoors, and there is nothing to do in winter, it is good fun! Daisy was a wee cat, but Cinnamon – I am afraid he'll bust the topper. Oliver liked the smaller aquarium. 

 

You can see Hooper on top of the tank, while Isabelle makes us sandwiches. He didn't fish. He just sat. This was February, 2019.

Back to the present.

I'm having trouble with Cinnamon and the goldfish tank. Here in 2021:  He is trouble!. We've gone back to using the spray bottle of water to encourage him to jump down. I can hear him messing around with the styrofoam from the other room. 

I cleaned the tank, as I do at the end of the month. I stuck some styrofoam in the opening up top last year, or the year before. It worked then. He began to pull it out with his claws this week. I covered it up with a thick knapkin. Next day, stuck a long ruler across all this. In this photo, you can see the piece of heavy cardboard I put on the back of the tank on top of the styrofoam. 

When our grandies were here in the fall, Isabelle sketched and named them. Clownfish and Tigerfish aren't there anymore.

Sadly, yes, some fish are missing. I don't know if they died, or if Cinnamon is to blame. Nutmeg seldom sits here. Cinnamon isn't the fierce hunter that she is. Cinnamon ran when the vole chased him. He just likes the motion. I don't know. 

The little ones that bred with the alewives. I remember one with black fins. Gone! 

I've had baby goldfish, but they don't seem to thrive in the tank.

I am going to have to try and find more fishies this year. Due to supply chain issues and COVID restraints, they've been scarce in stores. Percy came from Brockville in 2018, from Ritchie's. Perhaps will have to do some research in spring. 

Those were the days! 

Sore thumb, Percy goldfish, Cinnamon cat

 What a start to the weekend. Two weeks ago I was chopping veggies and made contact with my thumb. No blood! I've been watching too many cooking shows and was careless. Friday I was poking holes in a cooking bag with a fork and hit my thumb. (Freezer dinner!) I hit it hard. I screamed, and someone who doesn't hear very well heard me from the basement, where he was watching a football game beside a cozy fire. There was a lot of blood in the sink. JB brought me a nice fat bandaid and we carried on. 

Thankfully I'd already wrapped my present from JB! The one with black tape shows the time someone couldn't find the regular tape! More tape has since been bought!

I was taking out my frustrations with the fork, methinks. It was a frustrating week. I had an appointment for a haircut, and he was 20 minutes late taking me. I sat there, trying to cool my jets, but anxiety kicked in. It was awful. You go there to relax. I think he fit in a spouse, while he had his hair cut, she slept in the chair. I had to go ask for water, they used to provide that. They had a bottle of warm Perrier. 

Still no booster vaccine booked: Funny COVID–19 vaccine story. I still haven't sorted out our taxes:  Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)😓. The bank hasn't reversed the mistake I made, and I requested the correction a week ago Wednesday. Ah, well. It's only money. Interest rates are pretty low right now, so there is that.

The news is awful. Of course that is the nature of the news cycle. If it bleeds, it leads (see above 😏)! There is Hope from B.C. They'll have a long recovery.

🌦British Columbia's Storm Damage

British Columbia's rain has finally stopped. They had a good update regarding agriculture:

UPDATE: 

 Poultry: chickens; 61 poultry farms in the evacuation zone. Good news: 97% of laying chicken survived. Also, 98% of the turkeys survived. 

 Dairy farms: 98% of the cows from Sumas Prairie survived the flood. The rugby association players cleaned up 100s of stalls, removed stuff from basement. Also, the hockey team has been working like this. People helping people. 

Sadly 110 beehives were destroyed, but they can be rebuilt.

The damage doesn't affect most of the ski resorts, Jean. This damage is in the mountain passes. Jesse and Cluny are signed up for ski lessons. They just have to hope for colder temperatures in order for the ski hill to lay down some snow.

My Cinnamon baffle on the fishtank is working to keep him out. Sadly, it was too cold for him to go out for a pee Saturday morning (or so he said), and he began working on the styrofoam, picking at pieces with his claws and tearing it off. Little dweeb! I put another book on top. That solved it. 

The silly thing is that I've always fed them from that corner. Percy goldfish keeps going to that spot every day. The smaller, younger ones get it, but he's been fed in this corner every winter for several years. I'm having to clean the tank more often, as he is so huge.

I've been playing outside in the sunshine. This is the BEFORE and AFTER! 

We shall keep on carrying on!